Sometimes, when he slipped under the cotton covers, the bed beneath didn’t feel quite solid.

Sometimes, it felt like he curled up in a space entirely more deep than was apparent to visual senses.

     Late at night, he’d lay up thinking of things; strange things, intangible things. Nuances and curves of everyday interaction, flowing into one another in a liquid coalescence of ideals and pictures. Sometimes he would watch people’s face as they talk, more than anyone sees when they just smiled and nod, briefly exchanging words. He would watch their lips, the way they moved their cheeks subtly, eyes flitting slightly to the side, nostrils flaring.


     The more he watched, the more he noticed, the face soon losing its unity, all the parts of the machine telling him something in turn. Sometimes, he’d watch the boys at school talking to one another, or to him, each one putting on a little show, wearing bravado like a shield. Sometimes it felt like everyone knew what was happening, like it was some bizarre theatrical production that everyone simultaneously agreed to be a part of, yet pretended never exists.


     When he watched fights, he felt this burning stirring in his chest. It would always start with a word or two…perhaps the projected shield of ego moving too far, or a fellow of sufficient alien origin to unknowingly tread upon their world, a deed mistaken. He’d want to speak out…ask them, please, to stop, because it all felt so pointless. He’d sit there, and watch, resigned, as people hurt themselves, over nothing.


     So when he sat down at night, on the edge of the bed, with the intent to sleep, sometimes he’d sit just a little too long. He’d watch, looking out the window, looking at the moon. It would glow brightly white, pressing through the mesh of intertwining branches at his eyes, beckoning his presence as the rocky hills seeming strangely large and welcoming, yet so far away, making him forget his purpose there. After some amount of time the tiredness overtook him, the hand of sleep slowly laying him back into the covers, his body making only a vague attempt to burrow in before he closed his eyes.

     The cotton would seem to swallow him whole, his eyes closed but sight seeping through without his will; the dim light of the outside world showing through like a portal in the sky, his own false moon. The walls of blanketing cotton would fly up around him; freefalling miles into the ground, until only the blue earth lay in that small, black square up above, rolling slowly in space just before he hit the ground, slamming into it with the force of brick. Strangely, it never kept hold of him for long; the shock thundering through his chest for only a second, until the earth melted over his eyes like water. It engulfed his torso like crawling fire, the rim of the liquid slowly losing its hold as he slipped through and fell completely past the surface. What happened down below was never under his control.


     That night, he fell into a city. People walked hurriedly past him, another stranger on a busy street. He stood there, with a blank face, utterly still as he watched the cars go by.


     The shape of a certain building attracted him with its awkward spines jutting into the air, aqua windowlets shining like scales over the beast’s surface, urging him to make his way toward it. An expression felt useless to him as cars roared by, walking slowly across the street with no one there seeming to, his footsteps carrying him along a path without injury until he reached the street corner. Wide, black doors stood in front of him, watching him as calmly as he did they; their impassive black surface shining his own bland image back in return.


Suddenly, he felt a touch on his shoulder. His head turned to the right, eyes never showing any change; blue as they were, haunting without activity.

It was a girl.

She smiled, if only for a moment; then lightly took his hand, squeezing it.

The doors rippled and shuddered. Something purple and bright ripped through his head.

She squeezed again.

Windows started cracking. The pavement below began to get crumble as cars shot past ever faster, the clouds moving swifter now, as everything seemed in a hurry to move anywhere but there.

She pressed at his hand a third time. This time he had to shut his eyes, the pain intense in his skull.


     When he opened them again, the sky was a roiling, stormy black, surrounding the earth-shaking rumble of the building shattering, the great beast beginning to fall towards him with a heavy determination. The ground grew black with no light to reach it, wind rushing around him while the girl kept on smiling.


     She was intent on destroying him, he felt almost sure of that. His head was tilted up, watching the building fall until he felt the glass breaking about his head, the girl losing center in his mind as he began to fall upwards, reversing his actions. Somewhere, among the rubble being created below, flesh-coloured skin attracted his gaze, two uncovered fingers lightly curled in beckoning. Everything started speeding up; both halves of the crashing structure were splitting apart as the two were pulled in either direction, dust and debris tumbling randomly apart as he felt himself falling away. His fingers curled around the girl’s, grasping at them, and the longer he held, the more things were being pulled away, her face dusty and exposed as the pieces of the building flew off into eternity, at polarity to each other. Without the smile this time, the girl looked almost pleading, blank and lost as he, looking at his eyes with directness. The air went deathly still, deep blackness blanketing their bodies as utter darkness without any shape or form began tearing the two apart. Slowly, he closed his eyes, his fingers slipping away from hers as he felt himself tumbling outwards, further into nothingness. He rolled and squeezed up against himself, until all he could feel was his legs up against his chest, reminding him of his own flesh. Gradually the blackness evaporated, the emptiness melting away as crystal formations of soft touch began to envelop his body, the warmth returning to his skin. His eyes opened slowly, greeted by the morning sun in the window, blanket laying heavy over him.