Redefining Love

Chapter 22: And So It Began

It happened when David sat at his desk. He reached for a pen, paused momentarily to debate whether to reach for the black or the blue, and suddenly found that he cannot tell the different colours apart, or recall their names. Immediately after that, the right side of his body became numb, as if no longer connected to the rest of him. He stared at his fingers in bewilderment when they no longer responded to his commands. The world than faded around him, becoming dark and dim.

There was a moment of panic. The darkness was blacker than any he'd ever known. So black that he found himself wondering if the room he'd been sitting in had even existed in the first place. But as he gathered the strength to cry out for help, the gloom began to recede. A faint, white light emanated from beneath his feet. He suddenly found that he is once more able to move. He arose from his seat, relieved, though the world around him still appeared faded, nearly translucent.

The light under his feet, David noticed then, was illuminating a path. One leading towards the door. He walked carefully, unsure what to expect. Should he call his son, Nathan? Or, perhaps, doctor Rephaeli? But the curiosity that arose in him diminished his fear. Surely he could afford to explore this a bit further.

The path took him out of the study, leading to the refrigerator in the kitchen, where he'd recently eaten breakfast. He remembered deliberating whether to eat a fried egg or cereal. At first he opted for the egg, but cracking it into the frying pan had revealed it to be rotten.

The refrigerator door was glowing faintly, and David opened it. The egg carton was also giving off a slight glow, and so he peeked inside. The eggs were all there, including the rotten one he'd broken an hour ago. He stared at it, befuddled, and examined the carton closely. He then noticed that the milk carton was also glowing, in a dimmer light. Suddenly colour returned to the world, his eyes felt bleary, as if he'd just woken up, and he was hungry as if he hadn't eaten.

As he could make no sense of the situation, he reached for the milk carton. He had, after all, already known that the egg he would crack would be rotten. Or had he only imagined knowing? He ate his cereal, confused, wondering if he hadn't merely dreamed it all. Then he walked to the study and sat in front of his desk. He reached out to choose the black or blue pen, and the world darkened once more.

What the hell was going on?

Again David arose from his seat, helplessly following the path into the kitchen. This time he saw that the path continued into the bedroom. He looked inside. His bed was glowing slightly, but there was a hole in its centre shaped like him. A black, human-shaped cutout.

David walked toward it and hesitantly touched the hole. His hand disappeared inside, going numb. He retracted it with alarm, and the feeling returned to it. He looked at his fingers, relieved.

Where does the opening lead? He wondered. He was an old man, now, and not prone to rash decisions. But there still burned within him a youthful curiosity. Breaking routine had infused his life with a modicum of vitality, which had been recently missing from it. Chewing on his lower lip, he positioned himself over the hole, and allowed himself to fall through.

He opened his eyes, blinking tiredly. Had he emerged from a dream? He lay in his bed, his sheets mussed. They were tidy just a moment ago. When he arose, he saw that the faint path was leading back into the kitchen. Following it, he discovered to his surprise that it was now the bread drawer that was glowing, instead of the refrigerator. He approached it and peeked inside. A sliced loaf of bread was laying inside, as if he hadn't eaten two slices of it yesterday morning. Once he touched the drawer, colour returned to the world. A startled gasp escaped his throat. A strange notion flickered in his mind.