When Richie woke up, he was still engulfed by the darkness. Probably it was sometime during the midnight or early hours of the morning. The room was still dark and he just wanted to know the time. He lay lazily on his bed for a while and yawned twice and a half times before he stretched and got up. In the darkness, his hands groped towards the switch close to his bed. Where had the switch gone? He was pretty sure it was right there when he fell asleep. He had read a very interesting story last night and was determined to complete the story before he could sleep. When there were hardly two more chapters to complete his eyes forced him to shut and the brain needed its rest. He probably fell asleep reading, so the study lamp couldn’t have possibly turned off by itself.
Maybe Mother had come in to make sure he was asleep and tucked him and turned off the light because there was no sign of his book on his bed. Richie, for some reason, felt very weird sitting on his bed. After placing his hands all over the wall, Richie slowly pushed his blanket away and got down. The floor seemed to have moved a bit down or maybe the bed was a little taller. Or did he grow short overnight? What was going on? He was about to find out. If the switch by his bed had somehow disappeared, at least there was a switch for the main light by the door. Of course, he would know ways around his room even in the pitch dark. He slowly came near the door and touched the wall from top to bottom and was a bit worried to know the switch had disappeared from there too.
He decided to wait until the sun was up to investigate further and until then he needed to catch up on his sleep. If only there was light, he could have completed the last two chapters of the book before he fell asleep again. But that was okay. Going back to sleep felt good. But he couldn’t. There were minutes/ hours (how would we know? We haven’t seen the time yet, have we?) of twists and turns on the bed before Richie could finally sleep. After what felt like days(we still don’t know how long he has been asleep), Richie woke up again and was disappointed when there was no light in the room. He didn’t even have blinds for his windows. At least some light should be coming through them if the sun was up. Or was it still a few minutes after midnight? How would he know?
He fell on his bed again- now on his back, his eyes wide awake. He was not even sure if he had gotten enough sleep or if he was sleep-deprived. He heard his stomach rumble slowly. He was hungry. He was pretty sure there was a pack of unopened cookies on his bedside table. But would he be able to find it in the darkness? He could not even find the switch for his night lamp and finding a snack in the middle of the night in a room that weirdly felt unfamiliar was out of the question. But he wouldn’t give up just like that, would he? After all, the fight here was for the stomach. He stretched his hand as far as he could- up, down, right, and left- but no, the table was nowhere around. The switch had disappeared, his table had disappeared, his books and snacks had disappeared- everything was acceptable. But where was the Sun? Did it disappear too? Where was the light? Why isn’t it morning yet? How long has he been sleeping? Or did he sleep at all?
He should have gone to sleep when he felt drowsy rather than pushing himself to read more and more. One more chapter and I will sleep- he had told himself and had reached the end of the book. And now, his brain was confused, he couldn’t think straight, he didn’t know if it was dusk or dawn, and most importantly he was hungry.
And then, at that very moment- like lightning, enlightenment stroked him. There were floating shelves behind his bed. And on one of those shelves, was a battery-operated aeroplane toy. He hadn’t touched it for years, but also never let his mum take it out off the shelf to be safely boxed along with his other toys. He liked this one. He just wanted this aeroplane to be a part of his shelf. This aeroplane had a switch on its back. When turned on, it would make a sound that pretty much sound like a steam engine train. But it wasn’t the sound he was interested in the middle of the night(or day). The aeroplane also glowed so bright that the entire darkness from his room would have to think twice before coming here again.
With a bright smile on his face, Richie turned towards the shelves and placed his hands gently across them, carefully not to drop the toy. It wouldn’t be just the toy that he would be dropping, he would have to drop his hope too. When his hand was finally on the object that was exactly in the shape of the aeroplane toy, his heart sang a million tunes. With gratitude running all over his body, he sat back on his bed and rubbed the toy gently all over searching for the switch.
Poor Richie! If only he knew the toy had been on the shelf for so long that the battery had run out, we wouldn’t be hearing his heart break into a million pieces. He held the aeroplane close to his chest disappointed, yet comforted. Richie finally decided to knock on his parents’ room door. He was too tired to be confused. Of course, he would be able to find his way to the parents’ room. How many days he had played I-Spy in this house and easily found his parents hiding? It can’t be difficult right?
