Inside a particular household:
The usual silence of the house was constantly broken by the two middle schoolers who ran around.
They were frantic, after all, they woke up pretty late today, and the bus would arrive any second now.
The mother of the household was calm and collected, already used to such a sight. She was in the kitchen, preparing a packed lunch for the kids to take to school.
And in the middle of such a productive and frantic morning, only a single person was slacking off in the living room.
The person was, of course, the man of the house, who was obviously me.
I just stared at the busy morning of the bunch and heaved a sigh of exhaustion.
I leaned against the soft, comfy couch with the newspaper in hand while I adjusted my framed glasses on my face.
How did I end up here?
This would be the question you might have on your mind.
The answer was pretty simple–
I just barged in.
Yes, and they didn't question it.
I just barged in and took the place of their father; my identity here is false.
My identity here is a lie.
I pretended to read the blurry headlines as the woman inside the kitchen made her way towards me with a glass of coffee in hand.
She didn't speak or even glance at me; she just placed the tea on the coffee table and returned to what she was doing.
"Thanks, dear." I, of course, being the grateful man I was, thanked her.
She, however, didn't acknowledge or reply to my thanks and just continued with what she was doing.
She just ignored me…like always.
Well, do I care? I would be if it were a human and not a mass of snakes holding a humanoid form.
Anyways.
The husband certainly existed.
Yes, he did. When I entered the house, he certainly was here.
But things changed the moment I took my eyes off him for a moment.
I don't know when it happened or why, but I just took his place in this household.
His existence was usurped by mine.
Which is quite a scary scenario.
Imagine a doppelganger living with your family, disguising itself as you while you were erased from existence.
I'm not even a doppelganger, I don't even look like him, I'm human.
…
I'm not sure if the guy was erased or not, but he isn't here anymore.
I took the teacup in hand and brought it closer to my lips, while my eyes were still on the incomprehensible newspaper.
And just when it was about to graze my pink, plump lips, I stopped…
I stopped when the teacup was just moments away from my lips, my eyes left the papers and focused on the teacup.
"Well, hello there, little guy."
The slithery bastard on the cup, however, didn't respond but just stared at me with its pitch black eyes.
Instead of black coffee, I got a snake.
A black, curled-up snake.
In a teacup.
Well, well, well.
I put the newspaper back onto the coffee table and slowly stood up with the teacup in hand.
I turned towards the kitchen counter, my eyes locking onto my ''wife'.
And then with a deep breath and no hesitation, I hurled the teacup towards her with all my strength.
"THIS TEA IS DAMN COLD!"
Well, what a good husband I am, kindly letting my ''wife' know about her mistakes.
The teacup flew towards her within seconds and smashed right into her face.
And then, silence.
All around the house, silence.
The kids stopped and just stared at their mother.
The older sister slowly pulled her brother back towards their room while looking at their mother.
The mother, the one who was just attacked, didn't speak or retaliate; she just stood there with pieces of the broken teacup around her foot.
Seconds ticked by as we both had a staredown, my human eyes and her nonexistent snake skin eyes.
You might feel bad for her, but check this out.
And after what felt like thirty or so seconds, I turned around and got back onto the couch.
Here we go again.
I closed my eyes and leaned back while relaxing my body.
1 second…2 seconds…3seconds…4…and 5!
The silence was broken again, the kids started to continue what they were doing again, and I opened my eyes again.
This was the current situation.
Whenever I take my eyes off them, everything returns to how it was.
No matter what I did, even if I kill one of them, they will return the moment I take my eyes off them.
I have even tried to permanently kill them for research purposes, but it didn't work.
This is the 16th time this has happened.
And just like last time, the woman returned to the coffee table with a teacup in hand. She placed it on the table while ignoring me and went back to the kitchen.
I took the teacup in hand and just tossed it behind me with an uninterested expression.
No matter what I do, it will be reversed when I stop looking at them.
The second result I gained from my interaction with the snakes was this.
I am not sure if this applies to the other snakes though, I haven't tried that yet.
This was my second result, the first one was that one in the restaurant when I inquired about that woman's appearance.
Anyways.
This is day 1, although there is no day-night cycle, the clocks still work.
The clocks work, albeit a bit strangely.
I glanced at my silver watch, which I obviously stole from my previous husband, and checked the time.
It was going on a normal pace with no oddity in its speed.
It was going on a normal pace backwards.
So actually this is day -1.
Either way, as long as it works, I have no problem with it.
Floating umbrellas in the sky, a black and white colour scheme, strange snake humans and now time is going in reverse.
What's next?
…
I abruptly stood up and made my way towards the front door without a word to my 'family'.
This is enough interacting with these ones, I need to choose my next targets.
I need to know how each one of them reacts to me, would they act as if it's normal, or would they notice my difference?
If possible, I need to find a snake person of the latter.
I don't know whether I have a time limit or not, and even if I don't, I prefer finishing it as quickly as possible.
I just need to discover what the final instruction meant by the truths and lies.
Families/households could be written off now.
Wait…that doesn't make sense, right? I only checked one family. What if the other households are different from it? Well, the thing is, we have no other households.
This was the only family in this city, and now I made their kids fatherless and caused the wife to be a widow.
What a horrible person I am.
I opened the door silently, and the moment it did, the clattering behind me stopped. All the noise faded, and thus did their causes.
I glanced behind me, towards the family that was as still as rocks with intrigue.
Interesting.
And then I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.
My next target has been decided, and it is right in front of me.
Yep, just right in front of me.
I glanced at the huge sign that read 'motel' with an embarrassed smile and opened the door.
Door after door, with the gap of only a foot.
Yes, both the motel and the house were only separated by a distance of a foot.
Strange place indeed.
I couldn't help the smile that crept up my face alongside the embarrassment that tried to stop me from entering.
Remember, although the city is not real, it still has some places from my memories.
And this particular motel is one of my precious memories.
Seriously? Why did it have to be this place though?