Reality

"Hey, can I stay here?"

It was a normal day. Completely normal. You'd had a great morning with your loved ones, you ate breakfast, showered, laughed and had a great time in your back garden. You'd spent quite a bit of time looking after your prized plants, but that was normal for you. Everyone knew where to find you on days like this, so you never had to worry about being alone for too long. Not that you minded, the company that always ended up in your presence was a nice one.

The afternoon had been spent tidying up your home, sweeping, mopping, dusting, sorting, wiping, whatever you could think of. Music played in the background, occasionally you would sing a little bit, maybe dance. You'd been left alone during this time, everyone else going off to do their own thing, which gave you time alone. You felt quite lucky, happy even. It was time like these that you found yourself wondering about things. Philosophical things sometimes, other times silly things that made you laugh at nothing.

Things like, who invented the idea of time? Someone had to have come up with the concept, or was it always there, like basic knowledge? You were sure that someone had the answer to that question, though everyone you had asked didn't know the answer.

Or, if some humans ate other humans, does that mean some aliens eat other aliens? Further, if you are an extraterrestrial cannibal, what happens if all the aliens die? Or if you are left stranded in a place with no aliens? Would you die, or would you switch eating habits?

Or, the stars, were they really there? Were they just bits of rubble and scraps of things floating in the outer atmosphere of the planet? And why do stars twinkle? If there were really there, somewhere out in the universe, why do they twinkle? If they were so far away, how could you still see them?

Your most recent perplexing thought, was, other dimensions. Dimensions or other timelines where there might be another one of you. There was an infinite amount of timelines that you could hypothetically exist on, because there was an infinite amount of possibilities. There could be a timeline where you're working for NASA, and another where you're famous for something. The possibilities were endless.

There you go again. You'd done it, and now your were standing in the middle of your home, broom in hand, music playing in the background. You'd stopped sweeping sometime in the past couple minutes and found yourself just standing there.

You almost felt like you were waiting for something to happen. It felt like the moments of anticipation before something important happens. The butterflies in your stomach, time dripping by slowly, minutes felt like hours and your body felt anxious.
It was almost as if the subconscious of your brain knew something was going to happen, and was waiting for it, while that conscious part of you had absolutely no idea what was going on, and was unfortunately suffering for it.

"Hey, can I stay here?"

You jumped at the sound of the voice. It was a voice that was all too familiar to you. Your own.

You turned around fast, almost giving yourself whiplash as you looked at the person in front of you.
They were you. Every feature, every little flaw. They were you. Different clothing yes, and a different hair style, but they were you.

"Excuse me?" You asked wide eyed. "What is this?"

"My reality sucks, can I just stay in yours for a while?"

You just blinked.

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buhahahahahha!!!! did the other you happen to bring along their family? :D

love d

LOVEd it!
I liked how it was narrated in the past tense. You built up a great atmosphere. It made me feel pretty settled and joyous [i had a bad day so that's good. Thanks :-D }
Your style reminded me of a book I LOVE called Earth Abides by George R Stewart [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides]
It might be my favourite book. It questions everything by setting human existence in a post-apocalyptic setting where a man is tasked with trying to rebuild society [self-imposed task] and people [mostly his decendents] are not really cooperating with his old school plan. It has the same feel, where the minutia of life is described and it is very philosophical in its questioning, like your piece.

Looking forward to reading some more. :-D

Great story! I really like the way you set the scene up and delivered with something so unexpected. It lends credence to the idea that thoughts can create our realities - that all of the out-of-the-box thoughts that your main character has somehow summoned another version of them self. Or maybe they are just having a psychotic break, only you know for sure! Well done!