Black Holes All The Way Down

Chapter One

324 days since

I read that near a black hole, time slows down. That just before you reach the event horizon, a place where light and time can't escape, let alone survive, is something called the ergosphere. To an outside observer, this strange warped blackness would not only seize you in its grasp, but it would turn your existence into a slow motion movie, one that would eventually end before you had time to feel the pain. As you approach this black hole, time as you know it will slug along until you eventually come to hover before it, like a mouse being observed by a lion.

And there you would be, just before the black hole ripped you apart like a noodle, floating in the cosmos without the concept of time, sitting absolutely still, surrounded by stardust, black matter, planets of who knows what creation and colors humans have probably never seen before. A beautiful, wonderful bliss of the unknown, undiscovered and untouchable.

But the thing is, you wouldn't even feel a difference. You wouldn't realize you'd turned into a mouse on a collision course to your ultimate demise. And somehow, that's the worst part. Not that you'd experience death by spaghettification, or that you'd somehow ended up lost in space on your own to start with, but that you wouldn't feel the difference. You'd have this amazing moment of life without now and then, this freedom from the waiting, the counting, the anticipating, and you wouldn't even know it.

Try to imagine that: a place without time. The usage of time is as old as humans have been around, so the idea of a world without it? It's unfathomable. It doesn't feel right.

On a smaller, less significant scale, the concept of time is still a tricky one. In fact, it's the root of all evil, with its constant crawling and slugging along, mocking the rest of us. Like when you're standing in a room full of rowdy teenagers, music blaring, vibrating your body as it travels through the large house you're in, stale beer in your hand and all you can hear is the imaginary clock in your head ticking by, like a nuclear bomb about to blow up the world.

"Nobody invited you, Dani," my right ear hisses. Addie Bishop is standing there, sporting an extra five inches due to her heels and a glare so spiteful I'm jealous of her ability to proffer it. There is a small golden cross resting at the base of her throat. I'm surprised it doesn't burn her skin off.

"Remind me to thank Nobody later," I quip, offering a grin. Her grip on her solo cup becomes tighter, until she's bending the plastic, liquid threatening to spill out. With a step forward, she shoulder checks me with a little too much force, sending lukewarm beer onto my chest.

"Whoops," she mutters viciously, disappearing into the crowd before I have a chance to defend myself.

"Whoops," I mock.

"Think she gets off on dead babies and mutilating puppies?" asks a voice in my ear, a voice that sounds an awful lot like my dead best friend. I look around, he's not there. Obviously.

My cup is practically empty now, so I shove it into the chest of the closest person. I threaten my way through the house, cause a couple fights and stepping on several toes before I reach the bathroom. As soon as I lift my fist to slam on the closed door, it whips open. Will Conway from my astronomy class is there.

"Woah there, Wonder Woman," he remarks, swiftly covering my fist with his hand and pushing it down. "The toilet's all yours. And uh, you might want to button your vest."

"You should have your own advice column," I snap, pushing past him and shutting myself in the bathroom. In front of the mirror, I see the beer has almost completely soaked the left side of my white, long sleeve shirt, showing off my blue bra. After I sop up as much of the beer as I can, fanning my shirt to speed up the drying process, I button up my grey crop vest and vow to someday push Addie into the Scioto River.