dwiguitar
11-09-2011, 01:24 AM
I was watching an ant walk by on a summer afternoon when I realized I controlled it's universe.
It lives where I choose, eats what I prefer and wherever I see fit. On it's path, I can create rain, ignite fire, breathe storms, create an infinite number of obstacles or any other hindrance that my ingenuity can produce. It dies when I please, for any reason I might find sufficient; or for no reason at all. I watched as it scurried along a chemical trail left by those that came before it, oblivious and incapable; unable to comprehend that something else could or would break into it's own dimension.
I decided to allow the ant to continue it's journey to who-knows-where below some rock on someones backyard inside a maze-like nest.
Curiously, the ant didn't thank me.
It didn't build me a little statue made of leaves and tree bark. It didn't honor me with any kind of gesture or dance, it did not even bite me! It was only then that I understood that I was not a part of the ant's universe, I was invisible and, by all insect standards, not even real. As long as I was not in it - even if I really was - the ant only worried about its world.
It's always summer here,
so I took the third bath of the day and went back to my world. There's no place for ants from where I come, there's dreams and hopes, and good, and bad, and school, and work, and politics, and money; there's always money. There's also wars, big ones and small ones. I think we're on the fifth big war, but no one really knows. I had a strange dream that night:
I was running in the forest following a trail made out of yellow rocks. Someone must have painted them, but I didn't mind because I thought they looked pretty. After some time I saw something in the distance ahead: a city built on the base of a great tree; my city. I felt so happy I began to cry and ran even faster. Everything became dark instantly, as if the sun's switch had been turned off. I immediately screamed "NO!" because I thought I knew the source of the darkness. But as I looked up, I was bewildered. It was a boot, a gigantic brown boot.
Several hot and humid afternoons later, I was sitting outside the back of the house talking to my wife. She was very kind. I was thinking of buying one of those new hammocks they had for sale in the town supply store, but she thought it was a waste of money.
"Cheap is always expensive. I know those hammocks are the kind that breaks as soon as you sit on it. Why don't you just fix the AC if you can't stand the heat?"
She smiled and stood up, smacking me on the back on the head as if that would jump-start my brain.
"I left something in the car, don't you go melting on me." she left with a satisfied air, certain that I was convinced of the stupidity of buying a hammock.
"I'll fix it next month!" I yelled. "I promise".
My cellphone rang loudly, having a mechanical tantrum on the table next to me. I thought about ignoring the call for a second, as I had enough problems with the unforgiving heat, giant boots trampling over me and insects ignoring my infinite mercy. We always wish at some point that we could just pass by and ignore the world, not having to worry about the details or moral, or pleasing someone. I reached out with my left arm and picked up the phone.
Matthew. Co-Worker and a good friend. He was very smart.
I said hello, expecting some sort of new business plan to double our profits.
"Rob. Listen. Are you watching the news?" He sounded alarmed, almost frightened.
"Mat, buddy. I'm having a great time doing absolutely nothing on my backyard and I really want to keep at it right now." I replied unaware.
Then he began talking really fast and frantic, the sort of talk you'd expect from a person inside a mental facility. "It's all over the news man. They're evacuating. The road-you can't drive. It's too packed. You HAVE to stay inside. The kids-I called, they're fine. I'm trying-this stupid traffic!".
"What's over the news? What's going on?" I said.
"Listen. Go to the basement. Get Susie and lock yourself in. Don't open it until you get hit by it the second time. I'm getting of my car now, I'm going to try and run to the house; it's only a couple of miles. They said it could be five to ten minutes."
As I heard this, I started to get a little worried. I thought Matthew had gone insane. "Matthew, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. You can tell me, it's ok".
"Oh my god. They lied. I can see it, there's no time. Remember what I said".
I lost the signal, or I'd like to think I did. As I looked at the sunset, everything turned white. At first i thought I had gone blind, but I quickly realized that blindness doesn't force you to close your eyes. I tried to stand in panic and fell over, smashing the right side of my head against a rock. I opened my eyes slowly, as the whiteness began to fade and the universe popped back into my vision, bringing with it the pain of a brand new wound. Those were the longest five seconds of my life.
I watched a line of ants coming in and out from somewhere below the rock I had hit my head with. They were busy carrying a dead bee to their nest and seemed not to notice me.
