Ne Fame: Ex Animo
A man. A man in a black suit. He was tall and had a thin, angular build. His skin was pale and sleek without flaw, but no empathy could be found in those dark eyes.
"Say pal, you don't look so well," he said, towering over me. His voice was full of mockery and arrogance.
"You better find something to eat." He disappears into a cloud of black smoke. My vision blurs, but from what, I don't know.
"Nice cheap parlor trick," I mumble. I slowly got up and glanced around, orienting myself. Where did he go? More importantly, why can't I remember who he was? Wait, who am I? "Wilson," I whisper to myself. Is that his name? No wait, that's my name. My name is Wilson.
"I have more important matters to attend to than my name," I chide myself. I stand up to get a better look at my surroundings. Trees, grass, and assorted plants and flowers are dispersed amongst the environment. Why the heck would he just drop me off in some random forest?
A distinct warble-like sound comes from behind me. I ready myself into a somewhat defensive stance. I stare intently at the bush as my heart beats in my chest.
"Must be some kind of bloodthirsty beast, wanting to tear me limb from limb," I think to myself. I wait in unending anticipation for the beast to emerge from the brush. Something bursts forth from the foliage and I see… it's a stupid turkey.
"I'm on edge for nothing. Get outta here you stupid bird!" I yell, waving my arms frantically. It clucks shrilly and quickly patters away deep into the forest.
"Guess I should try to make a camp." I say to myself.
I spend the day doing heavy, mediocre labor. Collecting grass and twigs for kindling, finding sturdy rocks for tools, and foraging for bits and pieces of food. I managed to make a crude axe, good enough to chop small trees down anyhow. Among the scraps of materials I foraged, there was a gold nugget.
"Wish this had value out here in the middle of nowhere," I say to nobody in particular. Halfway amused, I jam the nugget into my pocket, and I continue on.
I noticed how out of shape I was. What did I do for a living before I was dropped here, lie in bed all day? I now, however, do not have the luxury of lying around. I seemed to have excellent vision in my life before I was dropped here, because I spotted a pile of white rocks far in the distance. I broke into a comfortable jog and went closer to examine it more closely.
"Those are some weird rocks," I say quietly to myself. "Wait a second. Those aren't rocks." I investigated further.
The skeleton was tall to say in the least, being at least a foot and a half taller than me. It looked masculine, but I cannot trust my judgement, because the skeleton was disfigured from decomposition. Not too far from the skeleton, there was a backpack, crafted from some twigs, grass, and some kind of adhesive. Because of the unfamiliar smell it had, I chose not to identify the adhesive.
"Well, better him than me." The backpack had some run-of-the-mill survival supplies in it. Chunks of charcoal, rocks, and oddly, a piece of meat WAY past its expiration date.
The questions that came to me were annoying, mostly because I didn't know the answers. If there's a skeleton here, are there any other survivors like me?
After hard effort, perseverance, and a few vulgar words my mother could have scolded me for, I had a fire made. Nighttime eventually fell, and I found myself twiddling my thumbs, staring absentmindedly at the fire I had created. The night was dark, darker than usual if that even makes any sense. Strange sounds emitted from the inky blackness. The berries I had gathered had an unsophisticated taste to them. I found that roasting them on a stick made them a bit more tolerable to my taste buds.
"Man, what I would give for a hamburger," I say. I munched some more on those berries I had gathered, in an attempt to calm my nerves. It didn't work.
I didn't sleep. I spent the whole night gazing dazedly at the fire. When dawn arrived, I unwittingly had dozed off. When I finally awoke, I gazed at the sun, approximating that I had only slept for about four or five hours. The forest looked to be void of life, but I know that the forest dwellers are hiding somewhere. A shame really, as I had looked forward to an easy meal this morning. The fire was just ashes by now, and I had little kindling left. The idea of finding something to fill my now empty belly pushed me off the ground.
"Well, I'm not going to get anywhere staying here," I say to a nearby tree. I frown at the tree.
"I really am losing it." I threw on my backpack, then played eenie meenie minie moe to choose a direction to explore in. Don't judge my methods.
