What Is It, Zion Phoenix [top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT] 📗

From where I was standing, it looked like your average star cluster. It was only when the stars began pulsating in unison did I realize something was off. I immediately forgot about the scenery I was supposed to be enjoying and ran inside my house to get the telescope that I rarely used. After I had obtained my telescope, I went back outside and followed my footsteps in the sand to get back to where I was. I looked up. The star cluster or the thing I had thought was a star cluster, was now pulsating more rapidly than ever. I put my right eye onto the eyepiece of the telescope, my heart beating a mile a minute. But when I looked into the telescope, I couldn’t see anything. I figured there was something wrong with my telescope. I took my eye off the eyepiece and realized that it wasn’t a problem with my telescope. The whole sky had gone black. In fact, everything had gone black. I couldn’t see a single thing. A little scared, I looked around for some source of light. I didn’t see anything. Suddenly, there was a splash from behind me. I turned around quickly, after having jumped a good 5 feet in the air. There it was, in the water. A source of light. It only took me a couple of moments to notice that this source of light was the same thing I saw in the sky. It was still pulsating and rotating. It lost most of its beauty and turned somewhat scary up close. It made an odd noise that almost sounded like a car engine. I didn’t have time to investigate it though. I was genuinely worried. I didn’t know which I should be more worried about though, the fact the stars in the night sky vanished and everybody that lived nearby turned off their lights simultaneously, or my mental health. 

“You have to get back home”, I would repeat to myself, and I couldn’t get those words out of my head. Despite these reoccurring words in my head, standing there, still, was a desire to examine my star cluster. I tried desperately to get the thought out of my head, but it wouldn’t move, no matter what I did. Now I had two parts of my brain fighting each other, and I did not like it. Finally, I made the decision to examine the star cluster (which is more of just an unknown cosmic entity by now), and slowly walked towards the water. As I approached it, the sound it made got louder, and it started expanding and contracting faster. Though I was scared, walking towards it gave me a thrill. That thrill made me excited, and that excitement made me anxious. I was right there now, mere inches away from the beautiful and yet still unsightly treasure that danced before me. It made small but noticeable ripples in the water. Without hesitating, I put my hand in it. But before I could notice what it felt like, all the lights turned back on, which hurt my eyes. I pulled my hand out of the water in shock, but when I opened my eyes, all the lights were off again. I rubbed my eyes and immediately turned back towards the water to complete the mission I set out to complete. I put my hand in, a little more hesitantly this time, and all the lights turned on again. I was less startled this time, and I kept my hand in the water. I looked around. Had everybody turned their lights back on? But before I could think too much, I felt a strong vibration in the water. I noticed that the water vibrated every time the cosmic entity pulsated. It felt sort of satisfying, and it put me at ease. The indecisive and paranoid part of my mind was telling me to get my hand out and worry, as it did about most things, but I continued to overcome it, which seemed to get harder as time went on. Having the lights on again was a slight relief, I could see my house from where I was. I strongly considered making a run for my house, but it would be hard in the dark. My house wasn’t too far away, but it wasn’t close enough that I could go straight forward a couple of steps and be there. I thought about it, and made up my mind to run to my house. I pulled my hand out of the water, though it was hard to part my hand from it, and ran to where I had seen my house. I only ran a few steps before I was halted by what felt like a large brick wall. I had completely slammed into it, and my ears were ringing. I could still see, but it felt like both visions of what my eyes saw were disconnected. But I didn’t gain enough momentum running to cause serious damage. After about a minute, I was fine. I felt around. It felt like the brick wall was all around me. I felt claustrophobic and trapped. I continued to feel around. I had no hope of walking past the wall. I fell to my knees and laid in the sand. I started to cry. I felt despaired. I pulled myself back on to my feet and walked towards my only place of calm, the stars in the water. I put both of my hands in, and smiled. I was calm again. As you can imagine, I lost some of that calm when I felt a cold hand grasp tightly on to mine. It wasn’t a kind grasp though, it was a strong, forceful, feeling. It was pulling me into the water. With my free hand, I tried to feel something to grab so I wouldn’t go under the water, but all I was grabbing was handfuls of sand, which would fall through the gaps between my fingers. I screamed for somebody to help me, and even though all the lights were on, nobody came for me. I was screaming and crying, trying to wrestle with a thing that wouldn’t let go of me. There was nothing I could do, the cold hand’s force was unstoppable. I was being pulled under the water slowly but surely, and the water was up to the bottom of my neck. Time was going so slow…

Time was going so slow....

The water, I realized, was getting colder and colder every second that went by. The cold hand stopped taking it slow. It tugged me under the water. It was unexpected, and I went under when I was breathing outwards. I was trying to hold my breath, and I could feel myself shaking. My eyes were shut, and for some reason, I didn’t even care about opening them and seeing what was under the water. I knew it felt different though. My face had to be bright red by now, I could not hold my breath much longer. The water felt empty, more like air than water, yet it still had the same viscosity that you feel in the water. I was almost disgusted in myself when I realized I was still worrying about what was under the water, while I was dying. I told myself not to open my eyes, and to pay attention, though it was hard not to. My face was contorted, and I was twisting and turning, screaming inside. My lungs felt as though they were burning. I couldn’t take it. 

“If you’re dying”, I told myself, “then you can take a look.”

I didn’t want to. I was mad at myself. I refused to open my eyes.

“Come on,” I told myself, “if you’re dying, what you do won’t make a difference. This is what you wanted. Now see..” 

I would not open my eyes. It felt like if I did, then my death would be meaningless, or something like that. I was still being pulled lower by the hand, and my ears started hurting from the pressure. 

“Open your eyes.....”

Though I felt urged to open them, I didn’t. But I noticed something. I felt different. I lost some of that stress. Then I noticed that I was breathing. I was shocked. For a second, I tried to hold my breath again, then I realized that wasn’t helping. It felt easy to breathe. But I felt a little less alive with every second that went by. Somehow, still, I wanted to open my eyes. I was disappointed in myself but too lifeless to care, so I opened them. I looked like I was in space. There were stars. It was beautiful. The hand let go of me, but I didn’t rise to the surface. Somehow, gravity kept me down at the bottom. I felt that same vibration feeling from before. It felt like I was falling asleep. I smiled. I was at peace.

Publication Date: 12-01-2019

All Rights Reserved