kpwu
long
tale
Feaser and WIRES-1-0-1 exited the corridor. In front of them, a nearly endless field of bathtubs and orange tiling stretched out under a foamy night sky. Warm lights envelopped the floor, leaving the sky free in its darkness. Steamed floated in the air, carried by a soap scented wind.
Immediately, Feaser remembered how dirty he felt. "Do you mind if I..." "No, not at all."
The water was warm. Feaser had to try his hardest not to fall asleep in the soothing bath. WIRES was nearby, in speaking range but not in sight.
"The existence of this place itself is... Huh. You know ?
-Not really.
-It's just... we've never really seen even a piece of furniture. Then bam, suddenly an entire field of bathtubs.
-In that sense, it is pretty interesting.
-Man...
-Yes ?
-I still can't believe all that."
A pause. Feaser shifted to face where WIRES was.
"Dreams aren't made to be believed.
-Still.
-But when thinking that all your life was a dream... I can see why you say that."
Feaser looked at the sky. He sighed.
They set out once again, Feaser could sense WIRES' nervousness at the idea of having to search this entire place for the memorabilia, but Feaser told them not to worry.
"I can sense... something. What's the memorabilia like ?
-It's a small cellphone. It contains a diary from another world."
And with that, Feaser advanced in a direction, determined. He had to be careful not to slip, though, and often WIRES had to help him stay steady. After only a few minutes of walking, Feaser found the cellphone lying unceremoniously on the ground.
He picked it up, turned it on, and read through the diary.
"▓▓/▓▓ - Monday.
Today starts as just another day. The hole in the sky is stable, once again. Man this thing really scares the shit out of me. Everytime I look at it, I can't help but shiver. I know it's supposed to be a symbol of our success over the universe or something but I just can't in good faith not be scared of it. And everyone is... fine with it ? This huge dimensional tear hangs in our sky like a black sun at all points of the day, and no one bats an eye.
"▓▓/▓▓ - Wednesday.
Why are they still insisting on powering up the hole ? This morning's meeting was centered almost exclusively around the hole. Everyone wants to make it stronger, bigger, divert more resources into it... I don't know what got into the higher ups. One thing is certain, I'm even more scared.
"▓▓/▓▓ - Thursday.
It's starting. Or rather, it's ending. The stability of the hole is decreasing, little by little. Yesterday it was around 84%, today it's at 79%. This is bad. I need to leave. I tried to leave a resignation letter this morning, but my boss told me that they couldn't afford to let anyone go, that all efforts should go to the hall.
"▓▓/▓▓ - Friday.
I had a sudden urge to go look at the archives. I went there, but I definitely don't remember them being this disorganised. There's no order. Not anymore. Just piles and piles of documents, in no order whatsoever. After a lot of searching, I found what I wanted. I wanted to find a document proving me that at some point a sun shone in the sky, instead of this giant hole. I found many. I think I can place the appearance of the hole to 23 years ago. But, what's more interesting, is that I Found documents saying the hole didn't just appear, but that it was created.
"▓▓/▓▓ - Saturday.
Now it's ending. The hole has reached a critical unstability threshold. It already started to disintegrate the towers closest to it. I'm trying to leave as hard as I can, but no matter how many floors I go down, there are always more. These towers can't be all the universe. I refuse to believe it. As I watched the first towers fall, I could see everything. The flesh of those inside was distorted and teared apart by the gravity, then pelted with debris. In the stasis enforced by the hole, I could see their stretched out faces, full of fear, regret, and a pain bigger than the stars can hold. I don't want to end up there. I don't want to end up in this state, in a torture doomed to never end. But it's coming. At least, I know I won't feel that regret. At least, I will die knowing that I fought against this."