At the same time I noticed the day was now clear and bright, as if suddenly it was noon again. I turned my gaze towards the sky and saw a shining dome of light expanding outwards from the earth. I didn't stop to think about what it was, but I knew I had to get Susan. I jumped to my feet and leaped over the ants and into the house.
The car, I thought.
"SUSIE!" I yelled as i ran towards the front door.
I heard her scream. Something then lifted me up from behind and slammed me against the front door, breaking some of my ribs and nose. Then all the sounds went out. I tried to place the incredible pain I felt inside a little box in a corner of my brain and focused on getting outside. Because I could not hear anything, I noticed too late that the ground was shaking violently and it was almost impossible to stand on my feet. After a couple of seconds it stopped and i crawled to the nearest window. The glass had broken, and I cut my hands trying to support my weight in the process of standing up. I looked outside, and there was no sign of the cars. But there she was, below the lamp post that fell.
Susan. Wife and angel. She was very kind.
As I gasped in shock, a devilish ping now ringing in my ears, something lifted me up from the front and threw me back towards the kitchen. This time it was hot, and my face burned horribly. I struggled to retain consciousness as I lay on my back, looking at an upside down picture of a hellfire red mushroom shaped cloud through the hole that not so long ago was my back door.
I finally understood everything, like a child when he first learns what a new word means. I knew what I had to do, I had no time to mourn or think, or feel anything. I managed to get in the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag. I filled it with canned food and four bottles of water, then took the sharpest knife i could find and hurried towards the basement.
There I waited, hidden on my nest threatened by things of another world, a world of violence and destruction. But that now was my world, and I had to live with that. These days, they say the first day was the easiest. Most of them weren't alive back then, and the details are lost as the stories of the war get older. That night I counted seventy bombs, but I'm sure I missed the ones farther out.
Unable to comprehend what had destroyed my world, I felt fear. Not the kind of fear that worries you, or makes you tremble. The kind of of fear that lets you see clearer, or hear things louder, or think faster. And a single thought: "Survive."
Before all of this, I did not care for any of it; I was happy. She was happy.
This is how my life as an ant began, on my basement
Perhaps some day I'll write about the time when the ants united and brought down the world. In the meantime, I have a city to run.
It lives where I choose, eats what I prefer and wherever I see fit. On it's path, I can create rain, ignite fire, breathe storms, create an infinite number of obstacles or any other hindrance that my ingenuity can produce. It dies when I please, for any reason I might find sufficient; or for no reason at all. I watched as it scurried along a chemical trail left by those that came before it, oblivious and incapable; unable to comprehend that something else could or would break into it's own dimension.
I decided to allow the ant to continue it's journey to who-knows-where below some rock on someones backyard inside a maze-like nest.
Curiously, the ant didn't thank me.
It didn't build me a little statue made of leaves and tree bark. It didn't honor me with any kind of gesture or dance, it did not even bite me! It was only then that I understood that I was not a part of the ant's universe, I was invisible and, by all insect standards, not even real. As long as I was not in it - even if I really was - the ant only worried about its world.
It's always summer here,
so I took the third bath of the day and went back to my world. There's no place for ants from where I come, there's dreams and hopes, and good, and bad, and school, and work, and politics, and money; there's always money. There's also wars, big ones and small ones. I think we're on the fifth big war, but no one really knows. I had a strange dream that night:
I was running in the forest following a trail made out of yellow rocks. Someone must have painted them, but I didn't mind because I thought they looked pretty. After some time I saw something in the distance ahead: a city built on the base of a great tree; my city. I felt so happy I began to cry and ran even faster. Everything became dark instantly, as if the sun's switch had been turned off. I immediately screamed "NO!" because I thought I knew the source of the darkness. But as I looked up, I was bewildered. It was a boot, a gigantic brown boot.
Several hot and humid afternoons later, I was sitting outside the back of the house talking to my wife. She was very kind. I was thinking of buying one of those new hammocks they had for sale in the town supply store, but she thought it was a waste of money.
"Cheap is always expensive. I know those hammocks are the kind that breaks as soon as you sit on it. Why don't you just fix the AC if you can't stand the heat?"
She smiled and stood up, smacking me on the back on the head as if that would jump-start my brain.
"I left something in the car, don't you go melting on me." she left with a satisfied air, certain that I was convinced of the stupidity of buying a hammock.
