It's a beautiful, dark autumn morning. I awake to my alarm clock, 6 a.m, as always. After a deep, relaxing breath in, a satisfying yawn, and and energizing breath out, I head to the kitchen to cook some eggs and bacon and brew a few cups of coffee. I sprinkle the coffee into a filter, fill up the pot with hot water, and begin the brew cycle. I turn around, open up my refrigerator to grab the eggs and bacon, and notice something strange happening from within. The refrigerator light bulb flashes a few times, almost like a wink, like it is beckoning me. Then it begins blinking rhythmically, first as one color, then as multiple colors. The refrigerator begins to shake and I back up from it. It rattles back and forth like a washing machine filled with too many heavy, wet clothes. The light flashes crazy colors through the dark room Then, the world shakes violently, and I fall to the cold kitchen floor and wait for the madness to end.

I'm not entirely sure how much time has passed, but I come to in the same spot on the floor, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The coffee is ready, the refrigerator is closed and seemingly normal, and the house and infrastructure, so far as I can tell, have remained sturdy. I check around the house for any holes or cracks that might have appeared, but find nothing. Absolutely nothing is different in the house. I quickly call my girlfriend, a beautiful young lady from just across the neighborhood. She and I live only a few blocks apart, she must have experienced the same crazy earthquake. While the phone rings, I turn on the television to check the news, but she answers quickly so I pay no attention.

"Hey, babe!" She says cheerfully.

"Lisa, are you okay!? Is everything alright!?" There's no panic in my voice, only alertness and surprise.

"Yeah of course!" She giggles. "Why do you always ask that? I'm FINE!"

I exhale deeply, a sigh of relief. "Thank God, I was worried that the earthquake might have hit while you were still asleep. I just wanted to make sure that--"

"While I was still... what?" She asked, confused. "I didn't hear that last word."

"While you were still asleep, babe. I was worried you might have been knocked out by the lamp on your bedside table or that your bed had fallen apart like it did the last time we--"

"Babe, what does that word mean? And what earthquake are you talking about? There was no earthquake today."

I get frustrated easily. "The earthquake, Lisa! It literally just happened like three minutes ago! You live just across town, there's no way it hit me and not you!"

"Adison, I have no idea what you're talking about." She says, innocently and playfully, but truthfully. I can always tell when she's kidding around. "What happened, babe?"

"Well," I replied "I woke up this morning to make some breakfast, opened my refrigerator, some weird shit started happening then there was this earthquake. Babe, it was pretty powerful I'm not sure how you didn't feel it. This sucker knocked me to the ground and I blacked out for a little while. I woke up just a few minutes ago and thought immediately to check on you."

"Oh my God, Adison, are you alright!? Are you hurt or cut or anything?"

"No. I'm fine, surprisingly. Even my house is fine. I checked all the walls and everything seems to be okay."

"What weird stuff are you talking about?"

"The refrigerator." I say cautiously. I didn't want her to think I was crazy. "The refrigerator light bulb was blinking all kinds of different colors and it started shaking, just before the earthquake."

"Well that certainly is weird." She says, still in a state of confusion. "Now again, what did you say you were doing this morning? You said some word I just can't pick up on it."

I automatically assume she's accusing me of something. "I was sleeping, Lisa. I was asleep. Remember? I have a pretty important job interview with Aldi this morning. I wasn't going to waste a valuable night's rest by going out behind your back."

"Babe, I don't know what that word means. You and I did go out last night, we were out until about four in the morning, at which point we began our walk home from the city, I just dropped you off forty minutes ago. Are you still drunk? You seemed pretty sober when I left your place."

I pause. She pauses. Did I go out last night? Did I go out with Lisa last night? No. I went to sleep. What does she mean she doesn't understand the word sleep?

"Lisa, you know what sleep is, don't play games with me. And last night--"

"Adison, I don't know what that word means, could you please tell me what it means so we can get on with the conversation?"

"Sleep, Lisa! The thing every single person does every single night. Usually for around eight hours with their eyes closed breathing heavily, except for you it's only like five since you're an inhuman monster."

"I've never done that before. And neither have you! Why are you doing it now? Is this some kind of new drug you're trying, Adison? Be careful with that stuff it can cause strange things to happen to you."

I become entirely puzzled. What the hell is going on here? What does she mean she doesn't sleep and I don't sleep? I relax my arm and allow my hand and the phone to drop to my thigh. I look out the window, towards downtown, and it is much, much bigger than I remember it being. It spreads across the entire horizontal skyline, like nothing I've ever seen. This place was much smaller yesterday, but today it's huge. Something is wrong here, something is very wrong. I pick up the phone again in a bit of a panic.

"Wait, so you don't sleep!?" I ask Lisa in a loud, scared voice.

"No, Adison! At least, I don't think! If it's some kind of drug then maybe I'll try it but you need to get off it right now I already don't like what it's done to you."

"I'll talk to you shortly," I snap. "I love you, bye." And I end the call.

I finally get the chance to actually watch the news. I turn up the volume on the tv, hear the "bing bing" of a text on my phone, probably, no... definitely from Lisa. I ignore it for the time being and pay close attention to the news report. She's standing somewhere near Los Angeles. I don't really hear what she's saying because I'm too busy noticing the sheer size of the buildings behind her. The city is huge and I'm not quite sure how it got that way. I quickly grab my phone, ignore Lisa's text, and google image a few other cities. And, just as I suspected, they're all completely huge. I look outside my kitchen window again to look at downtown Pittsburgh. The sun is slowly coming up, and as it does, I notice a large group of people beginning to walk towards it, which is odd, because the city is at least a twenty minute drive from here, let alone a walk. They're all going to be late.

What is happening today? I'm so confused I don't even know what to think. Oh well. If I don't get ready for my interview, I'm going to be late just like those idiots walking. So I shower, get dressed and head out the door to find... no car. "Where is my car!?" I scream into the air. I look around wondering what the hell is going on.

What a weird morning.