Wandering Ends A Flash Fiction Collection

The Short Saga Of Harry

Harry's shaggy hair was whipping in the luxurious breeze blowing in from the sea. The water glistened; the temperature was perfect. Harry felt his life was about to get much better. See, Harry has had a rough streak of luck. To be exact he has never had much good luck at all. His streak of bad luck had actually been an ongoing affair for the last thirty-four years, which coincidentally, was how old he had just turned. To put it plainly Harry's life had sucked with a capital S. His parents had decided to name him Harry after his father's grandfather but his mother wanted her grandfather's name in there too, so, he ended up with the unfortunate name of Harry Dick Peters. As you would imagine his name had caused him a lifetime of hairy dick jokes.

Nevertheless, today, today was going to change it he just knew it. Why you might ask. His friends' cousin, Geoff, invited him to a sort of conference. This was no regular conference though. This conference was going to change his life he told him. Plus, he could not help but be enthused by this gorgeous weather, the flashy appeal of the signs outside of the meeting hall, and the overall sense of positivity coming from those also attending this massive get together. There had to be at least a thousand people cramming into this place. Although his friends' cousin had occasionally cracked a hairy dick joke Harry thought if he could figure out his secret maybe things would change for him too. Which is how he wound up here.

Once the seats filled, the lights began to dim. It had gotten dark but with a low glow emanating from the middle of the stage. Then an explosion shook Harry's eardrums; he was shocked the building did not come crashing down around and on top of them. A bright flash from the stage nearly blinded everyone there. Great, he was thinking, not only would he not be able to hear the conference he also would not be able to see it.

Slowly, he was able to hear again. The gray that had dimmed his vision after the astounding flash had mostly disappeared. Oddly, he knew he could hear but all he could hear was silence, almost as if he was the only one left in the building. Not only was it silent but the low glow on the stage had disappeared and it had become pitch black. In fact, it had become so dark he could not see his hands an inch from his face. He started to go into a mild panic. Just as his heart started pounding hard in his chest, a low blue light slowly lit the room. He was able to, albeit vaguely, see the other people but at least they were there. It was still deathly silent but he was not alone as he feared.

Moments later a low humming interrupted the eerie silence. The hum vibrated in the depths of his body. It paralyzed him. He could not move. He tried to look at Geoff but he could not even move his head. Panic tried to rush in but calm washed over him. Visions started to play out in front of him. Strange visions. They almost seemed real. He saw himself walking in front of an all-glass office building; a building of importance. As he watched himself walk into the building, Harry noticed the elevators. The elevators went way, way up.

As he continued to watch himself, he noticed that there were no other people in this building. It was huge but it seemed to be abandoned. He watched himself get onto the elevator. The buttons didn't have numbers on them but there had to be hundreds of floors. The button for the highest floor had been pushed and the elevator jolted upwards fast enough that his dream self could not move; gravity was forcing his feet to stick to the floor.

As he watched himself finally get near the top of the mysterious building the elevator slowed down in a way that allowed him to maintain his balance rather than crash to the ground or fly through the roof from the abrupt stop. The elevator door opened to a room that seemed to be engulfed in the night sky. It appeared to be above the earth. He stepped out of the elevator onto a matte gray metal floor. The room was not as big as he imagined and it was surrounded by one large window that went from the floor to the ceiling in a dome shape. He was literally on top of the world. It was an amazing scene but also terrifying.

While he was standing there in awe, the realization hit him that he was no longer watching himself; he was actually there. As soon as the realization struck him a voice boomed out "YOUR WISH IS GRANTED!" He was confused because he didn't remember wishing for anything except a better life. On occasion, he had wished to be alone, away from all the snickering and vulgar jokes made at the expense of his name.

The voice only spoke that one time. Somehow, he knew he needed to get back on the elevator. He pushed the button for the bottom floor as he braced himself for the jolt. The jolt was intense, as expected, but as he flew towards the bottom of the building a loud clap of thunder and a bright flash of light caught him off-guard. He had no idea what it was. The elevator came to a slow stop. While the elevator stopped, he realized he was watching himself again. He wondered if the whole time he was watching himself and was just so immersed in what was happening he thought he was there.

After a few moments, the vision was over, the blue light was gone, and he no longer heard the hum, or felt paralyzed by it. It actually appeared to be sunny but as he recalled there were no windows in the conference hall. As he gained his senses back it occurred to him he was in his bedroom. Had he just had the most intense dream ever? It just didn't seem possible. It seemed too real.

He stumbled out of his bed on watery legs. Once his legs recovered he made his way towards the bedroom door. He opened it and walked towards his balcony. He stopped in mid-stride as he took notice that his TV wasn't there nor was his phone, laptop, or tablet. He thought maybe he had been robbed while he was gone if he had ever really left. He finished making his way to the balcony door. As he stared out to the balcony a strange scene materialized in front of him. In the middle of the city he lived, there was nothing but forest and his building. There were no streets, no buildings, no people. Now he thought he must be dreaming. He slapped his face a few times then ran to the sink to splash cold water on his face but there was no sink or refrigerator or any modern day facilities for that matter. In a full panic, Harry ran out of his apartment into the hallway to another strange scene; there were no other apartment doors just walls lining the hallway. As he sprinted to the door leading outside he tripped just before he reached it. From the floor, he looked outside to see just a forest floor and trees towering over him and his building.

Harry was back in his apartment feeling more scared than he had ever been in his life. He had no clue what was happening. What happened to Geoff and the thousand other people at the conference? What happened to the rest of the city? Then it occurred to him. His wish had come true. He was all alone.