Freak Accident: Alex's Mystic Odyssey

"Alex! That's not for you, sweetie. It's for the babies." His mother said as she put away the spray bottle. Alex didn't like his mother spraying all of the animals, but it was better than the daycare lady. She had made him sit still in a chair, and she squirted water directly in his face.

Alex looked at the cows, who were staring at him with big eyes. He and all of the other kids had been told to move the cows into their pens so they could be milked, but he wanted to play with them first. The cows mooed as if they agreed, and they charged towards Alex, knocking him over as they began licking him. Alex let out a giggle.

"Mommy!" he called out, "I'm having fun!"

"Alex, please!" his mother yelled back at him. She was outside on the lawn spraying down all of the dogs that were running around in circles. All of the animals were acting strange today. Her job was to clean them up after each birth cycle so that they would more easily breed, and it looked like it was going to be a long day.

Alex spent some time playing with each animal before deciding to head back inside himself to get a snack before lunchtime arrived. He walked through the field that separated the house from the barns and kennels, but noticed something odd about one of the houses today. It seemed... different? That wasn't exactly right--more like *off*, somehow. The house looked identical to all of the other houses on this property, but something about it just felt... wrong. The windows seemed crooked, but that was impossible since they always appeared level because of how the house sat on its foundation (which itself sat slightly crooked). Maybe it was just shadows? Or his imagination?

He went inside, noticing that everything else seemed normal enough inside as well. The kitchen floor was covered in crumbs from yesterday's cookies and juice stains from when he had fallen asleep while drinking last night (it'd been an exciting day!). The living room furniture had been thrown around by his sister during her tantrums when Mommy wouldn't let her go outside and play with her toys in the dirt like she usually did on Tuesdays (the rest of us got to go out there every day). His bedroom door was open, revealing a disheveled mess that he had left behind after sneaking out of his window earlier in the morning when Mommy hadn't allowed him to go outside with everyone else either (and why had she been so grumpy? She'd barely let anyone else play with them too!). But everything else seemed spotless otherwise and smelled fresh and clean, despite how messed-up things looked from where he stood now. How could it have been cleaned so quickly already? Had Dad gotten home early? He probably should have thought to look for him when he came back inside instead of going straight for snacks; Dad never liked being left alone for too long when Mommy was gone!

He grabbed himself a cookie and sat down on his bed to eat it as he started wondering if Dad might have decided to take him somewhere today instead of staying home alone again as he normally did during Mommy's work days like today since she'd already asked him not to go into work today if he could avoid it (something about needing everyone here to do their jobs today... Alex couldn't understand why she'd want that without even telling any of them what those jobs were supposed to be). He'd asked her once why she came home so tired all of the time these days and even sometimes cried herself to sleep at night before leaving again in the morning for more of whatever 'work' she was doing now instead of staying home like Dad did most days instead anymore; maybe he could ask her again today! There must be some special reason why she needed money now other than selling stuff at garage sales or letting Dad buy new things for her whenever he felt like it although sometimes those new things would make her very sad instead of happy which made Alex sad too because even though she didn't always seem happy when they gave them to her anyway she always seemed happier afterwards than before which meant they must have given her something good after all! Maybe she would feel happier if Dad stopped buying stupid things and bought her something nice instead...?

A loud crash interrupted his thoughts; something sounded like it broke upstairs! Alex jumped up from his bed and ran down through the house until he reached its bottom floor once more only to find that nothing looked out-of-place any longer there either! How had everything gotten fixed so fast again? He must have imagined hearing anything break upstairs! Now he really needed to look for Daddy; maybe asking about what Mommy does for work again might cheer both of them up this afternoon instead...