So I headed out into the unknown. I traipsed aimlessly in the one direction that fate had me pick. I passed a few beehives along the way. For future reference, bees are very stingy with their honey and are not interested in sharing. After rubbing the stings on my body, I noticed the edge of the forest. A wide open plains was ahead, past the point where the trees dared not to grow further. The plains were indeed a sight for my sore eyes, as I deduced that I did not do well with the claustrophobia the forest gave me.
The plains seemed to roll on for eternity. Food was my only motivator to move on. Luckily, it seemed that the plains made an excellent habitat for carrots and miscellaneous berries (which may or may not kill me). After I plucked a carrot out of the ground with a satisfying Pop, I looked up and was face to face with a hairy beast.
"Gahh!" I yelled with surprise, and the beast bellowed in reply. I backpedaled as fast as I humanly could, then turned around and ran a good 30 yards. Not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty sure I beat the world record for a 30 yard sprint. After huffing and puffing for a few minutes, I looked back up in the direction that I ran from. I proceeded forward with caution. I arrived back to the spot where I ran from, and got a better look at the "beast" that I saw. It appeared to be something like if a buffalo and a cow had a baby, but that baby took steroids. It was quite large, my estimate of it weighing at least 2000 pounds. It had a lot of fur, the fur being a very ragged and a dark brown color. It had two eyes that stared off into space, showing the passiveness of this magnificent beast. My dream of having a hamburger may happen. However, upon further inspection I saw that it had an unreasonably large pair of horns, white and sharp, ready to stab any threat that comes its way. For my mortal well being, I decided to be a vegetarian.
Perhaps I don't have to be a vegetarian. I found a rabbit hole a few minutes ago. After finding it, I proceeded to tie a carrot to a makeshift fishing rod, which I had prepared the night before. The hook was made out of a chiseled rock, and the string was made out of a thin grass. I had thought I would be using it to catch fish, not rabbits. But, I tossed the hook with a carrot on it into the hole.
"Fishing for rabbits, not the weirdest thing I've ever done," I chuckle to myself. Surprisingly, after a few minutes, the stupid rabbit actually BIT the bait. I couldn't believe it. It was snagged on the hook and the rod started to shake back and forth. I yanked the rod and reeled in my prize. I quickly struck the rabbit in the head with a sharp rock. It laid lifeless.
Night fell again, as I expected. I hungrily stared at the rabbit meat that was roasting over the fire. After five minutes, it was ready for consumption. I gawked at it, the first kind of meat that I had obtained since I was dropped here. I tried to savor the flavor, but I ended up gobbling down the meal quickly. I collapsed down near the fire, ready for sleep to overtake me. I had put enough kindling on the fire to last the entire night.
"Maybe life isn't so bad here," I say with a satisfied tone. I stretched my arms above my head and yawned. "Maybe it isn't."
I was sadly incorrect. I awoke to the sound of hissing. Hissings, I should say. There were spiders, about 20 feet from me, approaching with anger evident in their faces. What most are likely thinking is that they're just a bunch of spiders, go squish them with the boot of your heel and be done with it. These spiders were like none I've seen before. They were as big as a rottweiler, and just as mean looking. They seemed to weigh at least 60 pounds each, with fangs as large as a butcher's knife. They continued approaching menacingly, looking at me with eyes of vexation. My body was running before my brain could give the order to flee. I heard the screeches of them, and they scuttled swiftly towards their prey, which was me. They were chomping at my ankles, and I tried not to notice the blood dripping from my leg. I kept trying to think of a way to escape, but the physical exhaustion of sprinting clouded my thoughts.
You won't believe me. Nope, you won't. Well if you believe the spiders exist, maybe you'll buy this too. A pig, running on two legs, sprinted past me. The pig had a brown-yellow kilt on, made out of dried grass. The pig did not run away from the spiders, but towards them.
"SPIDER BAD!" yelled the pig. I, at this point, simply gave up on understanding anything in the entire universe. I ogled at this spectacle; a talking pig that runs on it's hind legs that fights off giant spiders. The pig had a good deal of muscle behind its punches, but its fighting techniques was primitive. But I guess it did not need advanced combat moves, because its strength seemed to get the job done. After seeing the pig stomp out over half of their numbers, the remaining spiders got the idea and fled. The pig stretched out his arms and worked the kinks out of its neck. Then it looked to the right and noticed me for the first time.
