My Andromeda (1)

If there is life in the depths of the Universe, then there are undoubtedly intelligent beings residing there. It’s possible that they are similar to us or that we are similar to them. As a child I always dreamt about meeting a being from these worlds. If you’re out there, somewhere beyond the borders of everything, I’m waiting for you!

Author: Brandon McYntire

The forest path was covered in leaves of all colours. This autumn was really beautiful. The cabin was hiding behind the trees. Seeing it made one’s legs get even more tired. We were on our way to relax before the coming winter. In the distance between the trees, the wooden cabin was starting to become visible. On its right side there is a wooden gazebo and a fireplace. We’re four former classmates from secondary school who wanted to sit near the fireplace reminiscing about the good old times and our student life which was 20 years ago. Nowadays we’re all in our forties and we each have a family. This should be the meeting of the greatest school group. Viona is 41 and has two beautiful teenage daughters. Kiara has a son who’s still only in primary school. David is a surgeon and has a happy family which includes a fifteen year old daughter. I divorced a year ago and I’m currently living on my own. Today I wanted to forget about all the strains of daily life. I only wanted to think about those school days that we spent in that happy period, full of pranks and errors of all sorts. We arrived at the cabin and put down our things. For a moment we sat down and looked into nowhere. We were all a bit tired from the hard, bumpy road across the forest. It had taken us a good two hours. Kiara took out things from the backpacks and divided the food. David lit up a cigarette and looked up at the ceiling. I sat down near the window and immersed myself in my thoughts. Nobody was paying attention to me and so I returned back to reality and began planning: “Listen up people! We don’t have to do anything right now. We can just sit and talk. We’ll open a bottle of wine and relax. Today we’ll forget about the whole world!”

Viona nodded at this. We put the armchairs in a circle and placed a round table in the middle with an ashtray on top of it. David enjoyed smoking already in our school days. He was the only one. Viona began to talk: “In the evening we could go out to the gazebo. We can put wood in the fireplace so that we’ll stay warm. Then we can sit there till the morning. We’ll grill some sausages and have beer.”

Everyone agreed with her suggestion. Sitting opposite of each other in the old armchairs we started reminiscing about our pranks in secondary school. It was real fun back then. David smoked one cigarette after another. The atmosphere was great. Viona made sandwiches, placed them onto a plate and opened a Pepsi. We started talking about that one teacher who was also our class teacher.

“Poor Jolana. We really were tough on her in school. At the end of the last year she was overjoyed that we were leaving and that she wouldn’t have to deal with us again,”

I talked and talked …David lit up a cigarette every 15 minutes. It was almost evening. We took the food and drinks to the gazebo and put some wood into the fireplace. I lit up the wood. When the fireplace became hot it transmitted a nice warmth just like the kind that occurs in the summer. We grilled some sausages and talked non-stop. It started to rain but only in a weak and persistent way. We didn’t mind since we were sheltered by the roof. It was almost midnight. Kiara drank a bit too much wine and turned the stream of conversation onto her failed marriage. Gradually everyone admitted that everything wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. Everyone had problems. Viona asked me why I was still single after already a year of being divorced.

“Viona, I experienced such disappointment that if I were to find another woman to live with, then she’d have to be an alien. I don’t trust normal women anymore.”

Viona laughed and added: “Then I wish you a lot of success in this area.”

I went back to the cabin for some water and noticed that the clock on the wall had stopped. I didn’t pay much attention to it. I returned to the gazebo. The fireplace still burned and people were talking about their work situations and comparing salaries. Everyone started to feel the effects of the wine. The night was quite warm and the fireplace was still radiating heat. When talking we constantly changed from one subject to another. Suddenly a dog appeared by the table and sniffed near the plates containing leftover sausages. I tossed him one on the floor and the little dog rushed at it as if he hadn’t eaten for an entire year. Then he licked my right hand as a sign of gratitude. He sat down on my right side and listened to our problems. After a while he moved his ears and looked into the forest behind our backs. He had sensed something. He looked at me and then again to the forest. He stood up and slowly moved towards the trees. I also stood up and went to where he was. I tried to focus on the area in the dark forest but since I didn’t see anything then I just sat down near the dog and petted him. I asked him if he had seen anything. The dog seemed to have become more attentive at this and slowly went forward. I followed him closely. The minute we entered in-between the trees I noticed a small purple light in the distance. It was shining intensely. We headed towards the light and the dog ran in front of me. I felt a bit safer although the dog was of a small kind. Everywhere around us there was darkness which was only illuminated by the purple light. When we came to it the dog started to growl and was prepared to attack. We looked at the purple thing on the ground and circled it from all sides till I got the courage to pick it up. It was a strange crystal ball which shone with a strong purple colour. I looked at it and thought about where it could have come from. Suddenly I noticed the dog backing away and his flared nostrils were a clear expression of a great fear. I didn’t understand that. And so I followed the dog. I walked for a while; the forest was endless and the small dog gradually disappeared out of sight. I became nervous 8 and even the light from the fireplace was nowhere to be seen. I realised that something wasn’t right. I was all alone in the forest with this crystal in my hand. I cursed myself for letting myself be led away by this small dog. I explored the strangely shining discovery that I pressed in my hand. Suddenly, I don’t even know what possessed me, I placed the crystal on my forehead. I immediately lost consciousness… When I woke up I realized that I was lying on a glass floor. I couldn’t move. For a long time I observed the surroundings. A figure in a purple suit passed by me.

