Somewhere Else

Miles and miles, from horizon to horizon, there is nothing to be seen but sand and sky. Right under me there is a hole filled with a bunch of cash inside. I didn’t bother to count but it was a lot. I don’t like holes. The last time I saw a hole I ended up here. And now I don’t know where I am. Somehow I landed here but i don’t remember how. Which way did I come from? The more I think about it, the more it hurts.

All this money here is nice to look at. I don’t want to part ways with it but I don’t know what else is there for me here.

I decided to leave. It seemed safe enough to venture out a bit. I’m not starving or bleeding to death yet. No six eyed octopus alien trying to suck my soul out of me. I’m fine. Besides a mildly unsettling silence in the air, the walking is quite pleasant.

There is no wind here. Or at least I haven’t felt any yet. As a matter of fact I haven’t seen any animals or plants here either. The sky is also the same color it was back at the hole.

I can’t tell how long it's been. There is no day or night. One thing that struck me as odd is that I don’t feel tired at all. No sweat or exhaustion. In fact I think I feel better. Like that one time I drank six cups of coffee when I was seven. I swear I still feel that high to this day.

I’ve started to jog now. Nothing hurts here. No matter how hard I try, my body won’t break or twist where I feel pain. I can feel my body, but that feeling isn’t so strong. Kind of like a layer of invisible armor.

I wish someone was here. No matter how much I walk nothing changes. I always do this to myself. Start something and never finish it. The cycle continues.

Today is a wonderful day! I met my first person here and he’s unlike anything I've seen. Well he is human, or atleast looks like it. Except he had the oddest thing on him. He was digging when I found him, when he turned to me with a bubble encased around his head. It was the oddest thing I've ever seen. The rest of his attire was pretty odd too, a pair of jeans and a maroon sweater, as if he were ready to climb a mountain any second.

His name is Dun Heim and he tells me he is from a small town a bit “higher” from here. Most likely a mountain. I don’t see any nearby so this town he speaks of must be far. He now tells me the reason why he wears this bubble is because of the toxic air. Strange.

Dun Heim gave me my very own bubble. He took out a rod that he blew on. At the other end, a bubble started to form. The feeling of it is a lot more like rubber than your typical water bubble. It fit nicely but I still didn’t notice a difference in air quality. Dun Heim explains the air is actually the reason why I don’t seem to feel much exhaustion or pain. When I asked to elaborate further he just told me, “That’s the way it's always been.” Why would anyone want to feel those things purposely? But I trusted him, he had that look of a man who’s done things. His eyes and face felt worn and shaped by years of excess. You could feel the weight of his sight.

When I asked him why he was digging, he told me he lost something and needs to find it again. I was curious so I asked if I could help him, but he refused. When he stopped digging he looked tired. His face was red and you can see the sweat coming down. Nothing made sense here. He didn’t find what he was looking for. He looked very down after that and didn't talk much. I stopped asking questions fearing he might leave me stranded. Whatever this item he’s looking for must be important to him.

We soon started to walk in some direction. He kept talking to himself, whispering things like, “If it’s not here then where?, Next? No. Dammit! Is it before? Oh c'mon it can’t be. No, no, no. It must be here or else. Fuck! How much longer is this going to go?”

We eventually reached a long rope with a piece of round wooden plank attached to the bottom. When Dun Heim said higher I didn’t think this. We went higher than high. Or rather, We went through. I don't know what's what anymore. Where does the sky end and the ground start?

Next thing I knew I was at a beach. If things seemed odd before they were ever more bizarre now. The sky here was mostly green and yellow. The dirt of the ground was an orange brown. Everything had a clay-like texture. As if everything was built from hand.

Dun Heim took me to his house, which looked like a box surrounded by mirrors. It was the only structure not made from the same material. There was no door to the house either. We simply walked right through it like the way you put on the bubble. As for the inside, it's pretty empty. Just a few beds and a garden at the center. I wouldn't expect a family to live here.

Dun Heim introduced me to Nu heim, his wife and his three kids who are triplets. How do people end up here? I guess how do people end up anywhere?

To my surprise this place seemed to have a day and night cycle. Several clocks told time but the numbers here went to one through twenty four. Right now, the little hand is on twenty-two.

I can’t remember the last time I had slept, or had a dream. When I woke up it was still dark. Dun was gone. Nu tells me he went down again. She tells me he is looking for a black book. Apparently he has been down everyday for the past seventy-nine days. I have to admire Dun's persistence. The book holds a treasure for Dun. Something he brought when he first came here.

Nu said they came here looking for better material. A better structure to something that was already with them. Does everyone here speak in vague language? Nu spent the whole day fixing the buildings around town. There is no one else there except the family. Each building has its own design. One of the buildings looked like it was melting. When I asked Nu if she was going to fix it, she replied, "I already did."

I can spend eons in here and still find new things. The ground started to shake at one point today which caused lemons to fall through the sky. I hadn’t noticed it before but there is a hole on top of this world too. Does this ever end?

I want to go home already. Back to my hammock between two palm trees. Being next to her again.

Dun Heim came back disgruntled and depressed as he was yesterday. When I asked him how I can leave he told me, “through the door.” He didn't tell me much more. This is frustrating. I never get any straightforward answers here.

I asked Nu about the door but she had no idea about it. How can she not know? Maybe she is lying. Maybe she knows about the money. I don't know anymore. I'm not making any sense.

I pushed for more clarification from Nu, but eventually she became silent. She's useless. The kids? No they're just as clueless. I can't hear myself anymore. What's going on here? All I have are questions but no answers. I need to find this door. Why isn't Dun back yet?

No one is talking to me. Dun came back but he too was silent. I want to go back. Maybe if I go back down, back to that hole, I'll hear her again.

I went down with Dun today. He didn’t say a word. I would think there would be a million holes by now, if he’s been at this for a long time, but the land is untouched. I removed my bubble, Du heim didn’t seem to care. His only goal was that book.

My only comfort is in the words I write. My body seems to slow down. Now it is hard to even type. Each word is adding more weight. My mind is going nowhere. I feel blank. Something empty inside.

I don’t feel anything when I’m here. Each second feels as if it's a minute. And each minute feels like an hour. I always do this. I get here and then then I just get lost. I need something to change. But what? She isn’t even here. What’s the point if she isn’t here?

The ground is shaking. I look back at Dun Heim. He is looking up at the sky, or the ground.

Then it came through. The sky broke into pieces with millions of pieces of debris falling all over us. It sprinkled itself on the ground adding texture to a smooth desert.

From the distance it looks like a black box. It’s an eye! It was huge. Dun Heim ran to it as soon as it fell.

When we got closer he kept yelling at it. “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.”

Now he’s hammering it with the shovel, and it's breaking! I will help him.

The eye was oozing fluid. Pulsating from within until it finally ruptured. The glass that covered the bos is in pieces. Inside it lay a chest.

Dun Heim is crying. He found it. The book was inside this chest. “I don’t know how long it’s been but I’m back”, he told me. He handed me the book.

The moment I opened the book a door appeared. It was on the page. I looked outside and saw her in a hammock. She is reading a book drinking some lemonade. I placed the book that was in hands under the pillow of my bed.

It’s nice to be out once again. Until next time.