Realization

I was lost. I didn't know where I was, where I was going, who, or what, I was searching for, but I knew I was searching for something.

Aimlessly wandering for 18 hours and 13 minutes gives you lots of time to try and figure things out, but when you have no foundation to start your thinking on, it tends not to go too far. Eventually, you're left to wander, by yourself, and make sad attempts at figuring out what you're doing.

The streets were abandoned, the houses were empty, windows in buildings were smashed, gas station pumps were out of the ground on their sides, many street lights were burnt out, and it was the heaviest silence I've ever heard.

As I had seen the town from a fair distance away, I had hoped to find whatever it was I was searching for here, but as I entered the town, I had a feeling I wouldn't be finding it here.

I entered the town warily. Not knowing what to expect I made sure to make little noise. The streets went by numbers, 5th Avenue, 8th Avenue, 9th Avenue, etc. Trying to get some human knowledge, of date or time, I headed over to the gas station.

As I entered the building of the gas station the door fell off its top hinge. I didn't jump, for some reason I had expected this. I walked up to the counter, trying to find a clock, or datebook, I would go on anything at this point in time. I hopped the counter and scrounged through the shelves behind. There were cigarettes, multiple receipts, a few old chocolate bars, which I put in my pocket for later, and an old watch. The watch showed 10:12, I prayed for the hands to move so I'd know it was true. They never did. I hopped back over the counter, leaving the watch there, and went back out to the abandoned streets.

I walked over to the crosswalk. The streetlight above me flickered, and went out. I sprinted across the street, feeling I was going to get hit by an invisible car or something. As I passed a big red brick building, I caught my reflection in what was left of a window.

It hit, it hit hard, and it hit too late. The streets flooded with cars and honking horns, the street lights all came back on to their brightest ability, people were getting gas from the gas stations, now fully revived, the windows of buildings were no longer broken, and you could hear the sounds of children and parents in their home, of neighbours having bonfires, and the cheery hello's of people passing eachother on the street.

This time it hit on time. I found it. The numbers you want are everywhere if you look for them.