Beyond Our Time
Surrounding her was darkness, but it was strangely comfortable. Paula felt like she was nestled in a warm, silk blanket, one she wanted to remain snug in forever. Her arms and legs slowly uncurled, and her eyes fluttered open, taking in the pitch black stretch of land.
Taking a hesitant step forward, Paula felt like she was walking on air. Her foot didn't connect with concrete, wood, or dirt, but she stepped on something. Each step left no sound. She walked on air despite feeling a strange pressure against the soles of her feet, leaving her convinced she was grounded.
Paula sluggishly raised her head to what she assumed was the sky. Like her surroundings, it was ebony and velvet. She thought she could reach it if she simply jumped, but her body felt heavy, gravity pushing down on her and forcing Paula to kneel. She grimaced, her knees bruising with the sudden pull and sucked down shaky breaths, her weariness forgotten as a speck of light pierced through the sky like a hint of the sun appearing through dark storm clouds.
She tried staring at it, but its light blinded her. Paula shielded her eyes and tried to make a visor with her hand, but the light grew. Bigger and bigger, extending as far as she could see until the brilliant light engulfed her in hot, searing rays. No sweat dampened her skin, but her body burned a bright scarlet as smoky heat rushed for her.
She tried to scream, but when she blinked, it was all gone. The light devoured the darkness and left only a white plane. Paula shook her head and squinted, but inky blots of red and blue dotted her vision. Hunching, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head, any kind of understanding gone from her thoughts.
Paula stumbled forward, vaguely registering the sensation of grass curling between her toes. Colors of the rainbow swarmed her vision and spread, painting large trees, quaint homes, and a pure ocean caressing the shores of an island. Paula took in the sights of chattering, smiling villagers helping one another, and the rich salt of the sea wafted by her head. Sheep and dogs rushed past her, and children's laughter echoed behind her, prompting her to turn around.
Twin boys dashed by her, their dog in tow. An oddity she noticed was the tiny dinosaur creature happily roaring and chasing them. The boy with fiery orange hair pivoted on his heels and crashed into the small beast, making her gasp. The dinosaur uttered a howling noise akin to laughter. His brother bounced up and down as his twin wrestled with the beast, and he looked right at her, a small smile on his face.
Paula opened her mouth to speak, but the boys raced away into the town. They kept running farther and farther away, sinking into a village that slowly warped before her very eyes, twisting and churning with swathes of flames touching the edges of the nearby forest. Branches fell around her with a heavy clamor like cymbals smashing together. Paula screeched, covering her head as a blast of smoke shot over her. Lightning pierced the sky, repeatedly crashing down onto decimated homes until strange boxes were set up like a strange kind of shield. The villagers, once peaceful, wore sneers and ignored the plights of the twins as they separated, one running away into the flames and the other crying into the belly of his dog.
Paula rubbed her eyes, the heat making her vision swim. She hacked and doubled over, the stench of smoke so poignant that she felt like she could have collapsed. She wished Ness were at her side, but the reminder of her friend made her head snap up, and she frantically called out for him. His name and the names of her friends tumbled out of her mouth as she choked on smog, overpowered by the laughter of soldiers in pig masks as they towered over her, holding guns that would make Jeff's rockets look like children's toys.
The blonde twin and his dog stared at her through the throng of soldiers. Next to him and his dog was a tense young woman with brilliant pink hair and a weary man with a limp, the harshness of his father's expectations beaten into him. They huddled together, and Paula could only make out something long and bright as the world choked on fog and smoke, her mind hazy from the noxious fumes.
The boy grabbed what she thought was a powerful sword and wrenched it out, offering it to the heavens. Light seared into her eyes, and Paula yelped, bowing her head before the brilliancy as an earthquake rocketed beneath her. She covered her skull, hearing the soldiers squeal like real hogs, lumbering away as pieces of earth shot up into the air, threatening to come crashing down but only stayed high above her grasp, preserved by gravity.
