The Day the Spoons Vanished

Chapter 1: The Disappearing Spoon

Waking up was the first thing to happen that morning, as it often does for people who sleep at night and rise again in daylight. Sunlight filtered through the blinds in lines across the bed as the eyes opened blinking awake into the new day.

A routine soon began, feet on floor, shower running water, clothes picked out, teeth brushed clean. Down the stairs to the kitchen next for coffee, strong and black, the needed morning cup.

Hand reached out for the drawer, pulling it open with the familiar clatter of metal, the spoon retrieved smoothly like every other day before this one. But as it plunged down into the dark liquid, suddenly it wasn’t there! Gone, vanished, missing from between the fingers, no longer existing in this plane.

Surprise registered on the face, brows furrowed. Tried again with another, same disappearance when entering the mug. Most strange, something amiss, a mystery presented itself.

Spoons checked in the drawer, all present and accounted for and seeming normal, ordinary utensils. But when met with the coffee, they winked out of this reality, ceased to be, only to return to solid form once removed. Curiosity peaked, an unexplainable phenomenon now, the vanishing of spoons. Mind began churning, slowly waking up to this dreamlike logic of objects that are there but not there.

Perhaps still sleepy and seeing things. But no, the living nightmare of disappearing spoons continued on. What was this strange awakening into?

More experiments, trials attempted, sleuthing for clues that may reveal. But no sense could be made, rules or reasons, only more and more vanishing. Spoons clinked musically against the counter, bells tolling the arrival of a new surreality once dipped towards their destiny. Eyes rubbed again and again, slipping into the acceptance that sometimes things cannot be explained.

The realm had shifted now, expectations evaporated like night's dreams upon morning's light. What would tomorrow's daylight bring in this new world of spoons unknown?

Chapter 2: The Spoon Phenomenon

The morning's mysterious vanishing spoons left me puzzled and bemused. Had I imagined it all? But no, my coffee remained unstirred, proof those utensils had failed to obey reality's rules.

​Selecting a small teaspoon, I carried it downstairs slowly, warily. I tapped the metal gently against the kitchen counter - solid. Holding my breath, I lowered it towards the now lukewarm cup of coffee. As it crossed the threshold, the teaspoon blinked out of existence! I gasped, fumbling in vain for the disappeared spoon. A creeping unease came over me.

Over the next few days, spoons continued their tricks. I'd find them missing from the drawer, only to have them reappear in the cupboard later. They vanished when used but sometimes returned coated in odd substances - lipstick, honey, ashes. Other times new spoons manifested unexpectedly in coat pockets or under sofa cushions.

Once I awoke to find the ceiling entirely covered in spoons! As soon as I looked away, they disappeared, leaving only faint indent marks behind. I told my best friend Mũmbi about it over lunch. She laughed it off, certain I was playing some elaborate prank. But this was no joke.

No rhyme or reason guided the comings and goings of the spoons. They vanished and materialised randomly, events outside my control. I doubled my meditation practice, hoping to regain equilibrium in a world suddenly surreal.

Had I developed some telekinetic power attracting rogue spoons? Or was I losing my grip on reality altogether? If I couldn't trust spoons, what else might betray me?  The ground felt unsteady, my days steeped in uncertainty. I needed answers before I unravelled completely. But where to even begin?