He got down from his bed and slowly walked towards the room door. But the door had disappeared too. He was getting too tired of this. Something was not right with his room and he had to investigate. His one palm on the wall, Richie walked along the wall determined to find the door. Surely his room would have an exit. He walked as carefully and slowly as possible when he reached a corner, he turned left along the wall. And there, he felt a door. Richie was happy beyond words. No time to get curious about the location of the door. He had to find his parents or at least light. He was getting tired of darkness. His hands searched for the knob and as soon as he opened and stepped out, there was no floor and with a big and what seemed like an unending “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah”, Richie fell into a dark hole.
Richie was confused about the way we now probably are. What had happened to his house? Where was he falling into? The only good thing about this fall was he was sliding into a deep tunnel-like structure rather than falling. So we can confidently say that he was enjoying this ride. This ride, which did several things to his adrenaline at once, felt like an unending one, except he was confident that he would land somewhere sometime soon. He chose not to panic and see how things would unfold.
After a few twists and turns and one or two humps, Richie finally fell into a pool of water. And now, finally after so so so long, Richie was able to see light. How long has it been anyway? Where’s that clock when you really really need one?
In this pool that Richie fell into, were a few other strange people minding their own business. These people looked absolutely normal except none of them had eyelids. The eyes were wide open like that of a fish- big and round. But other than that nothing really felt strange. The pool was humungous. Like an ocean, this pool stretched as far as his eyes could see.
No one really seemed to care about the splash he had just made from this long slide. How long was it anyway? He turned around to get a good look at this slide that seemed never-ending just moments ago. But the slide had disappeared, and there was nothing but clear blue water around him. That felt obvious. Of course, what job did the slide have once it had performed its duties? It might have to be elsewhere giving a drop for some other clueless child.
On one corner of the pool, Richie saw a few young boys and girls playing games with a ball. There was laughter and it looked good. On another side, a few serious-looking men seemed to be discussing something. The topic of discussion must have been something important, because such was the expression on their faces, also they all had cigars in their mouth. One of them suddenly turned towards Richie and looked at him curiously. It was too late for Richie to be looking elsewhere. They both looked at each other for a while (where’s the clock when you really need it?), Richie, is curious, and the other man, threatening.
Richie immediately turned back and continued examining the pool. He was bored already, since everyone minded their own business, it felt illegal to be examining others. Richie decided to have fun and swim. The water was warm, and that’s when it stuck! He could look at the sun and know what time it was. He excitedly looked up and was instantly disappointed. Over his head, was not a clear blue sky and a radiating Sun giving away the time, but was a ceiling with interesting details.
The ceiling, like the pool, seemed to not have an ending. It stretched as far as he could see. One part of the ceiling looked artistic, another aesthetic, another plain, and one felt like it was consumed by fungus and was in danger of falling at any moment. Right above his head, the ceiling had a mirror, and Richie could see a reflection of himself.
Richie looked handsome, the way he usually is. His mother had complained several times, that no matter how much he ate, there was no way for him to gain weight. But Richie always felt that he had a perfect body weight that matched his 6-foot-long body. For a nineteen-year-old, he looked exactly how society thinks the nineteen-year-old should look like. In the mirror, Richie saw a boy staring back at him who was fresh as the morning dew. Why wasn’t he tired? Does that mean he had had a good night’s sleep? If only he knew what time was it and what day was it.
After analysing his features one by one in this giant mirror, something struck in his mind, and his eyes instantly searched for his eyes in the mirror. He was majorly relieved when he found his eyelids. It would be weird without them, wouldn’t it? But now that he was around people without eyelids, was it already weird for Richie to be himself? He needed to relax before he went crazy. As he slowly started to swim, his mind and body finally relaxed.
The water was more like an energy booster. Richie realised he wasn’t hungry anymore. With every lap he swam, his energy level seemed to be rising rather than making him feel tired. And then when he was fully energised, (we don’t know how long he swam, do we? If only we knew what the time was) Richie wanted to get out of the pool.
But where was the exit? Which way would he go to get out of the pool? Even if there was a way out, where would it lead to? He looked around and made eye contact with the man who was still in his important discussion. The man stared at him, this time more intense. Richie was scared. But this man was the only one who had made eye contact with him ever since he jumped into this pool. He would take the risk and ask him for directions.