"Spider?" the pig asked, pointing a hoof at me.
"No, no, no, no, I'm not a spider," I quickly explained, wanting to avoid a misunderstanding.
"My name is Wilson." The pig stared at me, as if I was the strange phenomenon and not him.
"Name is Chip," he said, somewhat slowly.
"Are you hungry Chip?" I asked, in an attempt to be friendly with the sentient pig.
"Chip always hungry!" he replied with gusto, hitting his chest. I dug through my backpack quickly, not wanting to keep him waiting. Luckily, I hadn't eaten all the rabbit I had caught. I wanted to save it for later, but it was already starting to spoil, and Chip pretty much saved my life with the spider extermination.
"Uh, here," I say, handing it over to him, "Do you like rabbit?" But he had already eaten it all by the time I had finished asking him the question. Chip sighed in satisfaction and rubbed his belly.
"You friend," he told me.
"Cool," I said, with a smile forming in the corner of my mouth.
"You cold?" he said questioningly.
"No, you see It's an express- nevermind," I said, giving up on teaching a pig grammar.
"You good. Meet pig king!" Chip said with eagerness.
"Pig king?" I reply, astonished that they are smart enough to establish a monarchy. Chip started tugging me by my hand, and his kung-fu grip was inescapable, so I simply let him drag me wherever he planned to take me. I hope Chip has a good sense of direction.
I guess he does. In less than 15 minutes, we were there. There was a path, made from assorted rocks and clumps of dirt leading to the village. It was actually a well constructed pathway. The trail wound around trees and past ponds, and eventually cut straight through the village itself. There were crudely constructed houses, which I assumed where the pigs lived. There were some grunts and a squeal or two when Chip and I arrived at the center of the village.
Then I saw him. The pig king wasn't really hard to spot. He was enormous, and was immensely fat. He had to weigh at least three or four thousand pounds, and was maybe ten times larger than me in mass, no joke. He had a fancy crown crafted from branches and sod, and had a peculiar blue gem smack-dab in the middle of his crown, just above his forehead. He dressed more or less the same as Chip. He seemed to be the most intrigued by my arrival, his face filled with curiosity. I wonder why they chose him as king; was he the wisest, or maybe the most skilled at something?
I continued walking, eventually arriving at a staircase leading up to the king. All eyes were on me, and I carefully made my way up the stairs. A few pigs ran up behind the king and helped him up to a sitting position, then they kneeled before him. I followed suit, not wanting to offend the behemoth. I could feel the suspense filling in the air. If the pig king did not approve of me, I'm not sure what would happen. Banishment? Death by hooves?
The king composed himself with a regal authority, gesturing a hoof at me.
"Is friend?" He questioned Chip. I noticed that I had unknowingly been chewing on my fingernails. The entire village was silent. Chip simply replied, "Is friend."
The king had a look of contemplation in his eyes. He looked me straight in the eyes. We held eye contact for a full 10 seconds. It felt like an eternity. The tension was in the air, and not a sound was made. Then the king threw his hands up in the air and announced, "Is friend!" All the pigs in the village roared with approval and congregated around me, welcoming me to the village. I guess Chip holds some kind of authority if the king takes his word just like that.
After being accepted into the village as a member, I was feeling pretty good. No more solitude for me, even if it isn't the most refined company. So immediately after the pig king announced my acceptance, he insisted upon having a feast, in the honor of my arrival. But I had a feeling that they were going to have a feast anyway. So I followed Chip and sat next to him at the large dining table that they had a brief walk away from the center of the village.
The food served was new and exotic to me, and the flavor of the meal was quite, uh, unique. The appetizer was an assortment of bugs. It ranged from butterfly wings to ant legs to dragonfly tails. Not wanting to offend their culture, I sampled every single one. Also, my stomach has been rumbling since this morning. A few of the appetizers were endurable, while a few others had me secretly spitting them out when no one was looking. The pig king sat at the head of the table, interjecting every once in a while in the conversations of his fellow citizens. All the while, I was still trying to wipe the awful taste of ant legs out of my mouth. I hoped for the next course to not be bug related.
