Awake
Darkness, the unchallenged sovereign of the void, where light dares not trespass.
Consider your youth, a time when you were snugly nestled in the backseat of a car during the cover of night. The gentle hum of the engine lulling you to sleep. Rousing from slumber, your eyes would meet the view outside the window. Even shrouded in the obscurity of the night, the silhouettes of life were traceable.
But suppose, upon waking, your view was shrouded in something far more profound than the mere absence of light. The boundaries of reality blurred, evaporated into the void. No discernible forms. No familiar landmarks. An absolute emptiness.
Nothing.
This was James’ reality as he woke. It was a disorienting awakening, a struggle to adjust to the alien surroundings. He was clad in a suit of peculiar texture, unlike anything he had ever worn. It was soft to the touch, warm and protective, yet inconceivably light. It was an amalgamation of contrast - looking like hardened carbon fiber, yet bending and flowing like cotton.
As he examined his suit, he was faintly aware of the hum of what seemed like an air conditioning unit. A strangely comforting noise amidst the eeriness. He felt neither too hot nor too cold. His bodily functions were mysteriously absent. The urge to relieve himself, usually so imperative upon waking, was nonexistent.
With a growing sense of alarm, James moved around the unfamiliar room, attempting to piece together how he ended up here. The bathroom fixtures were austere, evoking images of a minimalist prison cell. Attempting to coax water from the faucet proved futile. The cabinet held no secrets either, only reflecting his own confused visage.
It was then that he noticed it, a sliver of metallic shimmer in the mirror’s corner. Something distinctly out of place in this monochromatic room. He turned, hoping to find the object in the room, but saw only the barren expanse between the bed and the bathroom.
In the mirror, he saw his reflection overlaid by that incongruous hint of metal, shifting slightly. A sudden realization sucked the air from his lungs and his heart pounded against his ribs. His reflection wasn’t just him, it was him against an absolute abyss.
The darkness around him wasn’t a shade, it was a void. A void speckled with distant stars. The void of space.
Vast. Cold. Indifferent.
Nothing.
