One-Shots

The Void

Outfitted in a diving dress, the man meandered through the nothingness surrounding him; all he knew was dark and cold and never-ending. He remembered not how he ended up there, where he came from, or anything to piece together the mystery of his existence. All he knew is he had his suit, his mind, and the darkness.
Occasionally, something new would drift through the murky nothingness below him. Once, he had found a baby's rattle; he had no idea how he knew it was a baby's rattle, but that was the word that came to mind when he caught sight of it through the curious film under his feet. When he tried to retrieve it, however, his gloved hand stretched into the material, but could not pass through it.
At times, he almost believed he was actually underwater, as his suit suggested; each step he laid on the unknown surface below him conjured ripples that expanded away from his feet and out into the vast void he walked. The man had the habit of watching the action taking place, almost awed at the way the ripples gently traveled along the surface. He would often times crouch down and gaze at his reflection in the water-like surface; he desperately searched for a face behind his large helmet of sorts, but the bars that lined the front concealed the face hidden beneath and revealed nothing but emptiness as dark and void as his surroundings.
The man's hulking boots resounded silently as he traveled, going everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He would sometimes wonder how he ended up in such a place; maybe this was the afterlife? Some kind of eternal punishment? Maybe even an alternate dimension?
These thoughts plagued him for what can be thought of as days, and he was on the verge of madness. He had walked in every direction almost endlessly, and he had nothing to show for it. He never tired, never hungered, never thirsted; he simply walked, continuously.
The man decided on his sojourn through nothingness that he was done with this useless wondering. Nothing was forcing him to travel through this landscape, and nothing was going to stop him from standing in the middle of the void and crying out for the first time since he woke up here.
"Is there not anyone out there?" he bellowed.
Am I truly alone in this field of never-ending solitude? he thought to himself.
Although the man could not glimpse at his own reflection, he felt the wet, hot tears pool from his eyes and stream down his cheeks, and he remembered the sensation of crying once more.
Met with a suffocating silence, the man crumpled to the ground, a broken sob escaping his lips. Emotions soared from deep within his being all at once, and the only sound the man could hear was his scattered sobs and the dripping of liquid.
How long he sat there, the man did not know, nor did he care. He wallowed in his heap of self-pity until his legs were numb from sitting and his voice was hoarse from crying. He had planned on sitting there until whatever unforeseen entity that placed him there grew tired and removed him; through death or new life, he did not care.
However, that was until a sound drifted into his ears, and he lifted his head to meet it.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The man frantically whipped his head around in every direction, desperately searching for the source of the sound. It continued to echo around him, and all thoughts of his dismal situation were erased as he struggled to his feet and continued searching for the mystery sound.
The sound drew nearer and nearer with each resounding echo,  and the man's heart raced in his chest with a mixture of fear and anticipation as to what was traveling closer.
     After a short amount of time, the man could see something moving in the distance. Desperate to find out if he finally had a companion after all of this time, he stumbled forward quickly, his heavy boots causing him trouble as he moved. The sound grew louder and the unknown traveler drew closer, and the man's heart felt as though it were about to burst with anticipation.
The unknown... thing began to take shape. It was a bright white and seemed to be not much larger than the man. It moved slowly and oddly enough, rippled violently, as if it were underwater.
The man slowed to a stop, watching as it walked towards him, and he began to notice something else odd about it: it was above him. It moved closer, but it seemed to be suspended above his head. Curiosity for the unknown moving thing grew in the man, and when it was finally upon him, he couldn't believe what he saw.
     Inches above his head, a man in a stark white astronaut suit peered down at him as the diving dressed man peered up. The helmet of the stranger's suit hovered above him, and although neither of the men could see the other's eyes, their gazes were locked on each other.
The man in the diving dress slowly raised his hand towards the stranger; his gloved hand continued upward until it reached a barrier. The barrier reminded him of the strange film beneath his feet, and he gazed in awe at the discovery.
The stranger slowly raised his hand as well, the tip of his finger meeting the man's through the surface. Their gazes never left each other, and in the silence, a new understanding was formed.
As the diving man prepared to speak and bombard this stranger with millions of questions he had stocked in his mind, the stranger opened his fist and pressed the palm of his hand against the surface, and much to the man's surprise, he began to push against the watery film.
The diving man started to shake his head and opened his mouth to inform the stranger that it was pointless, that he had tried countless times to break that impregnable seal that held them in, but just as his lips formed the words, his white gloved hand broke through the barrier and grasped the other man's hand tightly in his own.
The diving man was frozen with shock, unable to comprehend the magnitude of what the astronaut-suited man had done. With their eyes unwavering, the stranger whispered, "Hold on. Just a little longer. In due time, we shall all be taken from this place."
Giving the diving man's hand a tight squeeze, the stranger's hand retreated through the barrier, and like liquid, the barrier reformed once more. With a nod, the man in the astronaut suit began to walk away.
"W-Wait!" the diving man called out, quickly following after him.
As though his words fell on deaf ears, the man continued moving, farther and farther away from him.
"Stop! Wait! Please!" he called once more, desperately hoping he would stop, but as before, the man kept traveling.
"Please, don't go! I cannot stand to be in this place a moment longer!" the man shouted, but to no avail. As quickly as he had appeared, the man was gone.
Although the stranger had told him to wait, despair and internal turmoil plagued the diving man. His heart longed for more contact, and the mysterious stranger was all he could think about. For the first time since he had awoken in this strange place, the man felt so, so sleepy...
In minutes, the man collapsed on the floor, unconscious, and the darkness quickly consumed him.