Stone’s have always been hard. They never back down from
anything. Whether a person falls from a great height or waves
crash internally into their smooth crevasses, the stone will not
soften. In this case a person happened to walk too close to the cliff
while playing a game. She was only 15years old when her foot
slipped when dodging an opponent. Her lips let out the smallest of
gasps, the last sound that would pass through her lips in this world
for a very long time.
The girl’s arms grasped hopelessly at air for a brief moment
before she teetered right over the edge. Her black hair formed a
halo around her head as she gracefully dropped like stone.
The last thing she saw was the clear blue sky whispering its
pleas for her to survive.
…
The first thing Skyla heard was music. It seemed to dance
into her head, rousing her awake. Skyla didn’t remember why she
was asleep; the last thing she remembered was playing with her
friends. Skyla smiled and said “Who’s playing the music?”
She opened her eyes, expecting a radio. Skyla screamed. She
leapt to her feet and started to panic. Where was she? Maybe she
was sleeping? The only thing she could see was black and white.
The ground was smooth black marble, and the walls were a white
glass. She appeared to be in a very long hallway, leading to as far
as the eye could see. Soft classical music was echoing across the
hallway.
Skyla swept her fingertips along the black glass; it felt as
smooth as it looked. Skyla ran a hand through her long black hair,
she was very confused. Her mind was frantically trying to make
sense of what was before her. Why is she in this hallway? What
had happened with her friends?
“Hello?” she called out, hoping for someone to come
running. Her hopes were dashed as the sound echoed off the walls.
“Who is playing the music?” she called out again, the results were
identical. She let out a nervous sigh.
Skyla started to walk down the hallway, her heart beating like
a hummingbirds.
“Maybe I should just walk down and see where this ends” she
thought worriedly. She didn’t want to go down that hallway, but
she had no choice; behind her was a tall white glass wall as solid as
a rock.
Her feet made no sound, but the classical music carried on.
She walked slowly, pausing occasionally to observe how far she
had gone. Then after a few minutes of walking, she could no
longer see the white wall on the end of the hallway. She didn’t
stop; she had it in her head that she would make it to the end and
punish the impractical joker that created this place.
The black marble floors were lightening as she advanced
about ten minutes. Soon gray had turned to white; now the whole
hallway was white. The corners where the wall met the floor
started to blur; Skyla’s head started to spin.
“This whole place is crazy!” She thought angrily. She
decided to call out again “Whoever is in on this joke is being sued!
This is not funny or fun! Please let me out.” She was near tears at
the last sentence, but no one came.
Anger replaced sadness and she started to run. She was going
to get out of here! The white hallways eventually did start to blur
together, Skyla bent down and felt around the corners. There were
none!
The whole hallway had turned into a white spotless tunnel;
there was no connection of the floor and walls. Skyla didn’t care;
she took it in stride and continued to run. An hour passed, then
two. The whole time, she jogged or walked her head hurting and
her legs trembling. The hallway seemed to continue forever, she
was pretty sure there was no hallway this long in the world.
Skyla stopped, out of breath. Before a minute had passed, the
white tunnel started to fill with a hazy mist. Her legs grew weak
and she collapsed on the floor “I am being gassed” she let out a
sob. She curled up into a human ball, sad and exhausted. She
thought of her family, her little annoying brother, her loving
grandma, and humorous grandpa. Now she was being gassed in a
forever long hallway, with nowhere to go.
She squeezed her eyes shut and thought about her home.
…
“I’m sorry Ma’am, she can’t hear you” an official sad voice said.
Skyla tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. She was lying down
on a long bed; she could smell a strange scent… the hospital!
She smiled in her head “That’s what happened! I fell on my
head and had a very scary dream… though it seemed too real”
Skyla heard her mother say “Yes she can! She has to! Skyla
can you hear me honey? Move your finger if you can hear me” her
mother’s voice was very tired.
Skyla strained with all her might to open her eyes, but she
couldn’t budge. She then tried to move her finger, and it moved!
She felt like leaping for joy. But she couldn’t. It suddenly struck
her that she couldn’t move anything. Skyla started to panic, but it
didn’t help, the only thing she could sense was her mind.
Her mother started to cry in happiness “You can hear me!
You can hear me! Oh Skyla my sweetie, move your finger again if
you can hear me”
Skyla tried to move her finger again, but this time her brain
shut down, refusing to send the message. “No! I want to move! I
need to see, I need to hug my Mom” she screamed at herself.
Her mother was talking again, so was the doctor, but Skyla
couldn’t hear them. She strained to hear what they were saying, but
only one word made it through her deafening ears “Coma”
Skyla faded back into her mind again.
…
Skyla was aware of her legs again. She wriggled them around
and smiled. She stretched and yawned, her eyes closed in
enjoyment “Hey mom, you here?”
No answer. Skyla became aware that she wasn’t lying on a
bed. Her eyes flew open and she flew into a sitting position. What
her eyes beheld almost made her cry. She was on one huge
trampoline that stretched on for miles. Skyla knew this was
impossible, the trampoline would be sunk low to the ground, and
not bouncy at all!
Skyla couldn’t believe what she saw, but she shakily stood on
two feet and bounced. Her feet left the ground and Skyla let out a
slight scream as she was rocketed into the air. “I must be dreaming
again” she thought she fell back to the ground. The sky also
stretched on for miles as it usually does of course, but besides that,
there was the sky and the trampoline. That is all.
Skyla bounced on her rump and had to let out a small laugh,
“This is fun actually.” She said out loud, “Though I am so
confused”
“Well, trampolines this big are pretty magical” a young male
voice said behind her.
Skyla jumped and whipped around to face a tall brunette boy
around her age, “Who are you?” she demanded to know.
The boy shrugged, “You mean my name?”
“That and more please!” she replied loudly.
“Why should I tell you anything? You haven’t told me
anything.”
“You didn’t ask”
“Why should I?”
“Because… because don’t you want to know?”
Then both said at the same exact time, “Stop answering my
questions with questions!”
Both teens stared at each other.
“My name is James” the boy said after a pause.
“Skyla” Skyla informed him. She didn’t pause a second,
“Where am I? How did I get here? How is this trampoline
possible? How long will I be here?”
James shrugged, “I have no idea” he stood to his full height
and then crouched, his shaggy brown hair falling in his face “but I
do know one thing. You need to get across here, and you need my
help”
“Wait!” shouted Skyla as James took a flying leap and landed
far away from where she stood. He didn’t slow down, so Skyla
crouched and leaped after him. She didn’t know where she was
going or how she got here, but she did know one thing. She had to
wake up, and if it meant running through white hallways, or
crossing miles of trampoline, she would do it.
She had to wake up.