Of course the main course was spider legs. It came with some kind of yellow dipping sauce that tasted like honey, but had a sour aftertaste. The spider legs were actually pretty good I've got to admit, tasting a bit like chicken . They had a nice crunchy texture to them, and I'm surprised how the cooks managed to make such an excellent sauce to accompany them. I guess these pigs know how to eat. There was simple talk and laughter dispersed amongst the table. I was silently chomping down my third helping of spider legs, trying to compensate for the hunger that I had all day. I hope my stomach can handle dessert.
Finally, dessert was served. I waited in semi-excited anticipation for the last course.
"Friend gets first bite!" Chip declared. All the pigs surrounding the table pounded their hooves on the table in approval. The pig king nodded, showing that he agreed. Chip walked over to me with the very large plate of the "desert".
"Friend will like!" Chip said with a big grin plastered on his face. I leaned over and got a better look of what I would be eating. The plate had lots of pink blobs that had a smooth texture with little wavy bumps along the sides of them. I recognized what they were for some reason. Perhaps I studied spiders before I was dropped here or something? It was a gland found in certain species of non-venomous arachnids. I think it was responsible for producing silk for webs. However, these were giant sized versions of the gland. I looked over the plate contemplatively and picked one of them up. It was all slimy and squishy in my hand. All of the village was looking at me, in waiting.
"Well, down the hatch," I say aloud. I take the first bite.
My tastebuds blenched in revolt. It tasted like raw eggs with moldy applesauce. Tears formed at the edges of my eyes as I tried to keep my dinner down. I finally swallowed it down and shuddered.
"Why have tears? Is bad dessert?" Chip asked me.
"No," I say, "it's so delicious, it brings tears to my eyes." I coughed and rubbed my eyes.
"Friend want more?" I cringed at the thought of swallowing another one.
"Nah, you guys deserve it more," I say casually. Chip looked confused, but then he just shrugged and placed the plate of those nauseating excuses for food in the middle of the table. It turned into a mad house instantly and it was every pig for himself as they all swarmed the plate of glands. After a few seconds, there were none left. I know these pigs have different taste buds but COME ON! I wondered why there were none left for the king, but then I realized that he had a whole plate for himself.
After the feast, all the pigs went to their respective homes. Chip invited me to stay at his house, but his place, well, smelled like a pig sty. So I told him that I preferred to sleep out under the stars. I started a small campfire then layed down on a bed of grass. I still could not recall how I got here and why. It's like everything is on the tip of my tongue, but just out of my grasp. I rolled over in frustration at my inability to recall anything of much importance from my previous life. When I rolled over, the gold nugget in my pocket jabbed me in my thigh. I winced at the sensation, then sat up and took it out of my pocket. I held it up closer to my face so I could inspect it better. It was a good-sized chunk of gold, fitting almost perfectly into the palm of my hand. I bet this could fetch a pretty penny back in the real world.
"Funny how this isn't renewable." I say aloud, voicing my thoughts, I found talking to myself aloud kept my mind at ease.
"You mine all the gold in the world and that's it. It doesn't grow on trees, you can't just cook it up in a lab…" I paused in mid-sentence with a look of deep concentration on my face. A lab. Gold. Cook. Not cook, but synthesize? I knew I was onto something. Something about my past. The reason why and how I got here. I focused on trying to remember.
I freeze completely. My memories rush into my mind, and I sit there in stunned revelation. I have that, "Ah ha!" moment in my head. I remember.
I am Wilson P. Higgsbury. I lived in a wooden house out in the middle of the woods. I was a scientist, a chemist to be specific. I made my living day by day, mixing up chemicals to cure diseases or whatever the market needed in a nearby town. I was hot on the trail of figuring out how to synthesize gold with only some common rocks. However, I had failure, after failure, after failure. Explosions, burns, any kind of biological mishap happened to me as I continued trying to find that perfect balance of chemicals, to make me rich and famous beyond my imagination. After the thousandth time of failure, I yelled in rage and smashed a nearby test tube in my anger. I massaged my temples as I walked and sat down in a nearby chair in disgusted defeat. My radio went off, with a strange man's voice whom I've never heard before. It said, "Say pal, looks like you're having some trouble. I have secret knowledge I can share with you. If you think you are ready for it." In my hopeless desperation, my thirst to solve this impossible puzzle, I agreed to listen to the man's so called, "Secret Knowledge".
