Tossing Hair

As soon as the person at center stage finished speaking, the captain noticed the scene before him begin to change.

Everything in front of him twisted, like a lilting melody, like a rushing whirlpool in the sea. The sky and earth, the stage, and the crowd all seemed painted on a sheet of paper.

The sheet was crumpled and warped, and everything on it was squeezed and stretched along with it.

"What's happening? What is this?"

Someone cried out in terror, only to realize their voice had warped too, turning into an indistinguishable string of syllables.

In an instant, everything before them was squeezed together until they could no longer tell who was who.

People reeled through the warped world, falling along with it.

But before long, like drops of water wrung from a towel, they were pushed away, squeezed out, and finally fell back into the world with a "thump."

The towel had been wrung dry, and heaven and earth fell silent once more.

The captain stared at everything before him, mouth agape.

They were gone. Everyone had vanished.

Those who had been standing, those who had fallen, those who had been wailing, those who had been furious—all gone. Not a single person remained on the stage, and his teammates behind him had vanished too. It was as if he were the only one left in the world.

For a moment, he almost thought he was dreaming—a bizarre nightmare.

But the bloodstains on the ground and the gaping hole split open in the stage floor reminded him that none of it had been an illusion.

He felt like he was going insane.

The captain wandered onto the stage, hoping to find the missing people.

Where had they gone? He stared blankly at the empty stage and searched without any