The Assumption (The Hypothesis of Giants Series, Book One)

Chapter Five: Otus

Aurora fell through the black hole as if she was a dead weight with no control over her fate, no control over whether she lived or died. As she fell her mind was a blur of images replaying over and over as she tumbled through the dark abyss-of her father reading his magazine, her mother smiling in her dandelion dress. Aurora feared what her parents would say when they didn't find her later that night. Would they miss her? Would they know how much she loved them? She clutched for anything to prevent her fall, reaching out into blind space and praying for something to materialize out of nothing. And then it felt as if she was standing still while the rest of the world was spinning out of control. She still held Boreas's hand as they were free falling through the center of the earth. She spotted a light below her and knew that this was the end. She closed her eyes, expecting the impact to strike, but instead of her body plummeting against cement or gravel, she bounced on something soft and springy. She started bouncing again and again on the strange soft cushion, and her body levitated upward to start the bungee jumping motion over again. Her stomach retched and she felt queasy as she bounced once again into the air; her hand separated from Boreas's grasp. She wondered if this was what death was like: bouncing up and down through eternity.

She opened her eyes, and her mouth dropped in disbelief as she beheld this parallel universe. They had been sucked into an identical replica of the ruby-red cottage bedroom, except this one was nearly three times the size of the first one. This dreamlike existence was euphoric, and she continued bouncing on the bed until she lost momentum and flung herself down, kissing the piece of furniture that had saved her life. She stood up and surveyed the large white mattress that stretched for fifty meters in each direction. She spotted Boreas, hunched on his side in the fetal position. She tried to run to him but found it more feasible to skip to him, attempting to maintain balance and not topple over. She reached his side and started shaking him wildly in an attempt to wake him up.

"Boreas, we're alive!"

His eyelids fluttered open at the sound of her voice; his eyes appeared dazed and confused as they surveyed this world around them.

"This is all your fault."

"My fault! Did you not hear what I said? We're alive!"

He stood up on the giant mattress. "You call this being alive? We're like in some messed up parallel universe!"

His sudden movements caused the mattress to start to sway, and she had to hop slightly as if trapped on a trampoline.

"What is this place?" she asked, surveying their surroundings. "I have never seen or read about anything like this in our history books or magazines."

"Well, I can tell you that we are both completely insane. The school therapist would tell me I have lost all sense of reality and am schizophrenic. None of this is real. You are not even real."

Aurora ignored him and started to explore the edge of the mattress. "I feel real," she thought half humorously.

Suddenly their bodies fell victim to the vibrations of the conch shell sounding, causing the entire bed to shake and their eardrums to nearly burst. It was like another earthquake was shaking the mattress causing it to rise like the ebb and flow of oceanic waves. Boreas and Aurora plunged head first into the mattress and started to flip over, doing somersaults like two puppets on a string. Aurora sensed danger approaching, and fear seized her from the inside out. A large shadow inched over the white mattress, towering over them like a fast-approaching storm cloud. Aurora and Boreas strained their necks, following the shadow as they covered their ears as tight as they could as the cacophonous symphony continued to play.