Occasionally I feel like putting my work up on the firing range, and
today I'm feeling good about what is the final product of something I
came up with nearly 2 years ago. It's a story that started because of
my frustration at mathematics and how I noticed a relationship between
zero and infinity in algebra:



There
By Jared Head


+1
“You Are There”
Note: This book should be read loud!
Recommended Selection: “Dayvan Cowboy” by Boards of Canada

“I think I’m dead,” he whispered looking up. The sky above him was darker than any night he had ever witnessed but there was enough light to cast a light shadow.
    Stars, planets, comets, meteors leaving their burning streaks of light as they died, a ring system towering overhead, galaxies zipping by. He looked around and surveyed his surroundings before going back to looking. He was standing in a plateau; it could have easily been an expansive salt flat, the darkness keeping it away from him.
    As he looked back up at the gleaming sky, a small pain shot down his shoulder and muscles shuddered. Instinctively, he swung his arm around. When his hand went above the horizon, a soothing tone came to his ears. Everything his hand swept past seemed to react. Stars flew in swirls. Galaxies blew apart. Comet’s tails.
    “I am dead,” he smirked. Turning around didn’t change the perspective. The flat plane continued, with hills hinting in the distance…at least he thought they were hills. It was just dark enough to prevent him from having the visual evidence he needed to convict the masses. The need to go beyond them burned in him.
    His focus shifted to a clean white shape hanging in the air. He couldn’t gauge its distance but decided to set off anyhow to see if it could be the Rosetta Stone. As he moved in closer, there was a pattern on it, but he was still too far away from it to conclude what it was. He picked up his pace to a jog and it began moving away. He had to catch up. As the pace picked up, the figure moved faster. He stopped. So did the formation.
    “What the…” He stopped himself from going any further, courtesy of the wheels in his head beginning to turn with a thought. Now it wasn’t a thought anymore; he had an idea. Figuring that every time he moved forward this body moved farther away from him. Maybe, just maybe, if he moved backwards it would have a reverse effect.
    He took a deep breath, released it and began his backwards journey.
    Sure enough, the form began to move towards him. He did his best jog backwards and the reverse effect continued as the structure accelerated. He began to thank himself for coming up with such a brilliant idea, but his rejoicing soon ended. His left foot came back hitting his right shin, breaking the rhythm he had created. With nothing to stop him, gravity brought him and his ego down with his back taking the fall. He slid on the ground slightly. His upper-body stopped and his legs continued, making him somersault.
    He sprawled out on the ground and didn’t move for a few seconds. Slowly, he got to his feet and dusted himself off, knocking the white ground off of his jeans. It was just like the ground at a salt flat, but he wasn’t eager to do the taste test to confirm it. Who knew what might happen then.
    He turned to resume his backwards jog and met face to face with the contours of the shape. It was floating a few feet off the ground. Looking up, there was a photo: him on a white background. There was a phrase inside of an arrow pointing to him:

You Are There

    “Shouldn’t it be ‘here?’” he asked. Without warning his head quickly turned to the left.
“No, just There,” he replied to himself, getting control of his body back.
    “What?” he asked, looking around. His eyebrows rose with confusion, as he was astonished he had just answered himself, let alone felt control of himself slip away. He knew he was losing it, but this early on in life? He again looked to his left, “Who said that!”
    “You’re not losing it. This is how things work in There,” he answered sternly. As he finished, he regained control of his body unexpectedly and fell forward.
    “There?” he rubbed his paining elbow.
    “Yes, There,” he stood up, now aware that someone else was controlling his body, “You are, quite literally, There.”
    “What’s There?” he asked, “Actually, who are you?”
    “Call me…” he paused for a second and smirked, “Tyrant.”
    “Tyrant? Interesting name, I’m Alem.”
    “Alem? Sounds farfetched compared to my simple alias. I picked Tyrant because I’m technically not supposed to be here, let alone take control of your body. But I saw just how confused you were and thought I’d check in and see what the problem was.”
    “So you’re helping me?” he asked.
    “Yup,” Tyrant shot off while looking to the left. “I can tell you like this place.”
    “It’s better than where I am now,” he said to his right.
    “Trust me, I know,” Tyrant finished with a smile. He was slowly feeding and the information about Alem he could to his own self, cataloging it for when it needed to be accessed again.
    Alem slowly looked back up to the sky. That lightshow was back to normal, but he could see the hints of a mass moving across the sky. It was black, and it wasn’t one object. It was like a swarm. All he could make out was the movements. Some moved in a straight line, others seemed to wiggle across the sky. He couldn’t comprehend what he was looking at, but it didn’t matter. Whatever it was made this place he had learned was called “There” that much more desirable.
    “Listen to the noise and…,” Tyrant said quietly to him. Alem waited for his new found friend to take control again and continue. But it wasn’t to be, as he could feel himself fading away. His last glimpse was a panorama of the horizon. Beautiful is too weak a word.

