Familiar Places Without Any Faces

Picking up his pace to a jog, he hurried to the doors and was relieved to find that they opened with ease allowing him to escape this strange building.

Walking out into the city, he glanced up at the sky and saw that it was daylight. The sun shone brightly overhead warming his face.

Glancing around, he took a moment to decide which way he ought to take before he started walking.

It was his second block before he realized what was wrong.

Silence, there wasn't any noise beyond that of his walking. No cars, no horns, no people, nothing. There was nothing more than buildings, a road, and a sidewalk. Not even the usual sky vermin were about flocking to find whatever insects or other scraps they could scrounge.

His brain tried to ponder the implications, but he'd already covered the gist while trying to escape the office building.

Looking for a street sign, he struggled to figure out where he was in the city. But, did it really matter?

Wondering aimlessly, all he could see were similar buildings. Another maze, only on a grander scale.

Sometime along the way, he found his way to Federal Plaza.

Under normal circumstances, the location would be mundane since he spent so much time there. But, under these strange ones, it was unimaginable how thrilled he was to see something familiar, to be able to walk through the front doors and ride an elevator up to the twenty-first floor, before finding his way up to his own office.

It was amazing to sit down at his desk and in his chair.

Powering on his computer, he began to poke through the files on his desk and tried to do a little work.

If nothing else, it was a comforting balm to his soul to be somewhere that felt normal and safe and to do something that he was good at. But, then anything would feel good compared to his strange situation.

At least feeling like he'd spent an eternity at his desk wasn't scary, that was another normal feeling.

However, there came a point where even doing the familiar in a comfortable place got tiring.

He was reluctant to leave the confines of the bureau, to go back to wandering aimlessly around endless blocks of the city.

Another wave of depression had him curling up and crying into his folded arms on his desk.

Could he ever go home again?

Eventually, the bouts of homesickness got too strong and he ventured back out of the safe confines of the bureau.

It had been another indeterminable amount of time before he found himself in another familiar environment… his neighborhood.

Picking up his pace, he hurried to find his way around and through until he came upon his own house.

Walking up the stairs, he felt the tears running down his face. He was home!

Opening the door, he was welcomed by absolute silence. It was as if his wife was out with Satchmo and he had no idea when they would be returning. Still, at least he was home.

Wondering about his house, he felt like a ghost haunting his own home.

He could interact with anything as he usually did. He could do his puzzles in pen while sitting at the table like he usually did, and there would be new ones lying on the table from time to time. If the television was on, it would play baseball no matter what time of day he tuned in or what channel he selected. He could curl up on his bed and close his eyes, but he wasn't sure if he slept or if he was just going through the motions. At least he could read… he read or skimmed through every book in the house that he could get his hands on.

But there was no one, no time, and no way to explain what was happening to him.

When he thought he'd lose his mind at home, he decided to take another walk through the city. Maybe he could find the exit to this madness?

Instead, he found his way to the mansion on Riverside and wandered his way up four flights of stairs to explore the loft.

Rather than strange, it felt like he was taking a look through Neal's things while he wasn't home. He wasn't usually one to pry unless he had suspicions, but it wouldn't hurt to poke around and see if there was anything that he'd missed.

Opening anything and everything that he could, he found an interesting assortment of hidey holes. However, they didn't hold much of anything, just what appeared to be random stuff thrown there to mess with him. It was probably too risky for Neal to keep anything real on hand, in the loft.

Which was an interesting idea… what if he hid something in the mansion itself beyond the confines of the loft?

Since he wasn't exactly in normal circumstances, what would it hurt to poke around in general?

Not wanting to invade too much of June's privacy, he started by poking around on the balcony just outside of the loft.

As he did so, he found that one of the bricks shifted and slid out revealing a little cache behind it.

Reaching in, he pulled out an odd assortment of things. Three really: one was a gun, another was a folded piece of paper, and the last was a black wallet.

The gun was a strange find, not something that he expected to find supposedly in Neal's possession, especially since it was a real 9mm similar to his bureau issue, and loaded.

Then the black wallet also looked familiar, because it turned out not to be a wallet, but a badge case. Flipping it open showed a CIA badge and an ID for Bryce Larkin.

He sat at the table staring at them for quite some time. He just couldn't fathom what they meant.

But, when he got around to unfolding the page, he read the answers to his questions. It was an undercover assignment where Agent Larkin performed as an alternate version of himself, Neal Caffrey. They were pursuing some public corruption related to his family's past.

Staring off into space, he lost his focus for a while as he pondered the meaning of what he'd found… along with the consequences if this was anywhere near reality.

But, when he looked back down to look at it again, he found that everything had vanished.

It was similar to at his home. Much like the puzzles would appear; they would also disappear. He'd read a book, and then he'd find it back on the shelf if he'd left it anywhere too long.

Was this some sort of reset of this strange place, or was he somehow just in a slightly different dimension than he had been, but able to interact with his world?

Those were new thoughts now that he considered them. How could he find an answer though? It wasn't like he'd met anyone, or that he could interact with anything outside of a limited number of locations… anywhere that seemed to be familiar to him.

Stuck for an answer, he didn't know what to do. He'd explored work, home, and Neal's. If he went back out into the city, who knew where he'd find himself… would he continue to explore random locations, end up back in that strange office building, or would he maybe find an escape?

With nothing else for it after a while, he struck out into the city again. Fingers crossed, he'd find the exit this time!

Thank you, everyone, for reading, leaving kudos, and reviewing :D

I've shifted my posting time slightly to Monday or Tuesday since I've been doing stretches of shifts on and around the weekends with little time for myself.