u/OasisSpades

The Garden
** **
In The Beginning…
 
He awoke in a gasp for life. His lungs filled with the crisp air of the morning fog as he let out a dampened cough. His eyes squinting at the piercing light hung above the land as his hands brushed against the dewy grass he was sitting upon.
 
What he saw was something we all would cherish dearly. The ever-expanding horizon of lush greenery and wilderness. Gardens upon gardens of seed-bearing plants and fruit bearing trees aligned perfectly into rows, enveloping the staggering hills and valleys set forth as far as the eye could see.
 
The multitude of green leaves and greener shrubs, wildflowers of all colors and exotic plants, blurred together into an almost incomprehensible pallet of vivid nature. Spores and pollen mimicking that of a parade of white-velvet streams and ribbons, floating through the air as the sun’s light gleamed against them.
 
The land was alive. Birds flew through the bustling forests which hung with vines from their branches and ivy strung knitted across their bark. Every moss covered stone and mushroom’s cap sprung forth life as small critters played endlessly in the forest’s thick. Four-legged beasts danced in the fields and along the winding sapphire streams in coalition with the insects which sang songs that vibrated delightfully in the swaying grass.
 
The burning bowl of light in the sky engulfed in puffy white clouds of pure cotton and silk, swirled together like shimmering pearls cast into the bluest depths of the shallowest oceans. The infinite array of stars meant to brighten the darkness of night could still be seen sprinkled about throughout the midday's vault. Every direction Adam looked he could not help but notice the indescribable beauty of this place.
 
All of this and more could be said about the lands of Eden. The Garden of the world and birthplace of Man. But, when Adam awoke, he was alone for a moment. Nothing but the sounds of nature and the stillness of understanding. He was engulfed in emotions he had never experienced. He knew things but did not know how.
 
He felt a connection to this world that he could not explain. Kindred belonging to the beasts of this land, creatures of the water and fowls of the air yet, he felt indifferent. Adam could feel a tickle on his cheek. When his hand left the wet grass he held a single tear which met with the dew cupped in his palm. he watched as the water from his eyes mixed with the water from the earth. And then he heard His word.
 
A voice deep and ancient pierced Adam's thoughts. He felt the ground tremble as the spell reached his ears. Forms began to morph in his mind as ideas began to take shape. The dew clinging to the grass quivered as the shadows cast from the trees thinned. Adam did not fear this voice. The voice bellowed strength but left Adam feeling gracious and at peace. He instinctively knew to answer to the voice.
 
“Hello Adam…”

My head feels light, but my eyes are heavy still. Like I just woke up from a mid-day nap. One of those naps where you dream of something very specific but lose the thought of it the moment you wake up, but the feeling is still there scratching at your skin. Kind of like a panicked breath but you’re not sure why you’re fighting for air…
 
I don’t remember going to sleep or waking up. All I remember is being led out of the house by my mother. I was still wiping the blur from my eyes and squinting at the light as the door opened before me. The sun was just beginning to set. Its light cascading onto the shingled roof tops from the houses across the street and casting shadows of the lamp posts along the road and sidewalks. At least I think that was my mother…
 
I do not recall actually seeing her or talking to her. I do recall feeling her hand on my shoulder and the warmth of her presence almost forcing me, in a polite manner, to go play outside with my friends before dark, though she never actually spoke to me. I could feel her smile as if she was in a good mood, which was weird to me because lately, it seemed she was never in a good mood. She always had a sort of somber look to her like our family pet just died or that she just lost her job. Not like when I was younger. She was always so happy then. I am not sure what changed over the years, but at that moment, standing on the cement patio leading up from the front stairs to our home, I was just kind of happy that she was happy…
 
When the door shut behind me, I looked around, but I didn’t see much. There were no kids playing in the streets. No cars driving by. Weird enough, I could still hear the bustle of the neighborhood. Children yelling in the distance. The echo of a basketball hitting the pavement. Even a faint car horn like that of a friendly neighbor waving from their station wagon as they drove past. But when I searched for the kids playing or moving cars, there were none. Everything was standing still in place, and no one was around. Even the sun looked strange. Like it wanted to go down behind the pine trees surrounding our little suburb, but it just couldn’t move. It seemed dimmer than usual and the shadows it cast seemed faint and stretched thin. Lighter even, like you could accidently brush them away… 
 
I realized I hadn’t moved from the porch, yet I was standing on the grass in my front yard. I wasn’t sure how long I had been there. It didn’t seem to matter how long I stood there; I just couldn’t shake that groggy feeling. I did feel kind of happy though. A strange sense of joy overtaking the doubt that something was wrong or out of place here. It felt sort of fake or manufactured. Like that dizzy feeling you get from too much laughing gas at the dentist.
 