Suddenly it spoke to me: “How long will you keep rolling on that floor?”

I forced myself to sit up but I still felt a strong tingling in my whole body. I was paralysed by something. I looked carefully around myself but I had never seen anything like that in my life. I was in some sort of house which was built from crystals. It shone with different colours. Across me in this crystal armchair sat a woman in a purple suit, playing with the purple crystal that I found in the forest with the small dog. The woman had golden hair and a slim figure. I would guess that she was around 20 years old. She just sat there, totally relaxed and looked at the crystal at one moment and then at me.

“Where am I? How did I get here?” I asked the strange woman. She placed the crystal on the crystal table before her and responded: “You’re there where there is no time. You came here because I wanted it. I left this crystal in the forest so that you would pick it up. It’s a communicator. It has a lot of functions. When you placed it on your forehead you automatically put in an order to return home.”

I didn’t understand anything.

“You saw me? I’m not at home here!” I protested.

“Only the crystal is at home here. Where is the small dog?” The woman looked intently on the crystal and then showed it to me. It showed the little dog running around the table. I saw Viona, Kiara and David talking around the table… They didn’t even notice that I was missing. I was in a different world. In a world unknown to us and which was in a strange dimension.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk,” said the woman and gave me her hand to help me get off the floor. I looked at her house. It was incredible, because it was built of crystals. Everything in it was also made of crystals. It was simply a crystal house. We went out and the novelty continued. I’ve never seen anything like that my entire life. Everything was clear and crystal-like. Giant crystals were flying above our heads, some were landing and some departing. They were really a curious mechanism of transport. People in colourful suits were entering and exiting them. The roads and pavements were also transparent. In the distance there were large sharp crystals, the size of skyscrapers. It was obvious that this was some kind of a city.

“What’s your name actually?” Iasked this beautiful woman.

“I’m Andromeda. And you’re Branco.”

“How do you know that?” I asked startled and looked at her intently.

“The communicator told me, the purple crystal that you found in the forest. I created the whole situation so that you would get here. And you didn’t even know how the crystal is used. You placed it on your forehead, and this is the exact way that the transmission works. In your case it was an accident. And now you’re here with me.”

I started to like it here. Above us there were two suns and it was pleasantly warm.

“We’re going to buy you a new suit immediately because these funny clothes that you’re wearing only unnecessarily draw the attention of all those around us. I don’t want you to stand out.”

Andromeda took out a small crystal out of the pocket of her suit and placed it on the glass floor. The crystal shone green. I didn’t know what that meant. But after a while a crystal hovercraft appeared in front of us. We got in and went up in the air. The whole flight we stood up and looked down below. We were flying to a great illuminated city. We saw the same crystals and transparent buildings and skyscrapers. We landed on the side of some fountain. We got off and the hovercraft went up of its own accord and flew back. Around us there were kids running around and maybe a million people were walking on glass pavements. It was really a large city. We went into a transparent small building. There was a woman in a yellow suit. Behind her on the crystal wall there were various suits in different sizes. Andromeda pointed at a black suit in my size. It had thin white stripes on the side. The shop assistant took it down and placed it on the crystal counter. The crystal turned black for a moment. Then she took my suit and we went away.

„I really didn’t understand anything that was going on! Andromeda, what year is it actually? What do you measure time with? What do you use for orientation?”

I spurred several questions at her.

“Time? What would that be good for? There is no time here. We are not on Earth. There is nothing that would limit us. We exist in infinity. We can create the world the way we want to. The crystal is the basic building element on this planet. We use it for everything. Actually the whole planet is one giant crystal ball. Our food consists of everything that can be found in the sea.”

”You have a sea here? I’d love to see it!”

“Okay Branco, we’ll go for a meal first and then I’ll fulfil your wishes.”