When we started to swim towards the man, there was this invisible barrier that never let him go further. That’s when Richie realised this pool had several sections, like cabins with invisible doors. The different parts on the ceiling now made more sense. Each part was one different section. He looked above him. He could move only under this mirror ceiling. Past that, it was impossible to move.
“Sir”, he called out and waved at the man. But the man continued to stare with no other reaction that was new. Was he even visible to this man? If he could see others in the pool, the others should be able to see him as well. He needed help.
“Excuse me”, he shouted looking at everyone in the pool, hoping for someone to turn around. Everyone continued minding their own business the way they had been minding.
“Somebody help me, please. I need to get out of this pool. I don’t know which way to go.”
When these magic words were spoken, he felt something creep up on his leg. Richie was scared to death. He wanted to get rid of this creeper. But he couldn’t move. He stayed still as if he was under the spell. He didn’t know what was creeping up, tightening itself around him as it moved up to the stomach and finally wrapped itself cosily around his chest. The water was up to his chest and Richie wished this creeper had come up a little further so that he could see what was he bound by. The floor underneath had disappeared and at the speed of lightning, Richie was pulled into the water.
Richie, for some reason, didn’t find it hard to breathe underwater. He was at ease as he was being dragged under. He was as happy as a whale in here. Once he was under water he wasn’t tightened by the creeper anymore. He was free, it felt good, and yet, there was some kind of fear of the unknown that lingered in him.
I hope this is not another never-ending slide Richie thought. Although, now that he thought of it, the long slide experience was actually good and thrilling. He had enjoyed it. But this journey wasn’t as thrilling as before because this didn’t feel adventurous. He was slowly moving downwards into the water so that even a sloth could outrun him. He looked around. The water which was blue just moments ago, (how many moments, we do not know. We haven’t found a clock, have we?) had turned yellow. And then, after a while, it had turned into green. The water kept changing its colour between blue, yellow, red, green, and orange. It was a pretty sight. But there was nothing to be seen around. No creatures, no plants. Richie was all alone and was moving in the path that was carrying him.
He chose not to panic, but to enjoy the journey this time. Who knows? There might be a surprise this time on the other end. In a while (if only Richie could tell how long it had been), Richie smelt something. The fragrance was pleasant, soothing, and meditative. Aaah! He could just fall asleep in such a soothing environment. But not much time had passed, and the fragrance slowly became unpleasant. Richie covered his nose with both of his hands and tried to breathe through his mouth, but no matter how much he tried, the smell got worse and worse. The smell somehow felt fatal, and he immediately stretched out his hands hoping to swim upwards, back to the pool.
Soon there formed something like a a bubble around him. The bubble got smaller and smaller, probably shrinking Richie too. When the bubble got small, as small as a tiny marble, Richie flew up, as if someone shot a gun using him as a bullet. Richie flew up with such force, the bubble still around him, that he hardly could move to see where he was headed. Like a flash, he had travelled upwards from the pool water and finally, had reached somewhere. He looked around, there was no sign of water anywhere. He was finally on land. What land, he was yet to discover. He looked down- but he couldn’t see anything. All he could see was fog everywhere. And hey, the stink had vanished! So all that unpleasant smell was like a welcome to this land?
Richie looked around slowly, his eyes scanning every new object he could find- including a floating vessel as wide as the tyre of a truck, a line of trees with no leaves, and by the look of it, he even doubted if this tree had any roots. There were just branches, lots and lots of them. All the trees looked similar except for one, which had more than branches- leaves that were orange in colour. The trunk seemed to have two eyes and a mouth. Richie walked closer to examine but was too stunned to speak when he realised the eyes were indeed real and was staring into Richie’s soul. It seemed to be murmuring something. Richie got closer and placed his ear close to its mouth.
The tree’s murmurs changed to whispers and soon to clear words which were:
“Richie… Richie… Richie”
Each time his name was called, the sound grew louder and louder. When it became unbearable, Richie screamed. In front of him stood his mother, looking confused. Behind her, on the wall, was a round clock that read 8 o'clock.
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