Parallel: A Story Of Two Universes

5-Escape

I twisted my body around to face the door ahead of me, the first of many obstacles. I took a step back and braced my side to break through it, allowing my feet to spring ahead from the ground. I knocked right against it, feeling the shivers of pain creep throughout my body as my mother slowly trotted closer and closer toward me, I just knew that she’d try to use my weakness against me. There was no time to waste, so I broke through the pain and hit the door once again, this time I managed to break through the locks, just one more push would open it up. I felt worse and worse, but I couldn’t stop, this could very well be my only chance to get out of here, and I wish not to stay here any longer than I must. I pushed against the door one more time as my mother nearly gripped my clothes, but I broke through the entryway just in time. The horde of others stood there, glaring at me with pure malice, wanting to use the slight bit of force necessary to knock me down entirely. They stood there, scattered and near their own homes, staring down my former one as I began to run through the village I had known my entire life for what may hopefully be the last time. I rushed against the breeze, against their judgment, away from the tainted tether which kept me chained to my family, and towards a bright destiny. My mother believed that I would heal the world, that I would aid her plan to break the Parallel and save us all, but only one aspect of that is truly correct. I will save us all, but by doing the exact opposite of her plan. Perhaps she’s right, maybe the keeper is a lie, maybe the Parallel is worth destroying, but if that’s the case I’ll do it myself, and I’ll enjoy taking it down right after I do the same to all of these sadistic, twisted monsters. Even if all I’ve known my whole life has been a lie from the keeper, all I’ve known from my family and community has also been a lie, so I would under no circumstances act as if they don’t deserve punishment. I looked all around, seeing the many buildings in which I had made memories both wonderful and horrific. To my left among the menacing looks given to me by a gathering of merchants I could see my old schoolhouse where I was rated the best warrior for our future, and I hope that was true. I never believed I’d be granted such an accolade, especially as my family began to distrust me, even at such an early age, but that title stuck with me as something I could forever hold onto. I also saw my favourite eatery, at which I’d get the finest fruits and grains to bring back to my family every morning, which kept any tension at bay until later on. In that little look to my side, I felt a rush of love and emotion throughout as I dashed through my greatest memories while I also rushed physically away from where they were stored. Between so many faces that, while recognisable, displayed an animalistic intent to annihilate me, I could really only stay focused on one; Vilatamar, the only person I had an interest in. Most of these people blended into the background for me, but Vilatamar was always fascinating, never fading into the sea of homogenous fools in this crowd. He always seemed to stand alone, and though I was merely a spectator, I felt connected to everything he did, as if I could picture myself doing the same. But we had never even spoken a word to each other beyond typical formalities, and though we were strangers, the look of sympathy that he gave to me at this moment showcased that we should have become more. We could have really been great friends at another time, but losing the opportunity to be understood by one person here is better than losing the chance to be understood by countless numbers of others on the outside, and if even a few of them are like the Keeper, then I think I will cease to miss what could have been. I turned my head over to the right like a bullet, letting those memories both true and dreamt of die in favour of gaining perspective on the threats around me, and the worst bits of my history that could inform me of the worst things to come. Immediately I was met with a few guards, holding their weapons firmly and readying their position. I had to veer over to the less threatening left side as they got closer and closer. I also saw the chamber in which I had just been held, thinking back to the fractures in my skeleton caused by their flowing stream of strikes against my body, and yet another one of my least favourite places in this entire field of damnation; the hospital. Ever since I was young, I was forced to go to the hospital for my visions, though using such a term for it feels practically fraudulent based on the disparities between it and the hospitals from the outside that the Keeper had briefly shown me. The tests they ran objectified me to the point of animalism, backing my humanity into a corner to create a perfect enemy and to get the “proof” they needed to justify whatever further actions they’d take against said enemy. “Ready, my little visionary boy?” That’s what the doctors