I had a dream that a sinister phantom entity was remodeling my home when I wasn't present.
I was living all alone in a house I used to live in for about 18 years in real life. The house was a single-story four bedroom, two bathroom house on a semi-wooded one-acre property.
The house was now falling apart, as little 'ol me couldn't keep up with maintaining the property all by myself. Falling into a state of disrepair, the basement had chronic flooding whenever it rained heavily.
The appliances were aging, the carpet was becoming moldy and the wallpaper was peeling. The windows needed replacement, as they were alway foggy, obscuring my view of the outside world.
Being in my forties with no family and no support system of any kind, I was not sleeping well, full of anxiety. I was exhausted... constantly. There wasn't a single person in my life who checked in on me, with genuine intention. I was so goddamn tired of the facade that the world put on, with their fake smiles and inauthentic "concern". I was always vulnerable, and I didn't care anymore what happened to me.
Every day, I left my decaying home and showed up to work. I worked in a nearby office complex that was next to Georgetown Square, a shopping center about a mile from my home. There were strict rules there, and I constantly had anxiety about losing my web designer job. I knew and understood that I could easily be replaced at any time without warning, especially since there were rumors that AI was rapidly becoming the popular replacement for people like me. I was now feeling irrelevant and outdated and obsolete.
There was a gym at Georgetown that I regularly showed up to, hoping a miracle would one day arrive, but that never happened. I became too exhausted - both mentally and physically - to keep going, so I terminated my membership there.
It was a few days after this that I found something strange when I came home from work. In the living room, part of the wall had been demolished, and it seemed someone had started a remodeling project without my knowledge or consent. Although the change was obvious, I was too tired to care about it.
Ever since then, every single day, I came home to small changes that were being made around the house. Something obviously wasn't right, and my familiar environment was changing, and not for the better.
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A phantom entity was making changes, remodeling my home. The changes at first were small, such as new wallpaper added to a room, or a new faucet appearing in the bathroom sinks.
Bigger changes came later, such as new windows being installed, allowing for a much clearer view of the outside world.
Something wasn't right, however, as I also always felt like I was being watched. The unknown "Phantom" responsible for the changes seemed to always be there, invading my space, intruding on my privacy. I felt violated, despite the home improvements being made around me. My intuition told me that something sinister was going on around me, and this made me increasingly anxious and exhausted.
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One day, I came home and was horrified to find a shadowy phantom figure in the corner of the living room. It had a humanoid shape, but the face was a dark blur, and it had lanky limbs and claws.
"Behold! I am making everything new," said the phantom in a low-pitched howling voice. "You do not belong here, and this is no longer your home."
The phantom vanished, and I didn't care. I agreed with what it said, that I don't belong here. This "home" didn't feel like a home, anyway. I had been alone for really my entire life, always and consistently misunderstood, and I was simply tired of existing in a world where I wasn't allowed to love, be loved, or even feel necessary.
Day after day, every single day, this is what I came home to. An empty home where memories weren't being made, no future being built, and the phantom always appearing, having made a change here or there, repeating the same statement.
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Floating away, I was hovering above the house, watching the flashing lights of emergency response vehicles.
I overheard responders talking about how I had been reported missing by my supervisor at work, and was found dead due to self-inflicted poisoning. I saw myself being hauled away on a gurney.
Freedom! I was now free of the endlessly chronic pain and exhaustion. I floated away into the shroud of the evening twilight, never to be seen again.