"I'll fix it next month!" I yelled. "I promise".
My cellphone rang loudly, having a mechanical tantrum on the table next to me. I thought about ignoring the call for a second, as I had enough problems with the unforgiving heat, giant boots trampling over me and insects ignoring my infinite mercy. We always wish at some point that we could just pass by and ignore the world, not having to worry about the details or moral, or pleasing someone. I reached out with my left arm and picked up the phone.
Matthew. Co-Worker and a good friend. He was very smart.
I said hello, expecting some sort of new business plan to double our profits.
"Rob. Listen. Are you watching the news?" He sounded alarmed, almost frightened.
"Mat, buddy. I'm having a great time doing absolutely nothing on my backyard and I really want to keep at it right now." I replied unaware.
Then he began talking really fast and frantic, the sort of talk you'd expect from a person inside a mental facility. "It's all over the news man. They're evacuating. The road-you can't drive. It's too packed. You HAVE to stay inside. The kids-I called, they're fine. I'm trying-this stupid traffic!".
"What's over the news? What's going on?" I said.
"Listen. Go to the basement. Get Susie and lock yourself in. Don't open it until you get hit by it the second time. I'm getting of my car now, I'm going to try and run to the house; it's only a couple of miles. They said it could be five to ten minutes."
As I heard this, I started to get a little worried. I thought Matthew had gone insane. "Matthew, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. You can tell me, it's ok".
"Oh my god. They lied. I can see it, there's no time. Remember what I said".
I lost the signal, or I'd like to think I did. As I looked at the sunset, everything turned white. At first i thought I had gone blind, but I quickly realized that blindness doesn't force you to close your eyes. I tried to stand in panic and fell over, smashing the right side of my head against a rock. I opened my eyes slowly, as the whiteness began to fade and the universe popped back into my vision, bringing with it the pain of a brand new wound. Those were the longest five seconds of my life.
I watched a line of ants coming in and out from somewhere below the rock I had hit my head with. They were busy carrying a dead bee to their nest and seemed not to notice me.
At the same time I noticed the day was now clear and bright, as if suddenly it was noon again. I turned my gaze towards the sky and saw a shining dome of light expanding outwards from the earth. I didn't stop to think about what it was, but I knew I had to get Susan. I jumped to my feet and leaped over the ants and into the house.
The car, I thought.
"SUSIE!" I yelled as i ran towards the front door.
I heard her scream. Something then lifted me up from behind and slammed me against the front door, breaking some of my ribs and nose. Then all the sounds went out. I tried to place the incredible pain I felt inside a little box in a corner of my brain and focused on getting outside. Because I could not hear anything, I noticed too late that the ground was shaking violently and it was almost impossible to stand on my feet. After a couple of seconds it stopped and i crawled to the nearest window. The glass had broken, and I cut my hands trying to support my weight in the process of standing up. I looked outside, and there was no sign of the cars. But there she was, below the lamp post that fell.
Susan. Wife and angel. She was very kind.
As I gasped in shock, a devilish ping now ringing in my ears, something lifted me up from the front and threw me back towards the kitchen. This time it was hot, and my face burned horribly. I struggled to retain consciousness as I lay on my back, looking at an upside down picture of a hellfire red mushroom shaped cloud through the hole that not so long ago was my back door.
I finally understood everything, like a child when he first learns what a new word means. I knew what I had to do, I had no time to mourn or think, or feel anything. I managed to get in the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag. I filled it with canned food and four bottles of water, then took the sharpest knife i could find and hurried towards the basement.
There I waited, hidden on my nest threatened by things of another world, a world of violence and destruction. But that now was my world, and I had to live with that. These days, they say the first day was the easiest. Most of them weren't alive back then, and the details are lost as the stories of the war get older. That night I counted seventy bombs, but I'm sure I missed the ones farther out.
Unable to comprehend what had destroyed my world, I felt fear. Not the kind of fear that worries you, or makes you tremble. The kind of of fear that lets you see clearer, or hear things louder, or think faster. And a single thought: "Survive."
Before all of this, I did not care for any of it; I was happy. She was happy.
This is how my life as an ant began, on my basement
Perhaps some day I'll write about the time when the ants united and brought down the world. In the meantime, I have a city to run.