A Dark Hallway

I have always been curious about what it would be like to live in a parallel world. If this imagination of mine takes the form of reality how will I feel then?

Strange things began to happen when the unknown desire killed my inner soul.

It was last summer vacation. I was reading a book for my college assignment. I was too busy to complete it. I started to do some voluntary work, so I had no time. Suddenly my little sister called me; I shouted, “What?" She told me that mother ordered me to clean the storeroom. “Alright, I will do it later”. At this moment Mother shouted at me, “Right now”. So, I went to clean our storeroom. When I entered the room, I felt something strange. However, I started cleaning. There were some books which I was fond of. I started to find the books. After some trying, I found it. I began to turn on the page one by one. It was my treasure. Over time I reached the last page of the book. I saw a train running over the bridge was a book page just like it was an animated video on a TV. Then I tried to touch the train, but something wrong, there was darkness all around, and I could not see anything. But I felt I was walking in a corridor, or in a building, or an entrance hall.

I walked and walked, there was nothing but darkness. I had lost my eyesight, I felt. In the blink of an eye, a flash of light reminded me that I had lost no sight. I heard some sound of shunting trains, ringing, and rumbling, softened almost into melody by distance……….

I was sitting on a train, and through the window, I saw a train passing by the train I was on. But that rail line was different from my world. I was in a space……

I was speechless, and I was so shocked that I could not see any further, just closed my eyes and waited for the next station. Over time, I reached the station, and I heard my name, a sweet voice was coming through the train and said, “Lily it is the destination where you should get down”.

After landing, I saw that I was standing on a bunch of clouds. It was a railway station built on the cloud. Then I saw the stairs, a long staircase made of limestone. I started going down the stairs one by one. It was so long that I could not figure out how I could go down. I sat on the stairs in fear of the unknown.

Suddenly an ear-piercing voice came from nowhere and said, “3.14159265359……..talking, give me your password, please”. “I do not know any password, what password?” “Then the voice said, “Okay”. Something wrong! “I feel that I am dying, and, through the medium of art or mystical experience, I want to be reborn, wearing dream-like diadem, in some better land beauty flourishes.”

It was so noisy and messy. After opening my eyes, I saw a chandelier atop my head. I was lying down on a soft couch; I felt like I was floating, and my head was in pain, I tried to sit on the couch. Afterwards, I remembered 3.14159265359…...the number was a pi number, but it was completed. In my world pi number was incomplete. But the pi number was infinite, how could it be solved by them?

An old woman came to me and asked me what I want. I stood up and looked around, it was a shop where mythical things were sold such as green cats, a bunch of clouds, rain for crop production, indigo dogs, talking trees, talking birds, warm winter, the crystal of happiness, colourful sadness, floating Christmas tree, rainbow of different spectrum etc. The old woman came to me with a bunch of clouds and told me to buy it. All things were just like déjà vu to me. I told the woman, “I cannot buy this; I have no money and do not know how to use it”. The old woman smiled and said, “Crazy girl! I know that you have no money, every day many people came here like you sweet girl, they went back to their previous place after leaving the shop. You do not need to pay me but when you will go to your world when you can, you have to donate money, and you go out and leave this cloud, this is your job, and then the cloud will go to its place. Lastly, you will donate 500 dollars”. Without any further questions I said, “Okay”, with a gentle smile. I was supposed to leave after leaving the store, “But why am I still here?”

I am from a different world. The world I am in now is beautiful, extraordinary. This world’s people can go anywhere in the universe, they can travel anywhere in the world at the speed of light. In my world, foreign means one country to another, but in this country here foreign means from one world to another. They solved quantum gravity, particle masses, dark energy, dark matter, the arrow of time and many other unsolved things in my world.

Blue sky, Temperate weather, the row of yellow trees, planned and aligned houses, sweet breeze, squirrels running from one tree to another tree, children were running, playing and every human being was happy. Their eyes reflected their true happiness, simplicity, and satisfaction.

After passing some time before the door of the shop, I inhaled an awesome petrichor, I felt queer feelings. I started walking. Everything seemed so much surreal. The children were so happy seeing me. Without any hesitation, they grabbed my hand in a frenzy of joy. They profoundly invited me and told me frequently that humans were coming to their world from another world. But a large number of individuals went back. They also told me some of them could not, they were living here just like normal people. After sometimes an astounding occurrence happened, everyone’s family began to call them; everything just took place clockwise as if this had to happen. Everything maintained a routine for everyone in this world. With the children gone, the brightness of the day vanished, I felt like I became blind again, I became alone, solitude consumed me, and I saw the road before me only darkness………...

Author-

Sadia Afsari

11th grade

Govt. Keshab Chandra College, Jhenaidah