Prelude- Chapter Two Lucid

I awoke with a start to the icy feeling of some presence at my legs. Grogginess, since going into the sphere he had been inexplicably tired…. chamber, this crystal chamber. I felt tense, laying there, ‘why did I go into that thing?’. The sphere had engulfed us in the room of my apartment but there was no interior so to speak. I remembered feeling as though I was floating through space, it was all dark except for this on white glow on the periphery of my vison. I tried to look for the source but the glow was only scene at the sides of my eyes. There was no time, or no sense of time, I had no clue if I was traveling or just suspended in this space. I was just there in this cold space…. Yea... that’s right it was cold, like an odd icy cold. But I did not feel ice cold. I felt like I was in a sort of cooling gel, with ice close to my sick. Yea that was it I could not remember much else. But I was somewhere now. My eyes strained to be open, I was defiantly drugged or paralyzed or something, my mind was racing but body remain frozen still. Ok what did I remember…

The sphere was above us, the strangeness of the situation leaking into my thoughts, ‘in no way should I be cool with this’. The expanded sphere looked both flat and solid, ‘none of this is possible’. But the sphere is right in front of me.

But where was the Old Man during all of this? Was he still next no me….

I looked to the Old Man and saw nothing. He had been at my side a moment ago. But I also just saw him bounce around the room. In was quiet, everything was silenced. It was the sphere, I could not even hear the kitchen clock, it had to be the sphere. I looked into the sphere the Old Man’s crept at my side…. whispering….what? But he was right I did want to go to the sphere. We didn’t have to though it was already taking us up…

Then I was floating. I was laying down now. Ok I need to open my eyes. They were locked but I had did once before so I can do again. I can at least control my breathing. I took a few breaths to steady myself, ‘ok can I move my eyes’, I rolled them around under my eyelid. ‘Ok so now I need to open’ I tried open peel apart the lids but I felt as I had no strength in my lids. I inhaled deeply once more. I have to remain calm, ok, open the eyes, that all. I focus on my eyes, I tried to feel everything around my eyes, there was nothing I could do. My eyes rolled, I tried forcing my eyelids apart, then felt heavy, no then felt stuck together. My eyelids fluttered open suddenly, ahhh I closed them again. It was brighter than I thought. Opening one eye I squinted ahead, ‘ok I’m getting there’, I slowly opened my eyes as they further adjusted to the light. But I could not move still. Ok, “mmmm”, ‘ok try again’, “mmmmhhhmmmm”. ‘I can’t speak huh’, maybe it doesn’t matter maybe if I keep making noise something will happen. “mmmmmmmMMMMMMmmmmMMMMMMmmmmmMMMMmmm”, “ Did you say something!”. I snapped open my eyes, the Old man was looking at me with a peeve yet amused look. I lifted my head off the floor….what….but I can’t move my body…I put head back down. I took a deep breath and looked at the Old Man again:

“Hey”

“Hi there”

“Where are we?”

“Why do you always care about that”

“What”

“About where you’re at”

“What”

“ You always care about where you are at, but you do don’t care about where you’re going”

“What?!”

WHAT IN THE FUCK HAVE I GOTTEN INTO! I looked around the chamber, everything was crystalline. “ Would you just tell me what’s going on?” The Old Man’s scoff echoed he walked around. Frustrated, my mind racing, what did he want to do to me, ahh shit I think I am going to get dissected…my body remained inert. “What did you do to me?”,“ I put you on training wheels”.

“ What”

“ Do you only speak English in the form of a question”

‘What should I do….it seems like he wants to talk…’

“So what do I call you anyway?”

“Eh, whatever you like names are meaningless.”

“Ok”

“ So you are cool with whatever I call you”

“Get funny and we’ll see”

“ I mean but seriously don’t you have a name”

“Why should I?”

‘well he has me there I guess’

“ I gave you a name”

“ Right… and what’s that”

The Old man pulled out a wallet from a coat pocket, flung it towards me. Opening it, it was mostly empty not much to look at, I went through the card slots; a library card, a market coupon, a discount pass to a strip club, and an id. “You doing nicely” “ What do you mean?”, the Old Man chuckled and sat in the air. What kind of power do he have? I looked around again…wait I was using my upper body, he was slowing giving me control of my body again. Looking at the Old Man he simply said, “Look at the wallet”. This wallet belonged to Corey Allen, his id picture looked mundane, a pale guy whose skin looked tinged slightly greenish, like he was nauseated. Shadows around his eyes mixed with his greenish hue, jeez he looked like a series of disappointments and decay. Corey Allen did not smile but stared into the lens a look of slight consternation on his face. “ What’s this s’pose to do?” The Old Man floated a little higher. ‘Wait there’s no door? How did we get here? I’m probably going to die.’ I noticed the sphere was not around, so where were we and why did he bring us here.’

“ I brought you here to take the next step.”

The Old Man the question I asked in my mind, inhaling deeply, I looked at him. His eyes kept level with my, they had an electric quality before and even more so now. He could read my mind, he smirked at the corner of his mouth to let me know this was true. “ Here”, he said, and drew his hand across the sky leaving a trail of liquid metal in the air. The metal trickled down, melting into streaks which banded together to make a sort of metallic sheet. “ Look”, he commanded. I saw Corey Allen. I felt the Old Man’s hand on my shoulder. I was standing ? Wasn’t I laying down. “ I know you’re confused so let me try and help clear your mind”. We turned as he spoke and faced the sphere again. Instantly the hand went from my shoulder to my back, from reassuring to a shove. I went forward in the darkness of infinity once more.