The Window to the Beyond

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room.

She had spent many days curious about that window. Sometimes, it was covered by a dark curtain. Sometimes, a bright light shone though, illuminating the dark musty room.

For years that window had been the source of both fear and mystery.

As of late, there was more curiosity than anything else.

She wondered what might be beyond that window.

Was it dangerous beyond?

What was danger?

She had dreamt about the ‘beyond’ since she was a little girl.

She used to wake up in puddle of sweat, frightened by the terrors that lurked in her dreams.

But what were they? The terrors. The things that scared her out of her peaceful slumber.

She did not know.

She did not understand.

She just knew that when she woke up, she felt afraid.

Something seemed to lurk there. Not quite in the darkness…

It seemed to emerge from the darkest parts of her subconscious. It was trying to reach her. To tell her something. Every time it got close enough to reach her, she would awake, terrified about what it might say. Terrified to, to know. But what did she not want to ‘know’?

She was beginning to feel like, somehow, she did know. She already knew. Whatever it was, it hunted her and searched for her, but it could only reach her in her dreams.

She stood in the narrow hallway looking through the partially open door.

The window was not covered today.

And he was not sitting in his chair looking out as he usually did when the window was uncovered.

She walked closer to the door. She wanted to walk in, but something stopped her.

Where was he?

Why was the window left uncovered?

The only times she had been close to the window, she had been a small child. She would sometimes sit with him, but one day, she was no longer allowed to sit at the window.

She was unsure of the reasons why.

Around that time, she began to have nightmares about the window.

The dream always began the same.

The door to the room was partially open, as it was now.

The old window uncovered.

The man not sitting in the chair.

She would walk closer…

As she crossed the threshold, something would wake her from her dream.

The dream had changed slightly over the years.

Somehow, the window always seemed just a bit closer.

*****

Sometimes, she would lie awake at night; trying to remember the outside world. She had been a toddler when they were all forced to stay in their homes. They had been told that they were not allowed to exit under any circumstances. They were threatened with their lives. Though, she did not have strong memories of this time, she was aware that it had been a difficult and lifechanging moment for all of civilization.

Her early memories were slightly blurred, but she was able to vividly recall the sadness, anger, and grief that existed in their dwelling.

She tried to recall memories of what it was like out there beyond.

This was frustrating as she was unable to recall anything significant.

She had grown used to the dream. It had become like a friend, visiting her in the night.

Even though it often frightened her; it was somehow worse when she was unable to remember her dreams at all.

The window dream was not the only dream that she had at night.

No, of course there were others.

She never told anyone about the others.

In fact, she had not mentioned her dreams at all in many years.

The window dream seemed to frighten everyone in the dwelling, though she was unsure why, as it always ended before she was able to see what happened next.

Now the thought dawned on her…

What if they all knew what happened next?

*****

This night was like all the others.

They had gathered in the large futuristic center room and listened to the nightly broadcast.

This was the only link they had to the outside world. Every night, they would receive a download to their holographic screen. The broadcast was the same in all of the dwellings. And all of the dwellings were similar in design.

The world had long been on the brink of extinction, when the plans rolled out to preserve what life was still in existence. Construction had begun quickly to avoid mass annihilation of the population.

The people in power had designed a ‘new world’ that could sustain life, as long as everyone remained in their dwellings at all times. They were required to follow all other orders as well.

The nightly broadcasts were points of information, as well as updates on the outside world. As far as she could tell, they said almost the same thing every night. The broadcast didn’t seem to inform the dwellers of anything new or important. It did, however; seem to generate a sense of being connected to the other dwellers in the land.

It came from the officials that ruled the land.

This was the one moment that everyone gathered to connect to what was currently taking place outside of the dwellings.

It was the moment that made everyone feel a little less alone in the world.

Nobody in the dwelling discussed the broadcasts.

They weren’t allowed to discuss anything regarding the outside world.

It was the first rule.

*****

After the nightly broadcast, all the people in her dwelling would make their way downstairs to the dark damp room under the dwelling.

There, they all sat in the room which was known as the cave.

It was situated within the earth.

They hooked themselves up to the machines that delivered their nutrients.

The large machine was positioned in the center of the circular room. It had eight large silver receptacles that attached to the machine. All of them, evenly spaced around the center structure.

The receptacles were large enough for an adult sized human to comfortably lie inside.

Each night, the dwellers would attach themselves to the machine and receive their daily supplements and nutrition for the day.

It was a simple task really.

They would stand beside the receptacle and push the button at the side. Once pushed, there was a soft swoosh as the front half would open like a door. The dweller would then turn around and lean against the back of the large container with their arms crossed against their chest. Once the receptacle sensed the body pressed against it, it would then shut the door itself.

