The sun is almost over the horizon, leaving a bright orange glow across the countryside. It has been a long journey for Jasper, and he is growing tired and thirsty. He comes across an abandoned farm. Tall weeds have overgrown the field, making navigation toward the farmhouse difficult. An old barn sits across the field, crumbled to nothing but rubble from years of weathering and an apparent fire. After struggling with his horse through the weeds, Jasper reaches the house.

Jasper dismounts his horse and ties the reigns to a fence post. At the edge of the main walkway, Jasper sees a water pump. It’s a little rusted, so he has to force the handle to move. After a few pumps, water flows as intended. He holds up his canteen and fills it, then takes a few sips and fills it again for later use.

There’s a chance that some preserved food could be inside yet, however remote that chance may be. Jasper turns the doorknob and pushes the door. It creaks open, swinging a little crooked on the hinges. A feeling of déjà vu hits Jasper on entry. After pausing for a moment, he proceeds across the living room to the kitchen. There were no second guesses as to where the kitchen was. For some reason, he knows the layout of the rooms.

He opens the pantry door to an awful odor. Several cockroaches run by his feet. Spider webs are all over the shelves. Jars of fruit preserves have mold growing inside them. Nothing looks edible here. He checks the cupboards. There are several plates and mugs, but no food remains.

As he exit’s the kitchen, he passes the fireplace. A poker sticks upright with a dark red tinge to it. Is that blood? More blood stains the wood floor near the back of the living room. Something is calling Jasper to walk toward the hallway to the bedrooms. He doesn’t know what this pull is, but he follows it.

Down the hallway, he comes to a child’s room. Other than a thick layer of dust on the furniture and spider webs where the walls meet the ceiling in all four corners, the room looks like it was preserved in its last state of use. The child’s bed has pillows and stuffed animals. On the floor, along the wall, are several more stuffed animals and homepage Viking toys. It’s so familiar. There is nothing of use, so Jasper leaves the room.

He stumbles over a wrinkled rug in the center of the floor, landing face-down. As he gets to his feet, he notices something. The pattern of the wood floor under the rug runs the other direction. He pushes the rug to one side, revealing a trap door. Suddenly it comes to him! Jasper was home.  He begins to sob.