Goal of the day: 482 words. Written: 984
Ore. Brown alone, in a variety of shades. Mhm.
More, less, the brownness of the dirt and some strange... Eh. Something unpleasant. I watched this colour for maybe a second, a minute, an hour or a day.
And then something caught my eye. Ouch! I blinked my eyes a few more times. And then I realised - I'm looking at the ceiling and I'm lying down!
"Pala, lubas? What?"
One moment and I'm sitting down. A moment more and I'm cursing myself for getting up so quickly, or for apparently not staying awake yesterday - my head was aching like... Well, as if someone had smothered it in hot lava, and then dumped it into the Cold Ocean.
But it was probably worth the pain, because now I knew a bit more about where I was than I did lying on the floor. Yes, everything around me was still fifty shades of brown, with a yellowish light glowing from somewhere, but progress.
I looked around.
I was sitting on some kind of thin and soft carpet, laid right in the middle of the floor in a barely lit empty room. To my left I saw what looked like a cellar window, or rather a hole in the ceiling from which light was coming in, and to my right was what looked like a door. Or, of course, it could have been a picture of a door, because this one didn't even have a handle - just a rectangle with lighted slits around it.
In general. It looks like a prison. Or a police interrogation cell. Or a room where... Hm. I couldn't remember what it reminded me of, but it certainly reminded me of something close.
I realised I was hearing a rustling. I don't know whose, exactly - if it's the sea, I'm very close to it. If it's people, it's a lot of them. If it's a forest... Well, it couldn't be a forest. The forest is quieter. And it doesn't seem to make a distinction.
"Where am I?"
I shook my head. Something in my neck was crushed, but it didn't hurt, so I didn't pay attention. Someone said that... Hm... I don't remember...
However, shaking my head didn't help much, because the room in front of me didn't change. I turned to the side to try and look behind me, but there I saw more shades of brown, which I was not really impressed with.
I discovered this better one by tilting my head down. Turns out I was wearing some kind of black shirt and trousers... Or brown... Nothing to see here.
"Hm."
I don't remember ever wearing that outfit. Did someone change me?
Well, it wasn't anything better. But compared to smooth walls, it's more interesting.
"How did I get here?"
Again, I have not found an answer. So I tried to get up from the mattress. I moved my toes and saw how they moved under my socks, which were again the same black. Someone had provided socks too? Is my whole outfit a one-piece leotard?
I touched my stomach and tried to find the gap between the top and bottom of the garment. And I found it - when I lifted up my shirt, I could see the skin of my stomach. That's good. It's still this.
"...Pala. What do I look like?"
Of all the questions, this one was probably the stupidest. But I raised my hands... And, again, I didn't see much - just my fingers. Moving. All of them. Maybe a little thin.
"...Aha..."
Not very interesting. So I continued what I had started - I got up. The ceiling in the room was lower than it looked lying down, and I could even touch it if I raised my hand, which I did. Cold. Something like stone, maybe concrete?
I crossed to the other side of the room and stood in front of the door. I pushed it.
The door bent in space and time and opened.
* * *
I pushed them harder and entered a narrow corridor. Just as low. I moved so the door could close again - because I couldn't see through it, and all I could see was a iiiiiiiiiiig narrow corridor leading to some kind of hall or something like that.
"I wonder who's there..."
- Good afternoon," came a man's voice behind me, like stone.
I literally jumped up and turned around. Behind me, a large golden crystal with two tiny legs and two arms that didn't reach the floor was hanging in the air, taking up almost the whole space of the corridor.
"O. God."
"Aaaa!", I exclaimed in surprise. I heard somewhere that our screams are meant to scare away predators and to announce our misfortune to our soulmates. I don't know who would not have screamed at that moment.
I didn't even realise how I had flopped on the ground together. My bottom was sore, and the change in perspective only made the crystal look bigger.
But I wasn't going to give up so easily - I pushed off with my legs, pushed back with my hammerlock and then stood up with my feet on the ground. A moment later, I was standing with my fists raised.
The crystal never moved.
- Who are you!? - I shouted at him.
Crystal was silent. For a moment, two. I turned my head sharply and looked behind me - wasn't I talking to someone I shouldn't have been talking to, and was someone else saying the words?
There was still nothing behind me. But the crystal still spoke:
- I'm just a bystander in your story," he said, with a little flash in the middle.
I rolled my eyes and involuntarily let out a little laugh.
"...What?"
- A side character?
- Yes, a bystander," he replied in the same monotone.
I wasn't sure what to do with my hands. I just put them down. And since I was already standing about six steps away from this bystander, I looked around a bit.
- That doesn't explain anything," I told him.
- And that explains everything," he replied, as if everything were really so basic and simple.
- Noooo... - I trailed off like I was talking to a petulant child, because I didn't understand anything anymore - "it doesn't explain anything. I mean... What do you mean? What other character? What? And what is going on here? It's happening and you know, well...
I looked around again. I felt like I was in a bad play.
- You people are very strange. I have answered the first question, is that not enough?
"You people? Me?"
- You people? - I frowned. - Pala, who are YOU?
It was probably a little too late to ask, but better now than never. Crystal sighed.
- They told me that you would be difficult, but they didn't mention that it would be REALLY difficult. My name is James and I am a bystander in your story. My job is to walk you to the right room and that's all you need to know.
"..."
I looked at the crystal with as stony a face as possible. My head was still aching, but suddenly several neurons jumped into place.
- Let me guess, James," I began slowly, feeling a chill down my spine, "That hall is behind us?
Crystal sighed again.
- Yes, that's right. And thank God you are not trying to go into unimportant details again and look for hidden meaning everywhere. For example, in my name.
I bit my tongue because I wanted to go into those details.
- I... No! It's just... I mean, unusual. I don't remember how I got here.
- Unusual compared to what?
I thought that if Crystal's voice had not been so monotonous, it would probably have sounded sarcastic at this moment.
- Eeem... - I couldn't think of anything suitable to say.
We both fell silent, looking into each other's eyes. Or at least my eyes on his heart, what do I know? The centre? The thing? Literally where the light flashes when he speaks.
- Let's go," he said, and moved closer.