The Portal

by Charles Sterling

  The weight of the earth around me was painful and uncomfortable. It was dead silent, cold, and all I could hear was the heavy pounding of my heart beat.

  At that point I was thinking I would rather die drowning than being buried alive in a horror movie.

  The pain and discomfort kept intensifying as the minutes went on, and at some point it just all began to fade. Clearly, I was dying. And in another several minutes, clearly, I was dead.

  Dying under the earth took way longer than I thought it would. When it was too late to do anything, I was just hoping to get home sooner. After what felt like an eternity, I was indeed home.

  I was on the floor for only about a minute before I could stand up properly. So I deducted that, the longer I stay there, the harder it was to get up after I return, and vice versa.

  That was horrible! I reset the timer by only seven hours, since I was there for such a short time.

  I rushed to the bathroom to wash my face. My hands were shaking – that was terrifying.

  After looking up at the mirror, behind me, next to the wall, was the same man in a black hooded robe. I jumped and turned! My heart raced in a fight or flight response. But it was just my dark colored bath robe hanging on the wall.

  “God! Freaking, damn it!” I walked out with an internal tantrum. That trip was so unproductive! Why the hell do I end up in a completely random movie at a completely random location like that?!

  It went from noon to early evening. That meant that by midnight I would already have to go back in.

  I buried my face in my pillow in my bedroom upstairs. I needed a vacation – I needed to go to the Bahamas and relax on the beach, or have a skiing trip in the Alp Mountains. I bet if I was as proficient as Wilmort or Violet I could do those things with relative ease. Oh the possibilities, I barely even knew the limits of Light control but the amount of ideas I had coursing through me sometimes…

  I had a few hours nap from mental exhaustion.

  Chapter 8

  I underappreciated the real world. Everything was quite settled, you already knew whoever you’re supposed to know, and everything was simply in the right place. Going into a new world through the portal was the equivalent of jumping from a plane with a parachute and landing in the middle of Cuba with no cell phone, money or contacts. ‘Have fun in Cuba!’

  It’s this strange balance that I was developing of wanting to go in, yet not wanting to go in. The timer was unnecessarily giving me too much pressure.

  I heard of a saying that, people who live next to a large clock tower are unfortunate, because they are always reminded of death when the bells ring.

  Now every time I think of the word ‘death’ it reminds of being consumed by the clicker, getting buried alive, and Cyl’s eyes.

  You’d think I’d be over it by now.

  After a brief evening of sitting on my laptop, I sat back and stretched out my arms with a yawn.

  Knock knock.

  I got up without second thought. It was none other than Bob.

  Holy crap! I thought to myself.

  “Holy crap!” I said out loud.

  “What?” Bob adjusted his glasses as he walked in. “Something on my face?”

  “This is perfect! I can show it…” I thought about it for a second.

  “Show me what?” he went straight for my fridge, getting himself a beer.

  “Uh,” I scratched the back of my head. I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV while Bob was in the kitchen. I went to channel minus one, and my big shiny red timer was ticking. I had just a couple of hours left.

  What if I took him with me…? He would disown me as a friend. Just imagining some sort of sick double suicide on top of a sky scraper gives me the bad kinds of chills.

  ‘Well, Bob, this is it, I showed you my world, but to get home we have to kill ourselves.’

  ‘No Raymond! You’re crazy! We can’t do this!’

  “Raymond,” he softly punched my shoulder.

  “Huh, oh, uh, yeah.”

  “Spacing out? What’s this?” He looked at the red timer.

  “I don’t know,” I replied.

  “Looks like a bomb,” he nodded.

  “It’s way worse,” I mumbled.

  “So you do know what it is.”

  “Nope,” I shook my head.

  “Remember when you got bullied by Jonathan for reading a book in class instead of a comic book?”

  “And?” I furrowed my eyebrows.

  “And I stood up to him for you and told him off.”

  “We were like, nine, Bob.”

