Falter

The house was ancient and vaguely familiar, as though I had seen it in a dream sometime before. The paint on every wall was faded and shriveling into little grey strips, peeling their way up the wall. Some of the windows weren't entirely there and the carpets were invariably discoloured and occasionally wet.

When I found the old place, it looked as though the previous inhabitants had left without much warning. Despite damage from regular exposure to the elements, the furniture had been left mostly intact and right where it should be.

I hadn't been expecting to find a ghost town here; it wasn't marked on the map. What was left of the surrounding area was sparse, desolate, and tiny. The omission from my maps did not surprise me. I have no idea why I chose to get out of my car and put everything on hold to look around the decaying ruins. Something about it seemed to invite me.