"Ok then," he replied to me. I picked up the radio, with my hands somewhat shaking. Strange letters, numbers, and symbols surrounded me in a flash of light, and swirled within my vision. I felt my mind learning, acquiring knowledge. The symbols surrounding me suddenly disappear faster than they appeared. A smile grows on my face, as I knew how to synthesis the gold. I needed to build a machine. The blueprints for the machine were implanted in my mind, clear as day. I hurriedly raced around, gathering parts to build this magnificent machine. Wealth was just a few gears away. I worked for 5 days straight, only stopping to take short naps and eat brief meals. Finally, it was finished. I examined the finished product, and saw all the main parts. It looked like a gateway. There was a lever on the side of it.
"Excellent!" I jumped at the sound, but then realized it was just the radio. I wonder how he knew I was done?
"Now throw the switch," he said. I hesitated for a brief moment, afraid whether it would do its job or just explode. I also did not trust this man.
"DO IT!" he yelled. I hesitated for one more second, then I pulled the switch down. The machine made a whirring sound, and then outlined menacing shadows flew around the room. The shadows were on the wall and the floor. Alarm and panic overtook me. I heard the man laughing on the radio. He laughed a sinister laugh, the kind of laugh that sends chills down your spine. The laughter was maddening, filling every one of my senses with dread. I started to back away from this monstrosity I had created in sheer terror. One of the shadows became tangible. It was a pair of clawed hands, and they rose out of the floor. I started sprinting and I tried to jump out the window, but the hands grabbed me and yanked me down into the murky darkness that it resided in.
After figuring this out last night, I headed out to find the pig king. I found him, and saw that there was already a village meeting in progress. Perfect. When it ended, I seized the opportunity to tell everyone in the village of my revelation. I tried to summarize the story in quick parts and tried to "dumb it down" for them. I seemed to have done a good job, because after my story, they all seemed to understand the predicament that I'm in.
"We help," the pig king tells me. "We help build thing." I sigh with relief. Having a whole pig army to help me reconstruct this gate will be awesome. My plan is to recreate the gate that sent me to this world. I didn't know if it would work, but it was my best shot out of here.
"But first, prove self as warrior." Huh? Hey I'm not a fighter. I'm pretty sure papercuts are a worthy adversary for me. I'm just a researcher, and a mediocre one at that. I don't solve things by fighting.
"If you is warrior, we help. If no, live here forever." Forever? Gee, that's a long time. But what other choice do I have? My mind was running at a mile a minute, yet I couldn't find a solution without the help of these pig people. I would have to do what needs to be done to survive.
"I will prove myself," I say to the pig king, in fake confidence. "I'm a warrior." The pigs cheers reverberate throughout the village in approval, and they all clap me on the back. The pigs started to lead me to where I assumed my challenge would be.
"It's okay," I whisper to myself, "how hard could this challenge be?"
We walk deep into the forest. I asked the pig king if I could carry a weapon of some sort, and he agreed because he said that I am "tiny man". So I fashioned a spear out of a sturdy branch, a sharp rock, and a crude piece of rope that I wove from grass. After I finished crafting the spear, I ran to catch up with Chip, who was leading this challenge for me on behalf of the pig king. I assumed the pig king could not be here because, well, I don't think he can move. The entire village was with Chip and I. They had looks of curiosity upon their faces. I wondered how I would fare with this challenge. They came along with Chip to grade me on how well I completed this challenge. I assumed I needed a near perfect score.
