march 3, 2021

it was midnight. the thick clouds were painted orange by the 
streetlamps strewn about the labyrinthian city. buildings were sparse, 
and pathways were a winding, unplanned web through overgrown parks 
that seemed to go on forever.

you'd think it some sort of fever dream, but it was not. holly had 
pinched herself to be sure of that. the midnight summer breeze was too 
real. the dew on the grass. the little details. there's no way this 
was a dream... and yet... everything else seemed to imply otherwise.

proportions were off. the shrubs were all bigger than they should be, 
and although the trees were tall, their branches were thin, like long 
insect legs stretching out into the sky. the strangest thing of all, 
though, was the scent. the air didn't bring a midnight summer city's 
smell with it. it smelled like an ancient linen closet. like 
blankets and feathers.

"well i guess there's no point in staying here", holly thought, and 
started to follow a path.

first of all she tried heading for a building. they were all black 
like silhouettes, even when being lit by the lamps. approaching the 
front of the building, she realized that it had a solid white door. as 
white as the rest of the building was black, and next to it, was the 
building address: "8899 salad st".

knocking on the door yielded no answer. she sensed some motion from 
inside, like someone getting off a chair, but after a long wait, she 
decided to try a different building.

the second building was shorter, but other than that it was exactly 
the same. exactly. even the address, "8899 salad st", was the same. 
again, no answer. she decided to walk for a while, to try to find the 
city's border, or anything at all, really.

time was hard to keep track of, for some reason. whenever holly wanted 
to see what time it was, she'd lift her watch, only to lose focus or 
get distracted before she could properly read it, so she walked. 
finally, in the distance, she saw a bookshelf. something other than 
pathways and bushes, finally!

rushing closer, she saw the bookshelf. it stood in the center of a 
clearing, with a mirror on its left, and an endtable on its right. 
holly looked into the mirror, and realized that she did not recognize 
her outfit: she was wearing a deep blue cotton t-shirt dress with long 
orange socks, brown platform shoes, and a baret.

"not quite my style, but also, why am i wearing this?" she asked.

the bookshelf contained a single book. a copy of homer's "the iliad".

the endtable had a single note on it. it read:

"sorry for not answering my door. i'm a bit shy, and sadly, i do not 
have any answers that would help you.   -s"