---

    His eyes slowly opened. Much to his dismay, he was back in his room wrapped in his bed sheets. How he ever wrapped himself up in his bed sheets was a mystery. His memory came to life and the visions of There came to him again. They were hardly the original glory he had seen and that soothing peace of discovery was gone. How would he get back? Listen to what noise?
    His right arm jutted out and the first annoying scream shattered through the air. He hit snooze, and the alarm clock was quickly silenced. He brought both his arms behind his head, relaxing.
    “I’m getting good.”
    He relaxed only for a second. He unwrapped himself from the sheets and sat up in the bed.
    “Hi, my name is Alem.” He stood, walking to the bathroom. “Now, before I get on with this, I need to do something real quick,” he smirked, shutting the bathroom door after him. He lifted the lid on the toilet and began.
    “It’ll just be a second!” he called out. It took him a minute, and he came out of the bathroom when he was finished. “As you can tell, my room is messy and that should give off a few hints about me.”
    He walked around and picked a few things up, smiling slightly. “College is a real swift kick to the face for me. It’s hard, but I work at it, you know?” He walked back to the bathroom. “I’m studying to be… well, something. I’m not sure what yet, but I’ll find out. My guidance counselor in high school told me I should study within the realms of nuclear physics, as I’ve got the brains. Problem is, I lack the motivation to even try.”
    He turned the shower on and began to undress. “I’m not exactly from here. Same state, just a different part of it, although I do still live along the coast back home,” he explained as he stepped into the shower and turned it on. Steam began to fill the room.
    “I do enjoy college though. It’s building my future, whatever that may be,” he said, peeking over the frosted glass of the shower. “Plus, these dorms are pretty damn nice, eh?”
    When he finished up in the shower he quickly dried off and began to dress. “I’m very outgoing, and sometimes girls can confuse simple conversation from me for entry-level flirting. I’m very well-liked and have a plethora of friends all over this little sleepy college town. But then again, you’re getting this straight from me, and I’m a fairly biased source about myself.”
    He slipped a jacket and backpack on. Alem slowly walked out the door, putting the finishing touches on his hair as he looked in a mirror. “I have to go to class right now as it’s the last day before finals week, and I do enjoy it quite a bit. It’s a philosophy class, and yes, a few of you are rolling your eyes. I understand.”
    Walking down the hall, he caught the elevator just in time. “Ground please,” he said to the woman standing next to him. “I’m actually just starting this second semester, so it’s the first day of a new beginning. Or the first day of a new ending for some.”
    “Who are you talking to?” the woman standing next to him asked.
    “Don’t worry about it.”
“Right,” she said slowly, taking a few steps away from Alem.
Alem had his infamous look on his face of raised eyebrows. “See?”
    Ding!!! went the elevator, and out went Alem. He turned slowly back to the elevator’s closing doors. “Call me!” he teased smartly, making a phone with his hand. He turned around, an accomplished smile on his face turning to a blank expression.
    The clouds outside were unloading a deluge onto the sleepy college-town. Alem would now have to go all the way back. He felt like he should have seen the rain coming.
    “Figures I’d forget to check the weather. No, not online or by TV. Just by opening a window. How much of a genius am I?”
    The elevator’s doors opened once again and the same woman was in it. Alem casually stepped in whistling. “You again? You must be some kind of elevator operator,” he said, leaning over to push the button. “Wouldn’t want you learning what floor I’m on. It’s high enough for any accidental fall to be fatal.”
    He stepped back and began to whistle again. The woman didn’t make eye contact. The doors began to close and he broke the silence. “Awkward maybe, but it’s how I have my fun in this sleepy little town.”
    The doors closed with a clink.