  “Exactly,” he kicked his feet up. “You can tell me anything. Now how do we diffuse the bomb?”

  I had the most internal panicked face ever. It was this conflicting feeling of wanting to show it to him, but thinking it’s a bad idea. And it obviously was indeed, a really bad idea.

  “Here,” I gave him the remote with a shaking hand.

  “Yeah?” he took it nonchalantly.

  I sighed. “We’re doing it.”

  “What’s with the intense face?”

  “Press seven, seven, eight, five.”

  There. I said it. I’m crazy, stupid, dumb, and all sorts of other things. But it was a heavy burden to bare alone, and I just thought if I could actually show him that it exists… I could seek some sort of humanly solace after getting buried alive next time.

  I won’t let him go in with me. I’ll go in myself, and he can just observe me disappearing. I’ll tell him not to tell anyone no matter what, and just wait for my return.

  “Okay,” said Bob. “Nothing happened.”

  “You did it?”

  “Weren’t you watching?” he passed me the remote. I pressed the four numbers in the exact same way that I always do. I waited for several seconds, and truly, nothing was happening.

  “Hello?!” I called out loudly. I walked over to the screen, it being on some random channel after pressing the numbers, and placed my fingertips on the screen.

  “You need a beer,” said Bob. “Or no, you need less beer.”

  “I don’t need beer, Bob,” I walked away from the screen almost angrily. “Why isn’t it working?”

  I went back to channel minus one, and the timer was still there. At least that was there… but the portal?

  “Anyways, do you want to watch something?”

  “No Bob, I don’t have time for movies,” I sat down next to him, displeased.

  “Well, what are we watching then, the ticking bomb timer?”

  “I mean… no,” I flipped through some channels to put something random on. “I… I just watched a horror movie and now I need some time away from movies.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re going to bed early?”

  “Yep,” I faked a yawn. “I got up at six in the morning yesterday, already feeling sleepy.”

  “That’s the least believable thing you’ve ever said,” Bob took a sip of his beer.

  “Well it happens,” I nodded.

  “I thought you became a writer so you don’t ever have to wake up that early, what changed?”

  I weaseled my way out of having a chill night with Bob and let him go home.

  The three hour timer kept ticking, but no portal appeared.

  I buried my head into my knees.

  I did want to get rid of it, but now that it was gone, I was almost upset. No, not almost, I was very upset. I didn’t get to finish what I sought out to do, and went through hell for naught.

  Well, maybe it wasn’t over, the timer was still ticking after all. What if it ticks down to zero and I just die without being able to enter? I dialed the four numbers multiple times, nothing worked.

  That night, I was extremely stressed. It was no wonder the doctor told me to keep my stress levels low. All I could do was watch the red timer tick away.

  When the timer reached below one hour, I decided that, if I was going to go this way, I could at least have my last drink.

  Somberly, I walked over to the kitc
hen like a defeated man, opening my bottle of wine.

  “Raymond,” said Wilmort.

  What the frick?!

  “Raaaaymond,” his voice was clearly coming from the living room. “I hope you’re hearing this, and I surely hope you’re alone.”

  I ran back into the living room as fast as I could. I saw Wilmort’s face on my TV screen with a blue tinted lab-like room behind him.

  “We got alerts that there were several attempts at opening the portal while more than one person was in front of it.” He wagged his finger. “Naughty, naughty. Don’t go showing around our little secret to your friends! And certainly not to the police, they’ll think you’re mad.”

  I stood in front with my jaw open. “Wilmort?” I said out loud. Judging by his lack of reaction, he clearly couldn’t hear me.

  “I’ve reopened the portal now. I hope you’re seeing this message, don’t go dying on us yet. We quite need you. Oh, and I’m truly sorry about where you ended up, I couldn’t quite find you in a large dark forest. I hope you’re still alright,” he smiled endearingly.

  I shook my head in amusement. At least he’s smiling about it.

  “We’ll get your – random world appearing problem sorted sooner than later. Ciao!” The screen went back to channel minus one with fifty minutes left on the clock.

