Entry 7: The Outside

-Me-

I really don't know how long it took me to learn that I could leave my dark, stone world, so I was left to entertain myself (as usual).

During this long, boring time of my life, I became familiar with a rather strange application of my powers.

One day, while I was playing with the sound "Felladin", I realized that other than making things colder, my powers could also prevent physical objects from interacting with each other. I could throw stones through the walls, for example.

Most importantly, I learned that my own body counted as a "physical thing." I could pass my hands through each other, and I could even walk through walls like they were just a cool breeze.

Because of this, I walked through the stone walls surrounding my world, and I discovered that this "world" was completely surrounded by lots and lots of stone. The only place that was different was the entrance that the light bearing figures approached me with so long ago.

After so long of playing intensely then being consumed by boredom, I was giddy with excitement to discover a new place. Without much thought, I ghosted my way through the stone door covering the only world I knew at the time.

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After I came through, I saw a shaft of silver light coming from above, further down the tunnel. The sight aroused my curiosity, and I went closer to the beam.

As I crawled along, the image of my surroundings became more and more clear... I didn't know how to connect my sight with my experiences, so I didn't know what to do with the things I saw. Sure, I saw an image of fallen rocks forming a slope, but I had no idea what that image would feel like when I touched it.

Curious, I reached for the image of a rock in front of me, and I felt something hard and dusty in my hands. The feeling was familiar, and I realized it was a rock. I rubbed my hands all over the surface – just to make sure I wasn't mistaken. When I realized what the images I was seeing meant, I laughed out loud in joy.

With "sight" being completely understood by me, I enthusiastically began feeling everything around me, as well as getting familiar with the new sights.

I made my way up the slope of rocks leading to the hole in the ceiling. I slipped and scraped myself a few times, but my sense of adventure had consumed me, and I wanted to reach the top no matter the cost. What could be up here? What other things would I be able to see and feel besides rock?

At long last, I got directly beneath the hole, and I gazed around me. Directly above me, there was a very bright, round object hovering in the air, surrounded by pretty, glittering dots. The wonder of it all reflected in my eyes, and I gazed at the glory of it for hours.

When I looked at the pretty silver circle in the sky for too long, my eyes started to hurt, and I would have to look away in order for my eyes to rest. That annoyed me.

At times throughout my stargazing, I felt a… movement of air on my skin. It was like blowing on myself, except it was cool, and the "blowing" was all over my body. Was the world actually breathing on me?

In all honesty, in my childish ignorance, that's what I thought it was.

Eventually, the pretty round circle above me moved across the sky and sunk beneath the earth – at least, that's how it appeared to me.

Around this time, the silver lighting on the land faded, and everything started to be painted in a strange golden color. The land was brightening up, and my eyes started to sting once the brilliant golden light started to peak up from beneath the earth, far away.

My eyes were watering in pain, but I didn't want to go back beneath the ground. Maybe the golden light would go away soon?

It didn't. In fact, the light got stronger. Once it got too strong, I was forced to go back into the tunnel again.

Feeling heartbroken, I crawled down the rocky slope to the bottom and cried to myself because I wanted the pretty silver circle back, and I wanted the mean golden circle to go away.

I waited and waited all day, stubbornly refusing to leave, until the light above me started to fade. Feeling excited, I crawled back up the slope and waited on the sky expectantly.

This went on for an hour or two, until I heard a strange movement behind me. I looked, and I saw an odd brown shape standing stiffly a few feet away.

The shape was covered in brown… hair? It also had 2, beady black eyes, as well as two long ears that were rounded at the top. Whenever it moved, the tiny creature would hop about and wiggle its whiskers. It would sometimes bend down and sniff the grass with it's pink nose before taking a nibble.

I didn't really think about what the brown shape was, though I was curious about how it got there.

I stared at it the weird brown shape for a minute, taking in the image and the alien smell it gave off. Finally, I wanted to know what it felt like with my hands.

When I reached for it, the weird shape did something shocking. It suddenly seemed to disappear. My sharp eyes only barely caught it fleeing behind the foliage all around me.

"How could this object move on its own?" I thought in shock and horror. Feeling an unprecedented crisis, I jumped in fear and fell on my back.

It wasn't just that it moved on its own that frightened me. It was also the feeling when I touched it. I felt its body heat, and I felt its muscles tense up and flinch.

This reminded me of the time when the speaking things came into my stone world with the golden light, and when they grabbed my arm. The fear from that time still lingered in my heart.

And so, I slid back down the tunnel – screaming all the while, and wondered how many of these scary moving objects are outside my stone world? Will I be hurt if I come in contact with them?

I ran back into my stone world – shivering and sobbing to myself. I was a fool for leaving my stone world! It's much safer here! Here, the golden light won't come every day. Here, I'm safe from the animate objects!