As familiar as everything felt and looked, it all seemed off. The houses were all painted with this limited palette of dirty pastels and their windows seemed out of place, disproportionate, as if they didn’t really belong to those specific homes. The cars parked in their driveways were all older models, like from the 70’s or 80’s but they all looked brand new like they had never been driven. There was no wind, no light breeze, like that of a normal day, even when the air was still. I could hear birds singing their usual songs, but I couldn’t make out a single one in the sky. The grass looked like a shade of green I had never seen before. Darker and longer, thicker even. Like toy grass or grass that you would see in a children’s book. Something felt suspiciously off about the whole thing. The neighborhood, the houses, their yards, even my mother… It’s strange you see, as I do not remember this place, but I feel the comfort and familiarity that I have been here before…
 
I suddenly felt the urge to move and explore my surroundings. I felt heavy, as if my limbs were filled with static. That same tingly feeling you get when your arm or leg falls asleep. As I walked it didn’t take much physical effort, but it felt exhausting to my mind like I had to think really hard in order to lift one foot after the other. It was that same feeling of trying to run from something in your dream, but no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t move fast enough. Before I knew it, I was at the end of the road looking back at the row of houses next to mine. It was a struggle to move, but once I was there, it felt immediate, like I was always there…
 
The weirdest part of all was the feeling of that unnatural joy, that intoxicating gratification that came along with familiarity, slowly slipping away. I wanted to return home. To wake up from this dream and to see my mother again. To tell her about my experience in this strange place and to feel her warm glow as she listens with a smile, embracing me, telling me everything is going to be ok and what a weird dream that was but it’s over now…
 
Looking back at the faintly colored suburban homes, blending together like paint blotches melting into a canvas, I couldn’t remember which one was mine. I had just come from my own yard, from my own home… How is this even possible? Panic filled my chest like that of a child being lost at their local mall for the first time, frantically searching for that familiar face of a parent or sibling.  I wanted to cry but physically couldn’t. I felt so alone in that moment – so scared and confused all of a sudden – but just then, I heard it…
 
At first it sounded like a whisper. A whisper you could hear from anywhere, no matter how far away you were from its source.  A whisper so loud it pierced my ears and startled me. I Jolted back to see more of those same pastel homes repeating for miles like a copy and paste nightmare, only being divided by perfectly square yards, picket fences, and winding streets. But something seemed different about one of the houses. This house was further down the line so I couldn’t quite make out all of the details. It seemed the longer you looked at all of those houses, perfectly lined up, one after another for as far as the eye could see, the more it made your stomach hurt.
 
But I could still see it. I don’t think I was supposed to see it. I really don’t think it wanted me to see it, but I did…
 
It looked like a black smudge peering around the corner from one of those houses. Even though there were a dozen houses between us, it still stood out like a sore thumb. It had oddly thin arms which were wrapped around the front of the house, like it was embracing the side of the dwelling, trying not to be seen. I couldn’t make out much more than that because the moment I saw it; it knew, and it quickly vanished behind the home. The way it moved bothered me. An unnatural bending of ligaments and tendons. the way it peeled itself from the wall and slithered behind the house and out of sight…
 
From the dim light of the never-setting sun to the dirty pastel-colored houses perfectly lining the streets, this thing did not belong here, just as much as I did not belong here…

Then we can all vote on the best one in the comments.

I’ll go first.

Post apocalyptic setting where you scavenge for resources and build a settlement. You need to gather water, food (hunting), wood and metal to build with. Pretty much you take chances by sending your starting settlers (drawn from a random card pile?) out and explore the unforgiving wasteland and fight mutated creatures (dice rolls, combat mechanics, etc.). Settlers can have various abilities like medic, hunter, solider, teacher, builder, etc. Then when you and the other players have created decent settlements, you can fight each other or create trade routes and dominate the other player’s settlements together (secret pacts and all). Winner finds the last nuke known to man and uses it lol