  I sighed in some sort of relief. Wow! This was good news, I was terribly worried. Forget the wine, I didn’t need it anymore. I got dressed and ready to go. Seven seven eight five all the way, baby!

  I let it do its usual thing – I simply drifted off into the vortex of imagery and sounds. Each time I do that it becomes clearer and more vivid. In fact, reaching towards the end of the vortex journey I sort of ‘feel’ what kind of world I’m headed to. It’s like each world has its own aura based on how people feel – tired, happy, upset, scared or other.

  I woke up to the sounds of fire, laser, crumbling rock and screaming men. There was no time to be drowsy and lax on the dusty crumbled floor. I pushed myself up with all my might to reveal a sci-fi macabre before me. Men in bulky suits with tubes attached were scattering like ants. Bright red and blue lasers were shooting above me, sometimes barely missing me. The wheezing sound that they made was enough to make me go deaf. When the laser collided with rock, the blast made the ground tremble, and it made my heart tremble just as bad.

  I got up in my sneakers, dark blue jeans, and a patterned white shirt and ran for it! A man dressed like me did not belong on Mars in the middle of a war. I ran towards a large rock with my back flat against it and covered my ears. I doubt I’d last much longer in this world. It did not help seeing a rock twice the size of mine get blasted into crumbs not far from me. If mine was shot, I’d be finished.

  I decided to run along with the closest thing that resembled humans – I say that because on the other side were nasty mutant-like creatures that hopped high enough to jump over five story buildings. Lots of them were shot down midair, and lots on the ground. I was lucky enough to feel like not enough attention was on me. All I had to do was run towards the humans and maybe I had a chance to survive long enough to get something done.

  One of the mutants jumped on top of me out of nowhere. It opened its terrifying maw and roared into my face, taking a huge swing with its massive claw. Before it could kill me, it was shot down by a blaster from a distance. My hip was injured from its foot grazing my side beyond being able to walk. I yelled out and cussed, barely crawling away in this endless war infested red rocky desert.

  One of the human soldiers on a jet pack flew over to me, grabbed me by my shirt, and took off into the sky. While he carried me he spared no effort to keep shooting towards the enemy. This close, that blaster was insanely loud. I panicked and screamed and kicked my feet just from the intensity of the situation.

  It looks so clean and controlled in the movies! The movies lie, you get injured far more often than you would think.

  From the air, I could truly get a glimpse of the magnitude of this whole thing. It stretched out for miles and miles, beyond what the eye can see. Why was there so many?! What do you people want on this baron rock of a planet?!

  Carelessly, the flying man tossed me on the floor when we landed in the midst of the human barracks. The lasers were loud, but uniform. There was no peace, but a feeling of a little bit more safety. It looked like everyone was too occupied to deal with me, and I was too injured to walk away before getting placed into prison.

  “Who are you?!” a guy shoved me from the side. “Answer, now! Now! Now! Identify yourself!” he relentlessly spat words at me.

  “Raymond!” I yelled, “Raymond! I’m from Earth! I come from Earth!” I tried to yell louder than his words, and his words tried to be louder than the chaos in the air.

  “Earth?” he calmed down.

  “GET DOWN,” we heard someone yell. The ground shook and the base went ablaze with some sort of artillery attack that I did not even see coming. I fell to the floor again, yelling out from hitting my injured hip.

  “This world sucks!!” I yelled again. Someone lifted me by my shirt again and flew off, away from the spreading fire. We were simply flying away again, I was not given a breather. The only person I wanted to see now was Wilmort, cause at least his flying was gentler.

  “Hey!” I called up to the man who was carrying me. “Hey! Where are we going?” I received no reply.

  The sounds of war were getting a little bit more distant. Any attack could definitely reach us, but we were not the focus anymore.

  We landed a good few kilometers away, as far as his crippling jet pack could take us. He tossed me to the ground again against a rock, then pointed his blaster at me.

