Beyond

As the class filed in, the Professor cleared his throat, "Yes, yes, I'm sure you all had another suscessful weekend. Lets get into it shall we?"

His students settled in, expressionless faces drawn, before he even began.

"Today we are going to discuss The Beyond," he said as if he had just done a magic trick and was waiting for the "oohs" and "ahs" of his class. But he was met with silence, "Oh come on," he pleaded, "You can't tell me you aren't all curious about what's out there,"

"No one knows," A boy towards the front said.

"Right, Oscar," Professor said, "But, we can guess. Come up with theories. That's what science is all about,"

"What's the point in guessing if we'll never know if we are right or not?" Another boy shrugged.

"Never say never, Jonah," Professor said, "But perhaps you'll come up with a theory and that theory turns someone else's gears and that leads to a breakthough down the line,"

Professor waited a few moments for a response, "Come on, anybody... Sunny. What's your theory?"

A small boy fidgeted in his place before speaking, "I always thought there are others out there like us in another world or somehting,"

A girl towards the back let out a snort.

"Do you have a better theory, Molly?" Professor asked.

"I just don't think that in all of the universe, if there are other beings out there, that there would be others exactly like us," Molly said.

"I didn't say exactly," Sunny defended, "I mean I don't think we're the only ones,"

"Right," Molly said, "But I'm saying that if there are others, than they would look nothing like us, they may not even breath the same way we do, or-"

"There's nothing out there," a girl chimed in.

"How do you know that, Star?" Professor genuinly asked.

"I don't know, take a look yourself, its all just dark," she nodded her head.

Together the class looked out into the void. A wall of darkness blocked by an invisable sheild. Protecting them from whatever mystery lay beyond.

"My dad said he's seen things moving out there," Oscar said.

"That's becuase your dad is crazy," Jonah laughed.

"Shut up, Jonah, at least we can swim-"

"I know what's out there," A boy said.

"Can you elaborate, Ray?" Professor asked.

His voice was thick with confidence but his eyes never lef the floor as he spoke, "Beyond is filled with other places just like this. Dozens, maybe even hundreds. Other glass boxes filled with different creatures. And we're here for entertainment. For creatures that aren't like you and me; they can survive in-between the water-"

"That's impossible-" Jonah said.

"Jonah, let him finish," Professor said.

"It's kind of like what Molly said, they breath different than us. They can survive in places with no water," Ray said, "We may think we have free will, but we're all just going though the motions. Going to school, having babies. It's a routine we've told ourselves we want becuase it's the only attainable future we have. But really we are trapped here, in a box, in a room, in a building, in some city that's nothing but a small speck on a map of a world that we aren't even aware of. And the only reason we are here, is so that some person can look at us whenever they feel like it," Ray lay with his belly flat on the sand.

The class was silent. They floated in place for a while, absorbing Ray's meloncholy theory. Suddenly, lunch sounded and a fresh rain of flecks slowly sliped through the water. The fish scurried up to their meal sucking in as many delicious flakes as they could.

Once lunch was gone and they found themselves still once more, it was Star that spoke next, "What's a person?"