always asked me when I was younger to make it seem like I was special, like they wanted to do this because I had something amazing, even though I knew that wasn’t really why. As time went on, they started to put away any attempts at disguising their true intentions, and just began the tests without so much as a sigh. They lost the ability to fake their compassion, maybe because they knew I wasn’t buying it, maybe because they couldn’t bother to treat me with the least bit of decency, maybe because my mother told them to cease pleasantry, it could have been for any number of reasons. Every memory I’ve had opens up questions like this, some of them have answers that are quite easy to find but hard to accept, some of them are totally ambiguous even now, and some of them are just painful to the point I can’t think of them. Memories are an interesting thing because without them it’d be as if we never existed, even we wouldn’t believe that we did, but instead, we have this everlasting record within our minds that can bring us nearly any emotion in nearly any situation, but some emotions are so horrific that you never wish to revive them. Though when I look at that hospital I can’t help but answer my very own question. They stopped trying to be nice, to be pleasant, to be at the very least falsely decent, entirely because of my father. My father is a person who I don’t like speaking of, but I suppose I can’t stop this flowing streak of thoughts no matter how hard I try. He was always very dissimilar to my mother, with true compassion and attempts to connect with me throughout my life. He never gave up on me despite everyone else labeling me a heathen, a heretic. He stood by and let the hatred wash over him while he was making genuine steps toward giving me the best possible life, but all these attempts to help me out were constantly squashed by my mother’s intervention, which was like the arrival of Winter to newly planted crops. I don’t know if it was true or not, but he was tried for being a heathen after having amassed quite a large group of speculative haters for himself. For helping his own child he had become a public enemy, and so the court very hastily found him guilty of the most absurd accusations possible. He was placed through some truly awful sets of punishments, and I was barred from seeing him before the decision was made, meaning he only got one more chance to see me, which was when I was in the hospital for another round of tests. I had no clue that such a thing would happen, and I didn’t even understand at the time what he was saying to me, I wasn’t given a true idea of what had happened before my mother told me the story and I had seen the horrific remains of the only person in my family who tried to love me instead of dismiss and punish me. A husk of a man had been made out of my father because he gave me a chance to live a happy life. “Hey, kiddo… I’m going to leave now, and I want you to remember what we did together. The fun times we had, make sure to hold onto those because I don’t think the number of them is going to get any larger… I love you.” I didn’t know what to say, and I was stuck in the middle of an immobilising experiment. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t really move at all, I was a brain full of expressions unable to be expressed when my father said his last words to me. I just wanted to jump up and ask him what he meant, but I couldn’t, and I’ll never get the chance to have said goodbye back. But sometimes you just need to hear a goodbye and not say anything more. The pain on my right, the hatred surrounding me, the warmth to the distance on my left, and one great possibility stranded in a sea of fear. All of these things connect my memories to the present in this one moment, which went by extremely quickly in real-time but felt like an incredible journey for my own mind. Experience can happen in a second and take hours to be explained. As I continued to run I could feel my body aching all over, but I had to keep going, and I did. I managed to get past the crowd as they started all chasing after me like an ocean of ire, spotting an old shed near the southern part of the village. This shed had a little tunnel built by one of our community’s most infamous criminals, a killer named Pravil. It connected this tiny, decrepit shack to the farm which supplied us all with food, and he used it to secretly take some of the animals before they were slaughtered and take their meat for himself. Eventually, his web of lies forced him to resort to killing humans too, and ever since they’ve boarded up the tunnel to prevent any such crimes from happening once again. But, of course, that didn’t last for very long, and they began using it to house additional livestock and feed more people. Even though the conditions there are unlivable, they’ve found a way to sell more meat without spending money on any additional space for the animals, so naturally, they have used it. Thankfully, though, this tunnel would once again cause some issues for them, as if I can use it to get