Jimmon opens his eyes and sighs. He really thought he would be a goner. A day or two had passed in the wooden coffin before he finally closed his eye due to complete tiredness and they wouldn't open themselves again, until now. The bright sunlight burns the eyes of Jimmon like it never did before. Luckily for him, those rays are weakened by multiple layers of branches and leaves that are placed in between the weak Jimmon and the powerful sun. Birds sing and the wind blowing through the trees produces a present, but above all a soothing, sound.
¨What is this...¨ softly leaves Jimmons mouth. For a couple of seconds he stays lied down in peace, but then he suddenly realizes how his mouth was gagged by his brother. He gets up as fast as he can, but stops at a sitting position. Before him sits a person.
¨Wait. Wait until I am finished.¨
It is a small, fragile boy. Probably very young. The boy is facing the other direction while holding what seems to be a book. Whatever it is, it is definitely being more important to him than Jimmon's well-being. Jimmon tries to see what he is reading, but he cannot understand a thing. It is all written in some sort of unknown language, or at least for Jimmon. Luckily he is almost finished with his book, so Jimmon decides to wait.
The boy turns out to be a very fast reader, especially for his age. It does not take long for him to finish the last couple of pages. After that Jimmon gets ready to ask his question.
¨Can you tell me wh...¨
Out of nowhere, the wind starts to blow like there is a storm coming. It is raining leaves and the short black hair of the boy is waving alongside the wind. The book he is holding seems to be lightened and the pages are fastly blowing back to their first one. When it is reached, the wind stops slowing as suddenly as it started. The boy has not moved an inch and continues to read, just like he did before.
¨Hey!? You said that...¨
¨I said you need to wait.¨ Says the boy as monotone as the first time he spoke, as he continues to read in silence. There is not much left to do for Jimmon, other than to take a look around himself. When standing up, Jimmon sees that he is not standing at ground level. He is on top of some kind of rock that seems to be shot straight from the earth. When he looks down he can see the layer of moss and leaves that cover the ground, but it has to be more than ten meters down from where he is standing. It is not hard to figure out that there is no way he can get down himself. But still, Jimmon keeps walking around looking for some kind of way out. At one point, the boy looks up from his book, sighs, and slams the book shut.
¨Do you want to leave?¨ he responds, a little bit irritated.
¨Yes, if I may.¨
¨That's what you think.¨
He opens the book again.
¨Hey, kiddo, this is all nice and fun. I appreciate everything, but I'm not going to sit here next to you and wait for eternity.¨
The book gets closed again. The boy keeps staring into the abyss. For a couple of seconds it is completely silent, but then the rock they were both sitting on shoots back down into the ground.
¨...Thank you?¨
¨Follow me.¨
The boy walks away. Jimmon follows. It is hard for him to keep up with the boy, as he almost stumbles over the messy forest floor every ten seconds. Nevertheless, he is trying really hard to keep track of him, as he does not want to be left all alone.
¨Wait! Wait. What is your name, actually?¨
¨Ran.¨
¨Hey, Ran. Well, my name is Jimmon. Are there any other people in this forest?¨
¨Besides me?¨
¨Yes.¨
¨No. No one.¨
As Jimmon is in shock from hearing that answer, he stops walking. He lifts his head from Ran's feet to the air and sees two giant walls standing perpendicular to each other.
¨This is a dead end, Ran.¨
Ran walks on, until they hit the dead spot in the corner. The earth begins to shake. A rock shoots out of the ground, just like the one before. Jimmons falls over on his back, as he is way too close to the edge of the rock. It is like an elevator that, slowly, rises above the trees. There is a beautiful scenery with lots of trees with different colors, like green, yellow and red. Both walls run straight past the trees , until they are abruptly stopped by water that reaches as far as the horizon goes and is so white that it perfectly reflects the sky and it's sunset.
YOU ARE READING
Floating
مغامرةFloating is an ongoing supernatural story that takes place in a world where every domain is floating on a white ocean. The story follows a group of (thrown together) bounty hunters on their expeditions in search of a place they may fit in.