Paula watched the world warp with fire and fury, with needles launching towards the smoggy sky having once been dyed with the colors of the sunset. People and animals passed her, unbothered by the earth's rumbling. Paula's stomach rolled, and she hugged herself, her entire body shaking as she prayed for something to make sense.
A hand seized her shoulder, and she gasped, tears blinking out of her eyes. Through the flames and pollution crossing the world, she made out the stern face. Her relieved smile spread into her cheeks as she cried.
With his brow furrowed, his lips pursed, Poo clutched Paula's shoulder and grounded her to reality. She called his name, quickly holding onto him. Poo rubbed through her hair, comforting the younger girl.
"What is this? What's going on?" she blubbered, freely sobbing as debris crashed around them and tanks rolled into the village, decimating all of the wooden buildings. Lightning struck nearby, and she shrieked, feeling the ends of her hair becoming singed.
"A premonition," he whispered, and Paula gasped at the resignation in his tone, "of a time far beyond us."
"Foresight?" She turned, her eyes wide to the chaos of another needle shooting towards the sky. "But-but how-?"
Poo did not reply. Instead, he pointed towards a new scene. Like puzzle pieces coming together, the darkness bleed into a new vision. The blonde boy cried over his twin, mechanized and smiling, as he took his final breath. Friends and family surrounded him, offering their apologizes, strength, and well wishes. Paula's heart swelled with pity for them. She wanted to run to them and comfort people she didn't know, but Poo kept his hand on her forearm, willing her to stay when an odd laugh struck her ears.
She knew that awful guffaw. Filled with malice and arrogance, Paula narrowed her glare onto Porky, but her expression fell in a heartbeat. He was old. Decorated in wrinkles and white hair, Porky stuck his tongue out against the unbreakable glass of an odd machine. He was still round, but his arms and face were dimpled with age. No longer was he the youthful brat who tormented Ness, and Paula wanted to wretch at the sight of the disfigured kingly miser who only continued to laugh.
The weary man at the side of Porky's capsule bowed his head, and Paula gasped. Dr. Andonuts caught her gaze and stared through her. Poo rubbed her shoulder, knowing they could do nothing for him in a world that was not their own.
"Lucas," Porky wheezed, and Paula could have sworn he was looking right at her, "what're you gonna bring to the new world?"
"What does he-?"
As Paula's question died in her throat, she watched Lucas rip out the final needle, and everything shook. The people shook, the animals shook, the ground shook, everything in this world shook with the fury of the apocalypse. Her vision doubled as she tried to focus on Lucas, his expression unreadable, but too many copies of everyone surrounding him filled her eyes. She wobbled, and Poo steadied her, his own gait affected by the shaking of the very planet, feeling the intensity of her whispered prayer against his chest.
"It's the end of the world," he whispered, and static filled Paula's ears followed by a blinding whiteness.
"Paula! Hey, Paula!"
Hands rushed for her. She screamed, thrashing against something soft. Weightlessness took her over. She fell through the air and slammed into something wooden. Her eyes snapping open, Paula gasped and stared at the corner of Ness' room.
Ness heaved out a sigh, kneeling by her side. Tracy was covering her mouth, shellshocked at the sight of Paula shivering in the messy tanglement of her blankets. Even Poo was present, his eyes wide with shock, but Ness' mother hurried by him and scooped Paula into her arms.
"Are you okay? You were having a terrible nightmare! Oh, after all you've been through today, too!" she cried, and Paula could only blankly stare at her.
"Paula, can you hear me? Are you okay?" Ness blurted, and Poo cleared his throat, prompting Ness to jerk his head to him. "Poo, what's going on? You just teleported over her while Paula was having that nightmare."
"We shared a premonition together in our dreams." Poo pointed at his temple. "We saw what I believe was several centuries into the future."
"The end of the world," Paula whispered, tears sliding down her face, and her eyes slowly slid shut, the last word lingering in her mind was Ness calling out her name.
When Paula woke, Jeff called, crying that his father had vanished into thin air, and she sank back into the darkness with Porky's laughter filling her dreams.