The holograms should’ve warned us to take a deep breath. Close our eyes. Then again, the holograms should’ve done a lot of things. Like told the truth.
Travelling through a vertex is like being dragged underwater through blinding ice. The mask of the universe suffocates me, ignoring that I’m a human being who needs oxygen and heat to survive.
I have one thought as I’m pulled through a blanket of frozen light:
This. Is. Death.
My body fights with my mind as my muscles and lungs scream, Go back. Please, please go back.
But I can’t go back. I made my choice.
I chose friends.
I chose truth.
I chose death.
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Before my chest explodes, before my anxiety has time to kick into overdrive, I am pushed through the vertex onto my hands and knees. Blinded
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Despite the utter disorientation, my mind dizzy with the lack of oxygen, I scan the surroundings for any sign of attack as the purple-pink glow around me fades in intensity.
I am in a huge, windowless space that resembles a concrete warehouse the size of Dad’s grocery store before the looters on Earth burnt it down. Before my world fell apart. Up ahead, hordes of people from Earth who made it through before the comet disintegrated, wait in lines for their turn to enter through unmarked passageways. Holograms identical to the ones that betrayed us stand guard. It reminds me of a massive airport security checkpoint. Destination unknown.
I glance behind me at the empty white space. The metallic blue vertex I traveled through from Massachusetts disappears in the fading magenta light. I have no passage back to my world. To my parents.
I gulp air, slowly grasping what I have done, what I have lost. The room spins as my body begins to sweat. No, no, don’t think about it now. Don't fall apart. You can't fall apart. Stay pissed off. Think about the others. They need to know the truth. They need to know it was a colossal
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“Welcome to 2359, River Picard. Please wait in line to join our world.” It bows and adds, “May your contribution lead to freedom."
More politeness. A cover for world domination.
As I join the last of the people in line, I watch families and friends hug, relief and gratitude spilling from their naive, worried faces. All oblivious, scared, grateful victims. I bite my tongue to keep from screaming, Run! Fight! It’s all a cosmic scam! Looking at the holographic guards, I know it's not the time. I need to pretend that I don’t know the comet was a fake until I uncover why humans from the future sent holograms to trap us here. I need to understand their motive to know my next move. I need to wait. I need to find my friends first.
Waiting is the absolute worst.
Standing last in a crowd of loud lines, I examine myself to see if my clothes are ruined, my skin shrunken or decayed, my hair burnt off. Same fleece lined hooded coat, short black boots, jeans. My curly, long hair not singed away. The silver heart ring from Dominick and the charm bracelet from Rita, reminders of my 18th birthday only months ago. My fingernails painted with the color Meet Me on the Star Ferry, chipped by me peeling them as usual. When I chose that color, I imagined reuniting with Dominick on another planet, that it would be romantic even if the Earth had been destroyed in an apocalypse. How sick is
Adrenaline pulsed through my veins like a race car; my knees started to buckle beneath me. My palms and face were sweat soaked with anticipation. My friend encouragingly nudged me forward. Fear trickled down my spine, sending me off the cliff of sanity.
I stood up and gazed at my gloomy, gray surroundings. I seemed to be in a cavern with a massive roof. Wobbling slightly, I started to assess my surroundings. I couldn’t find my knife, or anything else for that matter. My clothes were ripped and torn, and my arms and face were scratched from the fall. I had no idea where I was,
I stumble out the front of the class towards the trampoline. My heart starts beating faster. My vision blurs. I can’t breathe.
Your legs still move, your mind still hurts, and you hear nearby cheers. Your stomach remembers the half sandwich you had for lunch. While gagging, you finally get inside your head and tell yourself to show this treacherous track who the sentient being is here. Your jaws clench, your teeth grit, and from the depths of Tartarus arise an inhuman fire that will not be extinguished. Your body is numb, your mind is aflame, and you are sprinting. Your teammates and coaches tell you to slow down, to pace yourself. You look at them once, and they immediately quiet. Nothing stops a man with the eye of the
I decided I would keep going. I opened a door and suddenly I was in a desert and the only structure in sight was an outhouse. I thought it would have a portal in it. As I approached, a man showed up and tried to convince me not to go through and to just give up and live a life on ignorance and peace. It just didn’t seem right to me, so I said no and opened the outhouse door. Sure enough, it was a portal. I followed a hallway which lead to a congregation of Tangents lead by Kaine. He said that they were ready to be human. My mind is spinning and I don’t know what to do.
I saw no one. Not a living person was near the cliff. No one could see me if I just walked through the barrier undetected. My gut told me to go back, and get my friends, that I shouldn’t go through the barbed wire gates without someone by my side. But my head was stronger, and I carelessly walked in. Behind the barbed wire gates was an area in the city I’d never seen or remembered the last time I lived there. It looked like one of those military sectors mixed with a secret science lab. The place was enclosed in gates all around. Most of the land was filled with white warehouses and small buildings. What is this place? What is this place? What is this place? Don’t trust this place. This place is dangerous. Stop walking. Stop being annoying and leave. They are after you.
I opened my eyes, the vertigo slowly slipping away as I blinking myself into full consciousness. A bright surgical light blinded me from above.
I look up again and see some-thing falling from the building, as it comes closer; I see that it is a body. It hits a lamppost and explodes like a paintball. I am in completely shock and cannot move. Over the chaos, I can hear sirens coming this way.
That might have been a pretty dark start but that's just life. You might pass through a tunnel but there's
“Stop let me go!” Whatever just grabbed me starts pulling me away from where I fell. I continue screaming. “Someone help me!” I know there is nobody there to help me. We stop. I look up and it’s still dark I don’t know where I am. I hear a noise. The same one from earlier. I begin crying
I see a door and I don’t think, I just open it. And I’m falling. Flailing my arms and holding inn a shriek and I finally grab onto a ledge, and there’s a flash of blinding light and my eyes are burning and I’m somewhere else.I’m someone else.
Again, I looked at the row upon row of horrors before. I started to scream. But, no sound came out. Fanatical sobs began to rack my body. Doubling over, I began to pound my head against the floor. Embracing the future with an untouchable passion, I let go of my sanity.
My legs started to tingle as I pushed my self out of the chair. I feel alive as my eyes frantically scoop out the room. How do I get out of here, I must get out of here.
My scream got silenced when I hit the ground. I got up sore from the fall. I looked around slowly trying to recognize my surroundings. All I saw was colorful meadows, nothing I'm use to. I notice a small patted down path. I looked back wanting to go through the portal again, but the glowing light might push me back in. I started walking down the path
Slowly I attempted to focus above me, I detected footsteps all around s towards and away from me, the ceiling lights progressed past rapidly only letting me for second focus on them I saw them go, one, two, three.... I'm moving? I look around me and see two women in blue walking beside me speaking inaudible words, one looks down at me panicked and then looks away and says something. I look to the other side of me a man and woman in blue as well. I start to realize, the smell of anesthetic with in the air, the panicked woman next to me. It all felt uneasy and to familiar .... I'm on a trolley bed.... I'm in a hospital.