Bob snapped awake from his dream, throwing his textbook across the room. His head snapped back and smacked hard against the concrete wall, creating a sizable hole as he fell forward onto the cold concrete floor. His hand quickly went to touch the bleeding hole in his skull as his Mother ran over.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbDdhhZ6l1
“Sweetie, are you okay?” She shouted as she ran over with a warm and wet towel. She pressed the towel to the back of his head as he groaned. He looked back at the concrete wall, a crater created from his own head. He went back to looking down at the ground as he pushed on the towel to put more pressure on his head.
“Ow…”
He groaned and began to cry.
“It’s okay. I’m here. What happened?” His Mother quickly hugged him tightly.
Bob kept rubbing his head and sat up, leaning back against the soft couch as he tried to stop himself from crying, but the pain radiated through his head and body.
“I started to fall asleep…I had a nightmare and jumped awake…”
Bob rested his head against his Mother’s shoulder as he kept pushing the towel against his head.
“I’m sorry honey. But if you need to go lay down and sleep, I’ll let you. I’m going to go out to look for a job today.” She rubbed his back.
Bob nodded and very slowly got to his feet while his Mother held his arm.
“Okay Mom. I’ll be okay.”
He slowly made his way to the bedroom while his Mom began to clean up after him, but then her gaze was drawn to the hole in the wall. A hole made by Bob’s head…onto a concrete wall.
Bob laid on the bed with the towel underneath him, laying on his back to keep the towel pushing into his head. He stared up at the ceiling with his eyes struggling to focus or move sharply, his pupils more floating around aimlessly.
He finally was able to close his eyes, the pain pulsating through his head beginning to dampen and dissipate. He slowly rolled to his side, revealing the large cut in the back of his head was completely gone. His head was healed, like nothing had happened. The towel was still stained from the blood, but that was the only sign that he had been affected at all.
Bob looked at the wall, which was an amorphous blob that didn’t look real. As he kept staring, the blob continued to move around as his eyes floated around.
Bob closed his eyes again as his eyelids began to glow faintly.
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Bob opened his eyes, but he was nowhere.
He stood in an endless void of darkness, the only light seeming to be reflected off the ground from an unknown source. Bob looked down as he took a step, large rings expanding out as his foot touched. It continued to ripple like water, despite the ground feeling solid. He squatted down and could see his reflection. He reached out with his hand, his reflection doing the same. His fingertips stretched out when they touched another set of fingertips. He quickly pulled his hand back with a frightened gasp coming from his mouth. He slowly reached out again, his fingertips softly touching once again. He jumped again, but made sure to keep his hands touching. Bob slowly lowered his palm until his hand seemed to be touching another hand, rings rippling away from the point of contact. He looked down into his own eyes, his own face repeating the expression on his. One of fear and curiosity.
Bob stood up slowly and looked forward, walking slowly deeper into the void. It wasn’t quite cold, but not hot either. The air felt thin and thick. There was no sound, but more a soft rumble far away that was barely audible. He turned to look over his shoulder, seeing the same thing all around him.
Nothing.
Bob kept walking until he looked down at his reflection again. He lifted his foot up before stomping down. There was no splash, just ripples again. He hit his own foot quite hard, making him lift his foot up quickly and hold it in pain. He hobbled around, but tripped from his lack of balance.
As he fell backwards, he was expecting to be caught by the reflection of his own body.
Once his body hit the ground, he moved through it like it was nothing. He felt himself falling through the abyss, staring up at the ripples moving through the sky, or ceiling, or whatever it was.
Bob tried to scream, but the noise didn’t even leave his lungs no matter how hard he tried.
He felt himself falling, not quite a peaceful float but not a careening motion either. He could tell he was falling, but he couldn’t quite explain the feeling.
He felt like…nothing.
Bob finally was able to roll over, falling face first. In the distance, he could see a small light that looked like a star, so far away it would be impossible to ever visit.
The light began to get larger as Bob’s face had a confused look. He wanted to see what it was. He needed to know what this place was.
He tilted his body to be completely vertical, falling head first with his body as straight as possible, his limbs pulled tightly together.
The light began to grow larger and larger. He could feel the light hitting his body, but it didn’t have any warmth to it.
Bob could begin to hear something once he got close enough.
It started off as a single voice, but quickly began to grow exponentially. It became so many voices speaking on top of each other it resembles static over anything else. Bob once again tried to scream, but the static drowned him out.
He finally reached the light, falling into another endless void of white. He hit the ground hard. An invisible ground once again. He looked around the white void as the voices were deafening. He couldn't figure out where they were coming from. He couldn’t see anything but white. He began to claw at his own ears and head. He grabbed hold of his lobes and tried to pull them off, hoping that would help. He screamed out again, until the noise disappeared.
Bob’s heavy breathing was the only sound there was as he looked around.
Still nothing but the white void. He squinted, the void seeming to become clearer. He finally shut his eyes, able to feel the soft burning in his eyes. He could feel his eyes glowing. Once again the sound returned, but it wasn’t as maddening as before.
He opened his eyes.
The white void was no longer there. Instead, it was like an infinite expanse of screens. Every screen showed something different. Some showed peaceful and quiet worlds of fields and animals grazing. Others showed people suffering, standing in destruction searching for food. More showed violence, people in suits firing thousands of rounds into people just trying to escape with their lives.
Bob turned to look on the other side. More unique worlds and scenarios.
He saw one that looked familiar.
His adult body, standing on top of a mountain and looking down. The clouds were all black, massive fires breaking through until they were nearly eye level with him. He could see what looked like a battle going on. Laser blasts, explosions, and bodies falling to the ground. Bob fell backwards and sat on the invisible ground.
Everywhere he looked, was a new world. Many of them peaceful, with many others unjustifiable amounts of death and violence. Bob could feel his heart pumping at the rate of a machine gun. He tried to stand, but his head was light headed. He quickly fell to his hands and knees, looking down past the ground to see more. More worlds. More realities. More futures.
Bob closed his eyes, hoping to block at least some of them out, but nothing worked. Bob tried to make his eyes glow again, but the burning was more painful than ever before. He tried to force it harder, but he could feel his eyes starting to melt in their sockets. Bob screamed out in pure agony.
As he pushed, he only saw and heard more and more. More noise, more pain, more peace, more worlds. Bob could feel his brain overloading and breaking. His eyes were burning so much he thought his head would catch on fire. His body would melt and that would be all that he would be. A puddle in this strange world.
He could see everything.
All possible effects for all possible causes.
Bob continued to scream and cry as his brain was on the verge of exploding. Bob realized what was about to happen.
This was where his mind became broken.
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