Jacob was tired. He was tired of his brother's constant teasing, his mother's nagging and his father's constant anger.
After he had stormed off from the dining room, he felt like the world was crumbling on him. A weight as heavy as the one which rested on Atlas'shoulder was anchored to his heart. He felt his spirit climb into the deep trenches of the ocean, where there was nothing but the soft touch of barnacles and the disembodied whisper of corals.
He sighed.
He almost sunk on to his bed, face-first but then his eyes wandered over to his computer, resting on his table.
He took a deep breath.
His friend Charlie had been trying to get him to play a text-based adventure called "The Cypress Trees Sigh". Maybe just maybe, that game was exactly what he needed to get his mind off his depressing life.
He took another deep breath and settled in the chair in front of his computer.
He downloaded the game, while it was in progress, he found himself plagued by the most awful thoughts. The darkness which wandered in the corners of his psyche had decided to stand front and center. He tried to focus on something else.
The band posters stuck to the bedroom walls, the night-light bathing the room in a glow of red, his school bag lying half-open with its contents splattered across the floor, his dirt-ridden sneakers resting against a ball, but nothing worked. He closed his eyes and head a ping.
When he opened them, the download was complete.
His eyes were lit up by the soft, white glow emitted by the computer screen. He clicked on the game.
The title screen simply read: The Cypress Trees Sigh
Then, a wall of text appeared:
The Pale Blue shadow of his corrupting stare burns your skin lying bare.
In that coffin, his eyes closed. You could still feel his gaze. His eyes suspended in the place no one knew what resided, in the place where knowledge and ignorance breathed the same breath and slept in the same bed.
He was gone. You could still feel his gaze on you.
Your eyes briefly glanced at the church around you. You didn't remember coming here consciously. You had a hazy memory of yourself walking here in the rain and your clothes replied in affirmative, but you still did not remember coming here.
The people around you were opaque bodies not lit up by light, or at least that is what it seemed to you. You saw everything, yet you saw nothing. To you all that was here was him, and he was gone.
You couldn't take it no more. You rose up your feet and exited through the door. You could either go left to your car or right to the graveyard.
Where do you go?
Just to stay on the safer side, Jacob chose Left.
Your car is parked in the empty lot occupied by countless other painted, metallic giants. It used to be his car. His cherry red Chevy, before he handed it to you five years ago. Now he wasn't alive,but the car was.
You unlocked the driver's seat and entered the car. You were greeted by the mess you made earlier. Parking tickets, candy wrappers, empty coffee cups and handwritten obscure notes were splattered across the car carpet and dashboard. You cleared a stray coffee cup from the seat and made yourself home.
Your home sweet home, always smelling of coffee and cheap air freshner.
You pull out of the parking lot.
