Frostbound

The feeling of being teleported washed over me once more and I could feel my anticipation rising. We were finally going to see what the Earth had turned into. We were finally going home.

I had to shield my eyes from the glaring sun as I took everything in around me as it filtered into my eyes. Lily and Anna appeared right in front of me looking around much the same as I was, just like how we left. The clothes they were wearing were starkly different than before but we returned in the same spots we had left. Others appeared simultaneously and soon, the backyard was filled with what remained of my family.

Backyard was a strong word to describe what I was seeing.

It wasn't really a backyard anymore. The house was mostly gone, vines and plant matter grown in, around, and through the building. The walls were knocked over from either weather or animals and left to rot and sink into the dirt.

The structure itself looked rotted through and nearly finished decomposing entirely. It looked like decades had passed rather than only three months. That was just what was left of the house, the plants were the main feature that changed.

The grass was a wild mess, reaching higher than Anna was tall. Trees, bushes, shrubs, and grass dominated the landscape in places they hadn't before. The concrete of the driveway and paving stones around the yard had plants growing through it, leaving it cracked and in disarray, little more than gravel.

Bugs sounded out in the new environment we were placed chirping and buzzing turning it closer to the wilds than the curated backyard we had left.

Earthy scents mixed with plants. Greenery and humidity. Even with the remnants sparking old memories of what was, all of the changes solidified in my mind.

It didn't even smell the same.

We had our expectations of course, but this... this was outside of them.

"Alright, gather up! Make sure everyone is here!" Abigail's authoritative voice sounded out.

With a quick count, all of us were accounted for, down to the last child.