inside of the farmhouse, I may be able to get to the roof and jump to a house near the outer wall. Whatever I did, it would have to be quick, because within moments I would be surrounded from every angle possible. I dashed out of the way of everyone behind me and backed right into the shed’s tunnel, dashing and trying to avoid the hordes of cramped, miserable animals racing around my feet. I managed to get inside the farmhouse and locate a ladder, but a crowd of people was waiting right outside, and they’d notice me at the slightest noise. I could just feel the horror of what could happen. All the ones in the shed would get through the tunnels and find me, have their way with me, and then call over all the others to continue the torture. There was no time to think of such things, though, so I began climbing up the ladder as quickly as possible. It hurt so horrifically, I could just feel my wounds reopening as I stretched ever so slightly to reach up, but I had to keep my mouth completely shut if I wanted to stay alive. I continued up the ladder as the noises of a mob racing through the tunnels grew louder and louder, their chants and cries mixing with the screams of the trampled animals to create a horrific soundscape. Some of the people outside of the farmhouse heard the commotion and turned around, seeing me immediately and getting visibly excited at the prospect of throwing me off of that ladder and brutally killing me. I just kept going, as I was nearly at the top, and they finally managed to get into the farmhouse as I started to crawl onto the roof. I looked all around me, finding a row of 4 houses joined together right against the gate, the perfect landing spot. I stepped back and thought of how painful this was about to be, how absolutely horrific. I had to do it though, for the Parallel, for my father, for Vilitamar. Escaping was all that mattered. I ran as fast as I could and jumped right across the ground, crashing into the roofs by the gate. I screamed out in pain and tried desperately to move around. Thankfully, my legs still worked, but my body felt like it was about to collapse. I crawled over to the gate and turned my body around, gripping onto the edge and relieving my grasp while pressing against the outer wall, allowing me to slide down more slowly. I lay there, on the ground, finally in the outside world… Only merchants, spies, and gatherers were allowed out here, and even then, they were never permitted to go out of the forest and into the towns and cities surrounding it. I was so close to the end of this nightmarish day, but first I had to get out of this forest. I knew they’d check outside of the gates at any point, and I may very well have left a trail of blood across those rooftops, so I needed to get going as quickly as possible. I tried, again and again, to get up, but I was simply too weak. I crawled across a pretty decent stretch of land before slumping up against a tree and nearly giving out entirely. No matter how much motivation I had, there are certain limits which no human can surpass. I could relax among the sounds of nature in my final moments, though, and one that stuck out to me especially was the movement of a liquid, almost like a small puddle or pond. I looked over and saw a dip in the ground full of a golden substance, it was so beautiful and unique, and I had no concept of what it could even be, but it called to me in some strange way. I didn’t know if I’d be able to even move much more at all, so I crawled my way over to it. I soon saw multiple other dips around it, some with liquids of the same or different colours, some empty. I dipped my head down and reluctantly took a sip of it. As soon as I did, my body felt a rush of energy that I had never truly known before. It surged all the way through me again and again, almost like a clock rewinding every injury I had recently accumulated. I felt quite a bit better, though I could still feel that my body was massively damaged. It felt like just the boost I needed, like some sort of forbidden drug. I stood up as I could hear the wall behind me start to open, the mob having clearly found my blood. Just in time for them to get out and begin the search for me I was able to stand once again and start hobbling away. Hobbling turned to walking, turned to jogging, turned to running, turned to sprinting faster than I ever had before. I was soon rushing through the forest gracefully, the fresh air of pure freedom blowing through my hair. Pushing through the crisp air of nature was a pleasure at the end of this truly awful, painful escape. Maybe there is an overseer, and maybe they blessed me just now. Maybe the overseer wants me to succeed, not my mother. And maybe, just maybe, the overseer placed that beautiful substance there for me, as it was truly a blessing. I finally started to see the trees become less frequent and gazed upon more buildings, these ones much more like those which the Keeper had shown me, and they were truly beautiful. I was finally free, and now I could do the same favour for everyone else in there…