Slowly a young man, early in his twenties, opened his eyes, and gave an audible yawn. Then he wiped his eyes, and stretched his legs out, and threw his legs to the right, before making a couple steps towards the light switch to his room. When he reached towards it, however, he froze, and slowly looked around the room he was in. "What the..." he began, panic starting to quickly build up, as he looked around, and could see the condition his bedroom was in.

Cobwebs surrounded most of the room, only ending where his bed was, with an unusual light illuminating from the top of the mattress, which was the only object in the whole room that wasn't worn by age. He also noticed another thing wrong with this picture; the entire wall that was originally at the left side of the bed was missing, showing the whole neighborhood that he lived in. Every single house that covered the once bright and sunny streets were worn, broken down, and completely unlivable, while the streets were littered with old rusty vehicles that had moss, branches, and countless numbers of weeds growing from inside them.

"Please, if this is a dream, then wake me up!" The man stuttered, as he reached for the light switch again. When he found it, he quickly flicked it, only for his hopes to be shattered when he saw that it didn't turn the light on. Then, he walked towards the bed again, and sat on the covers, which he quickly regretted, as the only light in the room, the one from the covers, vanished into the darkness, leaving only the lights from the odd glowing mushrooms that littered the streets outside visible.

Reaching into his right pocket, the man pulled out a touch-screen phone, and turned it on. When it powered up, his eyes widened when it said the date. "No, this can't be right!" He said, as he saw the calendar say, "October 15, 102015". Out of confusion, he popped his forehead with his hand, and confirmed his fears. "I'm not asleep..." Then, he burst into tears, as he came to the most painful realization he ever felt; everything, and everyone he knew, is dead.

He was curled in a ball, listening to the messages he had on his phone... all five hundred of them. The last few were the ones that hurt him the most... the last one being his youngest brother calling him. His voice confirmed that he wasn't a child anymore, but in fact, an elderly man. "Hey, Justin... I'm sorry I haven't called you lately. Listen, I want to say that, if you're mad at us, then please forgive us for whatever we did that caused you to shut us out. I know Ethan, mom, and dad would've said the same thing if they were still around." Then on the other line, a weak-sounding cough could be heard. "Sorry, Justin... I don't think I'm gonna be around much longer, with this flu I've got... you should know, since you were seventy before me, after all!" His brother started chuckling, before his coughing interrupted his message again. "Anyways, if you ever get this, I wanted to let you know we all love you... and we miss you. Please... forgive us for whatever we did wrong." Finally, a lot more coughing could be heard, before a female's voice could be heard in the background, and a loud thud soon followed.

"Tyler, what's wrong? ...Tyler?! Tyler! Justin, quick! Call the doctor!"

Then, a younger-sounding man's voice could be heard in the background. "Mom? What's wrong with dad?!" Before the response could be heard, however, the line cut out.

Justin sat there in silence, before turning the phone off, and placing it back in his right pocket. Then, he slipped out of bed again, and looked at the entrance to his room. There, he spotted a pile of withered plants that he guessed were once potted, due to the dust around them. He had a feeling some of his family thought he was dead, while others considered him alive, but in a deep sleep, because he found an old voice recorder near a baby picture of himself. When he picked both of them up, he looked at the picture first, and weakly smiled. "This... must've been from Ethan." Ethan, of course, was his younger brother as well, although only by a year. When he hit the "Play" button on the recorder, he could tell right away that this must've been Ethan, because he sounded like he had a guitar in his hands.

"Hey, Justin, it's Ethan. Listen, I know that it's tough what you're gonna go through. Y'know, I learned to accept the fact that you're stuck in some sort of weird age thing that we can't even get close to you by. If you ever manage to wake up, and none of us are around, I just want you to know that we love you, bro... and that I joined a band for once! We're still working out a name for it. Maybe 'Wonder Bolts', or something like that. I don't know. Something that would make us feel like you're still with us. Yes, I know you're a brony, always watching that show, but hey, I don't judge you... never have, and never will." He paused for a moment, before the sound of an amplifier turning on rung through the phone. "My bad... anyways, I just wanted to play something for you. Maybe something you'll remember me by, in case you outlive us." With that, he played "I Need Some Sleep" by the band, "Eels".

When the song was over, Justin couldn't control his tears any longer, while the sound of sobbing from the recorder could be heard. "You just need your sleep, Justin... and when you wake up, you're gonna have to let it go... just don't forget us!" Then, Ethan smirked. "Heck, if you forget me, then you'll forget the best-looking guy to ever exist!" After a small delay, he said, "Although I gotta admit, age is starting to get to me, while you still look like you're in your freakin' twenties!"

Ten seconds after that statement, an elderly lady's voice in the background said, "Ethan, can I talk to him, please? I'd... like to say something as well." The sound of a handheld device being transferred buzzed through the recorder, while the elder said, "Hey, Justin! It's me, your mom... although I kinda feel like your grandma at this point! Anyways, I just wanted to say that I love you, and so does Ethan... we hope you get well soon... hopefully before I... y'know... before I pass on. I'd love to see your beautiful eyes again, and hug you one last time..." Then, she kissed the recorder, before saying, "I love you, Justin."

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Justin replied, "I love you too, mom..." before the recording ended. Then he stood up, and looked around some more, before finding a framed note, with the signatures of most of his family; his three brothers, mom, dad, stepmother, niece, nephew, and a few more names that must've been the children and grandchildren of his brothers. "I love you all..."

Justin walked through the deserted streets, wearing his black sweater below his hooded jacket, with the neck piece of the sweater below the hood, and zipped over his mouth and nose, blocking off any dust that flew from the town, which there was quite an abundance of. He started to feel hungry, but right away, he also knew that he couldn't eat anything in the whole town, due to it being completely deserted for who-knows-how-long, with the chances of any food being at least thousands of years out-of-date.

When he made it to the outskirts of the town, he froze in place, as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Beyond the road was a possible thousand-foot drop, which ended in lava at the very bottom. What surprised him, though, was the fact that he couldn't see anything beyond it for miles on end... almost like the whole town was either on a floating rock, or a large Mesa. Seeing no way out of the town, he turned back, and headed towards his house again.