I'M BORED SO HERE'S A ONE-SHOT.
I remember the first time it happened. The first time I've seen a person become tempted by something they've never seen before. I remember seeing curiosity take over their minds almost making them fall into an oblivion. But we were young back then and the chemicals in our brains that made us feel tempted and curious weren't as strong back then. Escape from The Fall was possible.
Was the place covered in black paint or was it just dark? I couldn't tell and to this day I still can't. It's a beautiful place if you simply focus on looks. Everything is dark with a touch of eeriness, but that isn't what makes it so strange. Your hands, clothes, shoes, as well as the Board and Ice is all clearly visible. There's no lightbulb at the top that shines over the one little spot someone is standing on like at plays and dance recitals. It's just visible, bold, and clear. If luck is on your side, you'll get to see the strokes of color. They're always there, but at times it will be faint and basically unseeable to the human eye. Only on a good day will you see them. It looks as of the place around you is a black canvas and the only thing on it is you. The arist and owner of the canvas is unsatisfied with just that and adds a soft brush of pink, green, and orange to the painting only for it to disappear into the black oblivion mere seconds after.
Then there's The Board. The one you stand on. It always reminds me of those group tables at school, the only difference being how smooth and clean it is. It contains no wooded design on it, only the color. And it isn't supported by anything. Instead it floats. It's completely stable as well. No wobbling whenever you move, but an endless fall when a foot steps off.
The Ice is the worst part though. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's stable like the board, sometimes it cracks when you breath. There's no telling what will happen with it. Only the lucky ones will be able to step back, back into safety. It's about two or three meters from The Board and shaped like an isosceles triangle, getting thinner and thinner the closer it is. The one mystery that I can't get my mind around is how it never seems to have an ending. At least in my point of view. Those who find themselves on the Ice have a chance to walk back. When they do all I see is never ending walking. Where they go is a complete mystery to me. Is there some sort of portal at the end that I just can't see? A door perhaps? Stairs? I'll never know.
The memory of it walking back, saving itself from The Fall came to my mind. I felt relieved and guilty at the same time. Relieved the it saved itself, Guilty because I was the one the put it in that situation in the first place. I was the one that made it think nothing bad would happen. At the time I didn't know you would fall. I thought there was ground below the Ice and Board. Maybe if someone else stepped off...
No, They couldn't step off. They could only fall or save themselves.
I remember the first time I saw someone fall. I lured them in again. Making them curious about this place. They got closer to the Board, to the edge of the Ice. I wanted them to step off onto the ground that sadly never existed, pull me down from the Board in the process and after that find a way out of this trap. They got closer and closer and like all thin ice that has pressure on it, it broke. I remember seeing their other foot step off the Ice before they fell, watching that foot burn before they removed it and fell. It was a horrifying sight. I can't forget no matter how hard I try. But at least now I know that no one can step off the Ice. No one can be lured in to see the wonders and dangers of this strange world.
Unfortunately, some come on their own. Some find their way in and I can't stop from falling. But at least I can stop them from burning. Stop them from having a scar on their foot or hand. Yet, all good things come with a prince. To not let them be burned, I have to let them fall. Break the Ice somehow and make them fall before they come to close and burn themselves.
I hate this routine, but what else can I do about it.
The Board is my only home now. It contains happy memories of the strokes of light and the painful memories of multiple falls. I've cried on it, laughed on it, relaxed on it, stressed on it. I've even scratched lines on it with my finger nails. It's kept both me and my mind stable.
But that was before it became unstable.
At first the Ice wasn't there, then It was and when it appeared, I could feel a wobble. It scared the shit out of me. I sat up and felt it again making my eyes open up as much as they could. Making my breaths rush and my heart beat faster. Usually when the Ice was there someone would be approaching. It meant that someone had found whatever this place was. Someone was coming.
So why didn't I see anyone?
I stood up, feeling the board wobble at the same time, and searched. Nothing came but I did feel like I tipping over. I adjusted myself and continued to search. Time here didn't seem to exist, for all I knew I could have been there wait for years and never know it.
Then I saw it. It came-Wait no, It looked like a he. He came closer. Approaching slowly, much slower that anyone I've seen. It took a long time before I could finally see him. Which added another layer of strange to this place. He wasn't as clear as I remember a person being. Almost as if a shadow had been cast over him. Finally, he was there almost at the edge but not quite. I barely knew this stranger, it wouldn't hurt me so much if I made him fall quicker. Brought him in close enough for me to be able to break the Ice and....
He sat down.
Weird.
I tried to sit as well but soon remembered that Board wobbled. This time it the wobble was stronger than before. I wouldn't be able to move a centimeter. I was trapped.
Come and Fly Away with me...
He looked over at me. Confused maybe? His expression was difficult to read with the shadow cast over him. Better to let him fall now than letting him fall and get burned later. I hated it, hated making them come closer only for them to fall. The Board was salty with dried tears from the past. All of them being caused by said thing.
