CHAPTER 2: THE CARPET

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The next day began with something out of the ordinary: I woke up at the same time as the sun was rising. It's usually rare for me to wake up that early on vacation days. I got up of my bed, perplexed. I checked everywhere I could: everything had remained as ordinary as ever throughout the night. I was feeling relieved but at the same time, kind of disappointed. I was still so enshrouded by my fancies from last night movie-binging. I was back in my room, all dazed. A cold breeze gently passed me. I looked at my windows, but none of them was opened. I sneezed (no, no meatball rolling in view).

"Bless you!" a stout but cheerful voice said.

"Thanks." I answered.

But then I realized I am supposed to live alone and so I panicked and looked everywhere around me, beginning to take the broom which was near me in case it was a thief; to add to that, I realized that my pizza was gone. My heart was beating so loud for it was the first time I had such action in my ordinary life! And then, as I was still prudently walking - my back against the wall like people do in movies in this kind of situation - I caught sight of the carpet of my living room moving. I thought "Maybe it was the dog", but I didn't have any dog, nor any pet. But the fact that my carpet was moving on its own was so impossible to conceive that I had to rationalize somehow. Now I prudently moved towards the carpet. I was about to touch it with my broom when suddenly:

"NO!! No! No! No! Not the broom! You, humans, always squash us, carpets, like mere floor! You can't realize how much it actually hurts! Why don't you buy yourself a vacuum!" said the same voice as just a moment ago.

It was actually the carpet's voice. Yes. The carpet. My ordinary life never prepared me for this kind of event. This explains the lost, distressed and horrified expression that was all over my face. I tried to search for a mouth on this carpet but I didn't find any; I tried to search for eyes too but that was pointless; I didn't know where to look; moreover the carpet seller hadn't informed me that my carpet had a playful male voice (you know, like Doc Croc in Simsala Grimm); my mind was blank. Besides, the carpet was holding my pizza with its corner, so with my mind still blank, I clumsily said:

"Okay, I apologize, I promise I won't use the broom...I'm not used to...this kind of situation and...I don't really know what kind of conversation I should have with... a carpet...But, may I ask why are you holding my pizza?"

I never realized how big was my carpet until I had to talk to it face to...well, face, if I can say that: Should I look at its corner? Or in the middle? Or everywhere in one go? In any case, the carpet answered me:

"Alright, Apology accepted, John! At last we can talk! Sorry to surprise you, but things are getting serious! So, quick, get seated right here and I'll carry you to where you're needed! Oh, and for the pizza...it's just food for the journey...You can't imagine how hard it was for me to have always been watching you eating pizza without having the chance to taste it once! Mind you, I'm condemned to always look up while nailed to the floor. Anyway, I'm the only one who can bring you into the objects, so get on!"

While it continued blabbering, my thoughts came messily running in my mind. It knew my name! And why was I needed? And furthermore it craved for pizza?! Anyhow, it was awkward for me to follow the orders of a carpet, so my gestures were very hesitant.

"Come on! Don't you know how to sit on a carpet? Have you never watched Aladdin? Just get on!" the carpet energetically shouted.

I said to myself that I must still actually be deeply sleeping and dreaming, so why not just get on? I still awkwardly sat on the carpet. I didn't have the time to speak my mind that all of a sudden, without even letting me gather my thoughts, the carpet swiftly flew up vertically and gave me a briefing of the "mission" while stagnating up in the air.

"I'll quickly brief you the situation John, so listen to me very carefully: As you must have already noticed, at least three of your figurines disappeared. It is very likely that they have been abducted by an unknown force, and now they're trapped in different objects of your house. We don't know exactly when the phenomenon began, but rumours spread quickly between objects in a house, you know!"

It was true that I owned figurines. I omitted to say that I am one of those collectors of various kinds of figurines. I keep them exhibited in a little room right next to my bedroom; they are methodically placed according to the date on which I got them. It was also true that I had lost some of them, but I hadn't thought much of it. I asked the carpet:

"Okay, let's suppose I believe in what you say...then which ones are missing already?"

I couldn't see any facial expression made by the carpet, but I easily guessed that if it had a face it would make a judgmental expression because of my ignorance about the figurines I am supposed to treasure. It snapped plainly with a judging tone:

"The General, the Athlete, and the Princess."

While I tried to ignore the pressure of judgment he was putting on me, I noticed that all the objects in my house began to be animated like in the Night at the Museum, they were moving with fluent gestures. They began to talk all at the same time in a panicked tone.

"As you can see, we're all afraid of the strange force that captured them!" resumed the carpet "They're worrying, you know. Therefore let's not lose time, let's go quickly!"

"You've already said to go quickly so many times, but we've been stagnating up in the air for quite a while now." I pointed out for the pleasure of taking revenge for all the judging pressure earlier.

"!! What are you implying? I didn't say I am afraid!" shouted the carpet embarrassingly at me, fidgeting.

"Let's suppose so and let's just get over with the matter. Where are we headed to?"

And suddenly, with a mysterious alluring voice (like the voices we hear at the beginning of movies), the carpet told me:

"Get ready to enter the mirror of your bathroom! The very object renowned for parallel universes, John Smith!"

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