A weak light flickered somewhere in the distance. It was weak, pitiful really, but slowly cascaded light down the long wooden hallway. There was something just off about the hallway. Sure, the wood was dilapidated and the roof looked like it might fall apart, but that wasn't quite it.
Finally, it started to dawn on him. He had been in a hallway like this before. Only, he couldn't remember when or even why. The odd gray scale of the world around him made it feel like a dream, or maybe a nightmare. Even as the familiarities mounted his heart quickened in pace. Why? Why was this so familiar and terrifying?
Footsteps echoed, his own footsteps. He didn't remember willing his feet to move, but still they moved. As he passed door after door it felt more and more surreal. Behind every door was like watching a movie, a movie made of his memories. In one he watched himself desperately trying to chop wood, in another further down he witnessed the fateful day he chose the hat that would become his trademark.
If this had been all there was, he could have been content thinking it all a dream. No, the most worry some thing was that all these memories were playing in reverse. He almost wanted to scream as he watched his memory self place the pine tree hat back on the shelf. It felt like watching his entire life being unwritten. He had to stare at something, anything else.
He chose the flickering light. It presented no memories or fear, it was just a light. Oh, how wrong he was. For, hiding just behind the light was a toothy grin like one might expect to see in a cartoon. How the teeth and eyes seemed to shine without light, he didn't know nor did he care. All he could think of at that moment was howling in terror, but his lips wouldn't budge. More than anything he wanted for this to be a nightmare that, when he awoke, would find him sleeping soundly next to his sister. Only, was it?