The Two Hundredth and Seventy Seventh Life-Part One
I played with the toys happily as a child, enjoying them much more when I was six than now, when I’m almost twice the age that I was then. It was hard to gather any entertainment from my old playthings. I stared at them blankly, both of us blanketed in a thin layer of dust. I sneezed. I seemed to be allergic to dust. “An interesting development.” I said softly. I didn't lilt off at the end of my words, never wanting my sentences to end. Nothing could ever end. Time ruled over all of us, the cold, hard voice that severed reality itself. It could never, never end.
I decided to leave the toys alone, instead exploring other alcoves in the attic. I found old Polaroids, laughing at the odd shade that the faces of the people were. That’s not how people worked. I chuckled, setting the thick box full of the glossy paper on the floor, going through each one of them slowly. Some of them were more bizarre than anything else, showing connected skeletons of other animals. I continued to laugh in glee. I only took those, leaving all of the family portraits on the ground, scattered like autumn leaves.
As the sun began to sink, exploring the attic became less of a fun pastime and more of a boring task, like washing the dishes. I glanced up at the large, brown clock absentmindedly, believing that only half an hour had passed, but instead I found that I had spent six hours up here. I gasped. It was seven thirty. Time for dinner. I was late. The words slammed into my head as I grabbed all of the items that I was going to decorate my room with, and I ran down the blank, dreary ladder. I almost tripped, and a few papers flew out of my large cardboard box. I decided to get them after dinner, and dumped the box itself into my room, skidding downstairs and into the dining room. I was alone, as usual, preferring to spend my time alone instead of wasting it with mind-filling chitchat. My family was most likely taking a walk outside, getting bitten by mosquitos. I made myself a peanut butter sandwich, then reminded myself that I was allergic and threw it away, washing my hands thoroughly before making a bowl of tomato basil soup. It was good, but I felt bad. My best friend’s name was Basil. I loved her so. I threw her from my mind, deciding that I had bug spray, and since I owned the repellant, I would go to brave the bugs.
I decided to leave the toys alone, instead exploring other alcoves in the attic. I found old Polaroids, laughing at the odd shade that the faces of the people were. That’s not how people worked. I chuckled, setting the thick box full of the glossy paper on the floor, going through each one of them slowly. Some of them were more bizarre than anything else, showing connected skeletons of other animals. I continued to laugh in glee. I only took those, leaving all of the family portraits on the ground, scattered like autumn leaves.
As the sun began to sink, exploring the attic became less of a fun pastime and more of a boring task, like washing the dishes. I glanced up at the large, brown clock absentmindedly, believing that only half an hour had passed, but instead I found that I had spent six hours up here. I gasped. It was seven thirty. Time for dinner. I was late. The words slammed into my head as I grabbed all of the items that I was going to decorate my room with, and I ran down the blank, dreary ladder. I almost tripped, and a few papers flew out of my large cardboard box. I decided to get them after dinner, and dumped the box itself into my room, skidding downstairs and into the dining room. I was alone, as usual, preferring to spend my time alone instead of wasting it with mind-filling chitchat. My family was most likely taking a walk outside, getting bitten by mosquitos. I made myself a peanut butter sandwich, then reminded myself that I was allergic and threw it away, washing my hands thoroughly before making a bowl of tomato basil soup. It was good, but I felt bad. My best friend’s name was Basil. I loved her so. I threw her from my mind, deciding that I had bug spray, and since I owned the repellant, I would go to brave the bugs.