Uncanny Communities: Empire and Its Others

Abstract

A woman stands alone in a kitchen, her delicate frame rounded and strained as she reaches into her cupboard for an unseen item. She stops suddenly, her fingers frozen as a cold breath passes over her bare neck. Her scream is lodged in her throat as she turns to see no one there. Her husband labours over his papers in the solace of his darkened study. As he moves toward a nearby bookcase, he reaches for a familiar novel. His eyes dart across the yellowed pages quickly but then, he feels the hairs on his arms rise and his own breath quicken. He is not alone. Across town, their son walks through a busy crowd of blurred faces. Lost in the multitude, his path is blocked. He tries to navigate his way home through back alleys, yet the path always leads to the town square and the school he has just left. Each attempt to journey home is met by a different and ever-narrowing route, and his sweat-laced brow has begun to twitch nervously. Walking quickly toward the abandoned factory, he feels like he is being watched.