There was a small glass portion, like that of a window, where the face appeared.

Once fully shut, the nutrients were dispensed in a sort of mist like fashion.

The dweller would remain in the receptacle for about an hour, or till the machine deemed that they were fully replenished.

This typically lasted the duration of around an hours’ worth of time.

So they had been instructed.

Time no longer mattered for the dwellers.

Time, in the meaning it once held, did not exist.

*****

As she began to drift off to sleep… she wondered if she would ever get close to that window again. She suddenly felt this urge to look through it. She wanted to see what was out there. She wanted to know what was beyond.

What did the man see?

Why was no one else allowed to enter that room?

Why had she once been allowed, then banned?

Why did she dream of that window almost every night?

She wanted to know more. It was time that she knew more. But how? She was not allowed to ask questions about anything connected to the beyond.

It was the first rule and the rule that if broken, would result in death.

No one was willing to break that rule ever again.

*****

She awoke in the dream…

She saw herself sit up in her bed. She was anxious to get to that window.

She then saw herself get out of bed, stand, and walk to the doorway of her small dwelling quarters. The dream scene quickly changed, and she now saw herself standing in the long narrow hallway.

The only light present was the light peeking out from under the door to the room that housed that window.

She saw herself move silently down the long hallway.

She was not afraid.

Not the she that was viewing the dream, and not the she that was navigating the dream.

She was no longer afraid of what was lurking there in the darkest parts of her subconscious.

The call to reach into the dark and extricate whatever was hunting her and exterminate it was greater than the fear of ‘it’ had ever been.

This dream was important.

The message had been lurking, creeping closer, and yet closer with every dream she dreamt of it.

This was the moment to face it.

To face the dark and defeat it.

This was the moment that she would see what is beyond.

For it is what is beyond that calls to her. It is what is beyond that searches for her. It is what is beyond that reaches to her. It is time for her to reach back.

She was not afraid.

At the next moment in the dream, she saw herself approach the door.

As she saw herself standing outside the door, she suddenly saw the door from the viewpoint of the she that was navigating the dream.

She looked down and saw her hands in front of her.

She, for a moment, almost startled herself out of the dream state.

But the window called to her.

Like a voice now.

It was calling to her.

Beckoning her to it.

She was then able to remain connected in the dream state.

The pull of the window, her desire to know what is beyond, that one thing, kept her connected and she was about to open the door.

She saw herself slowly turn the doorknob.

The door seemed to want to open. As soon as she turned the handle, the door seemed to open itself.

There was light in this room.

That was an odd feature she thought to herself.

The only room with light after dark, was the room that also housed the window.

Very interesting.

She again, almost startled herself out of the dream.

How was she able to ask herself questions and formulate possible answers to those questions in her dream state?

The door was now open.

There was no way she was letting go.

Maybe by sheer will this time, she kept herself connected to the dream.

She was standing in the room now.

The chair was placed in front of the window as usual. There was something different.

What was different she mused?

Oh! That’s it.

The chair is always placed facing outwards, towards the window.

It was now placed facing inwards.

Towards her.

She now became aware that she was not alone.

No, the man was not in the room.

She had not seen him since the day prior, and that day, the window remained covered.

She had noted that he sat there, still, staring at the covered window.

He didn’t turn to look as she walked by as he often did.

He remained still.

He appeared saddened.

The old man had seemed distant.

As if his own thoughts had become lost in the beyond.

His eyes always looked sad and tired, hmmm, but they weren’t always that way.

Something now in the dream triggered a memory.

His eyes had not always been sad.

This immense sadness now awoke her from her dream.

She was not able to stay connected.

The pull of the genuine sadness she now felt had disconnected her from her dream.

She was not able to reconnect.

*****

This dream was different from all the rest.

She had never crossed the threshold before.

Well, not since she was a tiny child, but she had no memory of it.

Wait! There was a memory, she now realized.

Something in the dream state had triggered a memory from her childhood.

From, not just from her childhood, it was from before.

Before the beyond was out there.

Before the old man’s eyes had become sad.

Before he had become silent.

The memory…

He was smiling and laughing. His whole face smiled. His eyes smiled. This day he was happy.

It was a sunny day outside, in the beyond.

There were others…

This seemed to sadden her again.

The memory faded.

The sadness did not.

She sat there in the dark, and for the first time that she ever knew, she cried.

Something had reached her in the dream.

Even though she was not able to see out the window, like she wanted, she still received a message.

She had crossed the threshold, and out from the darkness emerged greater light, and within that light, a memory.

A memory of the beyond.

A real feeling.

Something real to connect to.

And a greater realization.

There was someone out there looking in.