"Here," Chip says to me. "This is challenge." I peeked through the brush and saw silk, dirt, and rocks massed into one big clump. I examined it carefully and concluded that it was a spider nest. It was giant, being 7 feet tall and 7 feet large in diameter. Great, because I've had such awesome experiences with giant spiders before. Chip explains to me that I must destroy the spider nest, along with whatever horrors reside within it as well. Chip gives me a light push towards it, but he must have underestimated his strength because it caused me to stumble more than a little. I hold up my spear and then cautiously walk towards the nest. Spiders stream out in large numbers out of the nest and set their sights on me. I jump at the sight of them, but then I plant my feet firmly into the ground. I wait for them to make the first move. One of the spiders in front let out a ear piercing screech, and the fight was on. The first spider jumped at me and I sidestepped out of instinct and adrenaline. I wielded the spear with two hands and put all of my force behind the spear. With a sickening crunch, I delivered a kill blow to the middle of its forehead, the gooey substances in its body staining the spear. I forcefully dislodge the spear from its unmoving corpse and look up. There were still a large number of them left. They began to start gnashing and snapping at me in larger numbers, attacking as a cohesive unit. I was just trying to keep them from killing me, staying on the defensive. I had to think of a plan fast. In a desperate attempt to keep them away, I swiped my spear at their legs. I was exceedingly surprised to hear a few snaps reach my eardrums.
"That's it," I thought. "Their biological weakness. They have sturdy torsos, but their legs are very fragile." I exploited this weakness I discovered as soon as possible. Aiming for their legs, I stabbed, slashed, and stomped at them. I quickly crippled their numbers using my newfound knowledge. The spiders that were alive twitched upon the ground.
More spiders poured out of the nest, seeming to be in endless numbers. Wanting to finish this challenge before I ran out of energy, I sprinted as fast as I could to a nearby boulder next to the nest.
"I hope this works!" I yell out loud. I hit my spear on a large rock next to the nest in an attempt to create a spark. The first try failed. I looked up and saw the large army of spiders advancing rapidly. I hit the rock again, harder this time. It failed.
"Last shot," I say to myself. The spiders were a mere 10 yards away. This time, I hit even harder, and at an angle. A spark flies from the boulder, and hits my desired target. The silk seemed to be very flammable, and the entire nest was engulfed in flames in less than 5 seconds. The spiders feared the raging inferno, and they scattered from their previous home out into the forest . I watched the remaining spiders flee with a little bit of satisfaction. I collapsed on my back and drew breath heavily to recover.
A few minutes later, I caught my breath. Sadly, adrenaline can't last forever. The cuts and bruises I had were now evident, as they started to throb and sting. The pain wasn't agonizing, but it wasn't exactly a picnic either. Chip trotted over and gave me a hand up, with a big grin on his mouth.
"You pass!" he exclaimed, and he gave me a big hug.
"Urghclk," I gurgled out, trying to keep from passing out. His enthusiastic hug wasn't doing any favors for my sore body. After he let go, I regained my balance and footing. Chip looked away from me and directed his attention to the village.
"Is warrior?" he asked the entire village. There were a few quick murmurs, but then they escalated into tremendous shouts of recognition.
"We help!" they were all saying. I smiled and collapsed onto the charred ground. Again.
Chip agreed to give me a piggyback ride back to the village. Yes a piggyback ride, ha ha. Before we left the charred nest, the village scrounged up the remaining spiders to cook for tonight's meal. I actually looked forward to some boiled spider legs.
"We here," Chip said to me. I hopped off his back and followed everyone. We walked along the road that wound through the village and arrived at the feast table and arrived at the pig king. Chip strode towards the pig king and when he arrived he kneeled in respect then rose.
"Wilson pass," Chip said to the pig king, in a tone of upmost respect. "We help?" The pig king furrowed his brow and surveyed the village audience. A great many "hooves up" ( they lacked thumbs) and nods of agreement were found throughout the crowd. He gave a mild shrug and said, "Yes. Work next sun time."
The entire village slept until about noon, which was fine with me because I was extremely sore and fatigued. However, I was excited to get prepared to work on the machine, so I was able to work through the soreness. I scarfed down some slightly stale spider legs, and then assembled the village to tell them my plan.
The plan was simple. At least for me it was. I needed all the supplies that I had to build the original gate that I had made. The items consisted of sawed planks, sharp rocks, and other natural materials . These supplies may or may not work. They were only crude versions of the supplies I actually had when I was building the door. Chiseled rocks to make gears, sharp rocks for nails, etc. The most important ingredient however, was the wiring within the machine. Luckily, gold made an excellent conductor of electricity. The chunk of gold that I had in my pocket was extremely malleable, so I had more than enough wire to complete the machine. I guess gold wasn't so useless here.
