My name’s James. If you manage to, please send help from where I’m messaging.
When I was a kid I never questioned too much about my city. I never asked my parents things about it, it just didn’t cross my mind. I just knew we were a city somewhere in Utah, where, I don’t think I know. There wasn’t anything suspicious about where I lived in, and most importantly nothing that would suggest the horrific truth of this place. I was just a tiny human being making his way through life in this damned hellpit, the problem is that I didn’t know it was one.
It’s a forgotten-by-god city called Lemaw. I can’t tell you where it’s situated, near what city or what direction you should take by X place to reach it. I’m starting to believe it’s a black hole with no exit nor entrance.
I had a normal childhood, with vacations and friends and caring parents. My mom and dad never told me anything about this place’s curse, they don’t seem worried by it. Our vacations consisted in either staying at home or go to the local water park, which is vast and enough for a kid to spend summer in.
I became aware of this only when I grew up. My dream was to get out of Lemaw as soon as I could, since my parents weirdly never did field trips, we never got out of Lemaw, but luckily for the summer there was a camp for kids to go to, other than the water park. I loved it there, but I wanted bigger opportunities, go to university. I am a bookworm and always got good grades, so I wanted to take every opportunity I had for my learning. From what I could guess we weren’t that far from Salt Lake, so I could enroll there. I got my driving license, a car, everything I could’ve needed. I planned this out with my parents, but they didn’t seem thrilled by the fact I was leaving, however they supported me nonetheless. Right after I became 18, I got in my car and started my journey to SLC to finally get the education I desired.
I didn’t take a map with me, I had my phone and the navigator. It was my first time out of the city, my first time ever, but I was an independent young man, I didn’t need my parents for this. While driving I initially didn’t notice anything wrong, and it went on for half an hour before i eyed the navigator again, just for a second before looking straight ahead, surrounded by trees. I began to feel pretty lonely: there wasn’t a single other car on the road with me. Despite it being day it felt like midnight. I drove for another half an hour, before realizing something was off. The road was consistently straight. I’m not saying straight roads can’t exist, but in an hour of driving I did get pretty far, and the fact I didn’t yet meet a curve or a single different thing in the scenery weirded me out. He looked at the navigator again and that’s where I noticed the strange thing. The estimated arrival time was the same as to when I started to drive. this can’t be, I thought. I made sure that the indications were set.
What was going on? It began to feel like one of those weird dreams you have with a fever. But this wasn’t a dream. I kept driving, hopeful for something, but nothing. I had planned to stop at a gas station further on the road, and when I did reach it there was nothing to greet me but the endless trees. That wasn’t right. I checked the map again, it should’ve been there. I kept driving. For some reason I didn’t turn back, even if I should’ve.
I had to stop to pee two times or less. This was getting frustrating. The sun was about to go down and there was no sign of civility at all. After beginning to drive again I started to get creeped out. This wasn’t normal. I continued to drive but I had this impending feeling that this shouldn’t be happening. I drove. And drove. As night approached I sped up every single time, he as going way faster than I should’ve but for some reason I didn’t want to stop, I wanted to get out of this endless line of trees surrounding my car and me. Sooner than I thought night fell, and my heart was beating out of my body.
I was scared to death, as if something was chasing me from behind my back, and I had to desperately escape it. The navigator wasn’t even guiding me, it just turned off on his own at some point, I didn’t even realize it. I pressed on the accelerator as roughly as I could, I just wanted to get out of this damned place. I pressed so harshly on the accelerator my muscles started to hurt, holding so tight on the steering wheel my knuckles went whiter than snow and cramped. I didn’t care about the pain, I didn’t care about any other urge but the primal and raw fear this road, this dark, deep road had instilled in me. I don’t even remember when but at some point I began to cry and sob.
And somehow my prayers to escape were met, but not like I expected. In the distance I saw a post that was way too familiar to be true, but it was. The trees cleared out. And I was back at Lemaw.
There was no way.
Absolutely no way.
I didn’t turn back, there weren’t curves that would suggest the road was a dead end that would bring back to the start, why even build it? My stomach churned as I tried to retrieve back into the road, but the darkness of it made be sprint forward. I remember that I had to park somewhere to vomit, and I did at the nearest bar. My legs were as wobbly as jello and my face paler than ghosts. This was horrible. I opened my car door and couldn’t even take a step before vomiting. I had to get a coffee and I could feel the barista’s eyes on me, looking at me if I was some sort of lunatic. I went back home after that, and my parents welcomed me as if I just came back from an exit with my friends. This confused me.
I couldn’t sleep well last night. I couldn’t even think. What happened, why didn’t I leave? Why was the road leading out of this damned city a U-shaped trap? Could nobody not leave from here? Could nobody enter? The next day I began to stumble around the garage for a map, only to realize we didn’t have none. I only found an old globe but the names of the cities weren’t there, of course. I went to my friends house only to be met with the same scenario. I went back home after looking up and down for a map, but nothing. My last hope was my phone, as I reached for it with a trembling palm and searched my city’s name on Google. I don’t know why I never did that before, but a result did show up. It was my city, I knew it was, but there weren’t pictures, signs, weather conditions, nothing at all that would justify the mere existence of its name. I tried countless times, both in my phone and computer, but nothing. There was just the name. But there was nothing else that suggested that the city I lived in was actually real.
I’ve been trying to find out the truth but everyday I feel more trapped. Please send help.