Short Story: "The man who fell through the floor"

"Are you, ah, quite alright?"<br><br>You'd think it was a straightforward question, but Mr. Nelson was stuck like a broken record. The *first* time, the question had been well-placed. We had just witnessed a tall man in a sharp black suit fall through the floor like it was mud. But now that Mr. Nelson had asked this question a couple dozen times, and received over a hundred answers to the exact same question, it was beginning to lose its meaning.<br><br>"I'm **fine**," I repeated, a little sharply. "Sir, please. I'm a little worried about this man on the floor-"<br><br>"**Ah, quite alright?**" Mr. Nelson repeated, his hands clasped together.<br><br>"**I SAID I'M FINE!**" I shouted, frustrated. Mr. Nelson clapped his hands over his ears.<br><br>"Oh dear! Excuse me, young man!" He jumped to his feet and hobbled away.<br><br>I threw my hands up in the air. I was standing in the middle of the road in a tiny village I'd never heard of. The floor was like hard, dry mud. Everyone in town seemed to have...some sort of problem. There was the man who'd fallen *through* the floor, who I'd named Barry. The man I'd just shouted at, who owned the local general store. There was a woman who kept cloning herself, who seemed more annoyed with it than terrified. And there was a small teenage girl who was dancing in the middle of the street. Literally- she didn't seem to have a choice in the matter.<br><br>I was a freelance journalist. I did a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I'd been sent on an assignment in a small town a few hours away, but my car had broken. I had towed it into the nearest town to repair it, and...well.<br><br>I still don't really know what was going on in that town. But I'd found the only person who seemed entirely sane- a young woman who ran the local diner. She was a *little* odd, but she didn't seem to be suffering from whatever affliction was plaguing everyone else. I'd told her all of the above, and she listened calmly.<br><br>"I'm Wendy," she said, when I'd finished. She reached across the table to me, and put her hands on my wrists. "I think I can tell you a little bit about this town."<br><br>"Why can I call you Wendy?" I asked. "Everyone else I talk to informs me of their presence repeatedly."<br><br>"I'm not from here," she said. "I moved here a few years ago."<br><br>I thought about it for a moment. "So when you talk to locals, does that mean you have to listen to them repeat themselves endlessly?"<br><br>"Oh, yeah," she said, dropping my wrists. She pulled a small notebook out from under the counter, and scratched out some numbers with a ballpoint pen. She flipped it over to me, revealing a roughly indented flowchart. "I've mapped out the town. I know exactly who you can talk to, in the right order, to get what you want. Except for Mr. Nelson."<br><br>"What's the best order to talk to the villagers in if I want to know why the local road is made of mud?" I asked her.<br><br>She flipped the flowchart around, cocked her head to one side. "Well, first you need to ask Mrs. De Santos about the road."<br><br>"I thought you said they all repeat themselves."<br><br>"They do," she said. "But you have to ask them the right questions, and sometimes even then it doesn't work out. But then you can talk to her daughter Lily, who will repeat her answer back to you. But if you focus hard enough, you can make out what she's really saying."<br><br>I blinked. "Her daughter...Lily?"<br><br>"Yes, the girl who won't stop dancing. She's quite nice, really."<br><br>"Did you check in with her mom?"<br><br>"Yeah, she's in on this, she knows I'm helping you."<br><br>"So...what...what will Lily say?"<br><br>"Well, if you get it right, she'll tell you the name of her uncle. Farez. He knows a little bit more about the road."<br><br>"What do I need to ask him?"<br><br>"You need to ask him if he knows how to operate a wooden toaster. Then he'll get confused, and his friend Harrison will show up and tell you about the road."<br><br>Harrison. I must have sounded confused, because Wendy went on.<br><br>"Don't worry, Harrison doesn't repeat himself *that* much. But only if you meet him in the right order- If you talk to him before you talk to Farez, he'll just get upset."<br><br>I sighed. "Any shortcuts?"<br><br>"Nope. I've been mapping this town for two years now, and I'm still missing some big chunks."<br><br>I scratched my head. "Well, how did...how did I even end up here?"<br><br>"You must have been driving around for a bit, looking at the map. Then you came through the tunnel."<br><br>"The tunnel?"<br><br>"Yes, the tunnel. Don't you remember?"<br><br>"I...I don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say I was in a tunnel and I fell through the floor of my car."<br><br>Wendy's face went white. "Oh no."<br><br>"What's wrong?"<br><br>"Well...usually you meet me last. Just before you leave. I help you piece everything together."<br><br>"Oh," I said. "Well...no worries. I'm not leaving yet."<br><br>"I hope not," she said, with a forced smile.<br><br>"Hey, so what's going on in this town anyway?"<br><br>"I'm not really sure," Wendy said. "I have an idea, though, about what happened to...well, to *you*."<br><br>"What?"<br><br>"I think you fell through the tunnel. I think it did something to you."<br><br>"Did what to me?"<br><br>"I don't know," she said. She rubbed her eyes, like she was tired. "But I think you might start forgetting things, if you stay in this town too long."<br><br>I furrowed my brow. "Forgetting things?"<br><br>"Yeah. Like...you know how you can't remember the tunnel?"<br><br>"I can't?"<br><br>"No," Wendy said. "I'm just pretty sure. But yeah, I think you'll forget more and more things. And I think eventually...well, eventually I'll forget you."<br><br>I squinted at her. "You're already gone."<br><br>"What do you mean?"<br><br>"I mean...I'm talking to...to...**ah, what was your name?**" I asked.<br><br>"Oh dear. Oh dear, no."<br><br>I stood up and walked out of the diner, looking around at the confusing sights. I saw the woman who was cloning herself, and the man who'd fallen through the road. I saw a strange tunnel, and I felt a strange tingling in my neck.<br><br>And I knew exactly where I was going.