  “You said you were from Earth,” his helmet retracted the reflective glass, and I could see his war-torn face.

  “Is that a bad thing?” I held my hip, it was burning with pain.

  “Kid, Earth burned into the sun five hundred years ago. You don’t look five hundred years old to me.”

  We heard a sound of burning fuel approaching us. Same suit, same jetpack, covered face.

  “What appears to be the problem?” said the new soldier.

  “This punk in blue jeans says he’s from Earth,” the war-torn face guy answered him.

  “Sure looks like it.”

  “Uh…” I stared up at both of them. “I need a medic,” I mumbled. When I checked, I had an open wound and was bleeding like an open tap.

  “What do we do?” said the unmasked man.

  The new soldier stepped closer, kneeled next to me, and calmly asked, “Are you Raymond?”

  I nodded my head painfully. That’s it, I was losing it. The edges of my vision began getting darker.

  “I’ll handle it,” he stood up, pointed the blaster at the first guy, and shot him dead. Then I remember seeing him remove his mask and reach down towards me, but I passed out beyond that point.

  Chapter 9

  I woke up in a dimly lit room, definitely not in my living room. It was bare cement all over, and a single bed that I was on. The bed looked like an uninviting hospital or army bed – a single light bulb hung from the ceiling to illuminate the empty confines.

  I felt my hip – nothing was there. It was healed! I felt quite fine – especially after getting up, it felt like I went back home and came back in again. Was that the case? I couldn’t tell, my memory felt a little bit cloudy.

  I remembered, the guy shot him for some reason, then reached for me. That was the last thing I saw before it all turned to black.

  The metal door was to my right – it had no window, and looked like it would make a lot of sound if I went through. That didn’t stop me from pulling it open and stepping out. As soon as I did, the heavy smell of iron hit my nose in an unpleasant way. Dead soldiers lay scattered about, next to the table and against the walls. Their flesh wounds had a dark crust to them before the red blood came out – the type of wound I would imagine you get when hit by a laser.

  It scared me a little, I’m n
ot going to lie. I step out of an empty room into some sort of military bunker where everyone was dead, except me. I stood still for a moment, getting used to where everyone was so I wouldn’t get startled later on.

  In that silent moment, I heard sounds echoing from the room nearby. It sounded like sizzling oil and clunking of plates and cups. I quietly tiptoed my way towards that room. He left the door unlocked, and he didn’t kill me, surely I could at least talk to him.

  I saw… nice and clean furniture, looking completely out of place. In this old military bunker made of concrete, it looked like someone just plopped them in without furnishing anything else first.

  Then I saw a clean little table, a kitchen counter, and a man in one of their suits, cooking fried eggs.

  “Hungry?” he said. Somehow he still heard me, despite my best efforts. I stepped out of the corner.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe, I could use a coffee.”

  “Oh! Coffee, how could I forget?” he tapped his open palm on the table, lifted it up, and in golden pixels created a modern coffee maker.

  “You’re one of them! I mean, one of us, or, yeah, you get what I meant,” I safely stepped closer.

  “That’s right,” he pushed out his hand to greet me. I shook it firmly. He was a good looking guy – scuffed light haired face, perfectly styled hair, and overall youthfully mature looking.

  “Wow, thank god,” I sat on one of the chairs. He clearly spawned them for décor’s sake. “I mean it, thank god, I was losing faith in getting found.”

  “After that last horror experience?” he chuckled briefly. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll get it fixed soon. You won’t be getting lost anymore.”

  “Great!” I smiled. He had a good energy to him – he was friendly, and not suspicious like Wilmort.

  “My name’s Douglas, we’ll be partners from now on,” he gave me a plate of breakfast and a hot mug of coffee.

  “Smells delicious,” I said.

  “Come on! You don’t have to be polite, just relax,” his slightly southern American accent was showing.

  “Okay then,” I nodded, “why are they all dead?” I asked abruptly.

  “Who, they? Cause… Because.”