This time, the machine only took about 4 and a half days to complete. I stood back and admired the powerful machine that I, along with some help, had created. This was it. My ticket back home. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the whole village. I almost had a crazy idea to stay with them, but I don't think it was meant to be. I turned to face Chip and said,
"Well, this is farewell Chip." Chip had a sad facial expression on his face. "Bye friend," he said. He waddled up and gave me a spine crushing hug. "Ack, that's good Chip, I'll miss you too. But I will need to walk when I get back," I choke out. He stepped back sheepishly and walked back to rejoin the village crowd. I looked back at the place I had called home. It was kinda sad. I waved back to Chip, and watched the farewells of the village I had come to know, with mixed emotions. Then I threw the switch, and my whole world turned upside down.
When the world quit spinning and the nausea passed, I found myself on my wooden floor back at my house. The ugly machine that I had created before was still in my living room. I eyed it with disgust, and pushed myself up off of the floor. I heard a clink come from the kitchen and then heard footsteps entering the living room.
Then I saw him. His same pale face and skinny limbs. The same protruding chin and dark tuxedo. He saw me, and he had a look of surprise on his face.
"You! How are you here? You're not supposed to be here!" he said, as his mouth curled into a frown.
I gave a smug look at him. I replied cooly, "You should've worked out the details." He had a look of pure malice on his face, displeased at my presence.
"Listen, we can't both be in this world. Charlie will not allow it." He took a sigh, and looked up at me. "I need more time here." The man said this slowly and deliberately. He almost looked like he was struggling with his conscience. His face was twitching oddly.
"One of us has to go back." His lip formed into a fierce snarl. "And It can't be me!" He charged at me and tackled me to the floor. His fist connected with my face, and I tasted blood in my mouth, as my neck twisted sideways. Still dazed, I managed to block the next of his punches with my forearm, and then I rolled defly to my right. I speedily got to my feet and brought my fists up to my face, like a professional boxer would. He was nimble, and we started to circle each other, trying to get a feel for each other's movements. He suddenly sprinted forward and made a grab for my head. Instinctually, I ducked and delivered a punch, which hit his throat. He retched and staggered backward. I took this moment to strike the back of his knee with my foot . He winced with pain and stumbled, but he recovered quickly. He sidestepped the second blow I attempted to apply to his ribcage. Despite the pain, he charged me again. We fell to the floor once more and we both struggled to gain the upperhand in this brawl. I started to lose focus in my eyes, and everything started to blur.
Suddenly, the lights went out and it was pitch black. An eerie purple light illuminated the room. I couldn't tell where the light was coming from. The stranger and I quit grappling. We stood up.
"Maxwell, you know you're not allowed to leave." The voice was high pitched and piercing, like a nail scraping across a chalkboard. It was calm and quiet, and sounded feminine. The voice caused some of my greatest fears to surface to the top of my thoughts. This voice seemed to instill fear into whoever hears it.
"Charlie, you can't do this to me." said Maxwell, his voice quivering with fright.
"Oh but I can, and I will. You must face judgement for what you did to me." The same dark hands that dragged me into the strange world headed for Maxwell. He quickly darted away from the shadow hands, and then headed towards the door. He wasn't fast enough. The hands snatched him by the legs. They started to slowly drag Maxwell down into the endless darkness of the floor. He screamed and clawed at the floor, but he could not prevail. He disappeared beneath the floorboards, and I assumed he wasn't in the basement.
"He never learns that he cannot escape my wrath. I hope you have a nice night, Mr. Higgsbury." The voice then gave an awful and dark laugh of satisfaction, and the room lit up with it's original candlelight.
I glanced outside and saw that it was nighttime. I collapsed in my chair, breathing heavily. Eventually, I calmed down enough to have my fears disappear into the labyrinth of my mind once again. I rubbed the bruises on my face, then closed my eyes. I opened them again. My vision was clear.
"Well, I guess that's it," I said to myself. I sat there for awhile just staring at the ceiling. Then I looked out the window. I saw a strange figure outside, and it looked back over its shoulder at me. I wasn't able to focus on it. My eyes spasmodically darted around the figure that I was trying to look at. I couldn't understand why my eyes wouldn't let me look directly at the strange figure outside. It was just a dark blob. With a red light enveloping it, the blob sunk through the forest floor outside my window. "Well, I guess that's it?"