That was the feeling she became aware of before she was disconnected from the dream.

Who was it?

Who was out there looking in?

And why did that sadden the old man so deeply?

*****

The next day she decided that she was going to go into that room. She was not afraid of the punishment that the beyond would enforce upon her.

She had lived her whole life in this place…

This shelter and refuge of sorts.

This dwelling as they called it.

An indefinite, self-sustaining, all-encompassing dwelling.

But what was the point?

They all did the same thing every day.

They all heard the same broadcast.

They all went down into the earth chamber and connected to machines.

They were not allowed to speak of the beyond.

They often did not speak at all.

For what was there to speak of?

Noting ever changed.

There were no new ideas to be discussed.

There was no point.

They were all doomed to repeat the same day, every day, for all of eternity.

Sure… most of the dwellers had since become numb to their existence.

But, somehow, she had not.

And it had something to do with her dreams.

*****

They were all gathered in their usual spots for the time of day. They hardly noticed her. Not just today, but all days. No one acknowledged her, or any of the others.

It was as if they all lived on autopilot. Like they were in some sort of video game. They all existed in the same video universe, but they were all doing their own task.

But they weren’t really doing tasks…

They weren’t really doing anything at all.

They were doing what they had been programed and accustomed to do.

Then they repeated the same thing, day in and day out.

Nothing ever changed.

The dwellers ceased to exist, all while they still did, continue to exist.

So, what was the point?

She had never asked this question before?

She had never thought this deeply into their circumstances.

She just did what everyone else did.

What the rules had ordered them to do.

What the rules…

Had ordered…

Them to do.

She didn’t know where all this information was coming from, but she was convinced that there was a way out. The clues were in the dream and the key to the mystery was in that room with the window.

Today was going to be different.

Today she was going to observe everyone’s patterns.

Then she was going to reflect.

Then, at night, when everyone was sleeping, she was going to revisit that room in her dream.

And when she was certain about ‘what’ she was looking for, she would create a plan to get into that room and out successfully.

There was someone out there.

She was sure of it.

And that person knew how to help her.

*****

She sat in her usual spot for a few moments.

All the dwellers also in their usual spots.

They were not required to sit in any certain spot. They had simply grown accustomed to the same spots after all this time in the dwelling together.

And who were they?

Who were the other dwellers?

She had grown up in this dwelling. The other dwellers were all older than she. Varying ages, but no one kept track of their age any longer.

Did they continue to age?

Yes, they in fact did continue to age, but at a much slower rate, they had been told.

So how long had they really been in here?

If she had aged from a child to a young adult, how long had they truly been in here?

Had she ever known who the other dwellers were?

Did they even know who they were?

Did they remember?

So many questions.

She observed each one individually. The first was looking at a hologram screen. He stared at the screen, as if it were the most interesting thing.

What was he watching, she wondered.

She moved closer to where she was then standing directly behind him. She also looked at the screen, but she saw nothing.

There was nothing on the screen.

It was blank.

Void of any colors or movement.

Void of any feeling.

There was nothing there.

Yet, he stared forward. As if it were greatly entertaining.

She observed him for a moment longer.

When she was satisfied that there was, indeed, nothing on that screen; she moved on to observe the next dweller.

The next dweller was probably the closest in age to her.

Had they ever spoken?

She was now unsure if any of them ever spoke at all.

When was the last time they spoke?

What did her own voice sound like?

Why did they not speak?

She was certain that they had once spoke. Like they sometimes do, in her dreams. In her dreams, the dwellers speak freely. And they seem different somehow. Their movements, those are different as well. And the setting, where they are is different. They are not always in the dwelling. In fact, most of the time that the other dwellers appear in her dreams, they are in different places and doing different things.

What things?

She was unsure, of what the things were. She knew they were called such names, but what those names were, she did not have the slightest idea. She attributed this to not having had any experience with such things.

As she observed the lady dweller seated in front of her; she noticed something, something she had not seen before.

The lady appeared to be looking right at her.

But it was if she didn’t see her.

It was as if she saw right through her.

She was afraid now, that maybe none of them saw her.

And then the worst thought of all.

What if none of the dwellers saw the other dwellers?

Was that why they did not speak?

Did they not see each other?

Did they not know that they were there?

Then another question entered her mind.

How did she see them?

What was the purpose if they could not interact.

Why were they all here?

She had to get back to that room.

It was calling her now.

It was louder than ever before.

*****

After observing each dweller individually, she was certain that none of them could see her.

How long had they not been able to see her?

That somehow didn’t seem relevant to getting into the room, but it felt to be something of great importance.

Should she stick to her plan, or should she deviate and speed up the timeline?

What were the consequences if she were to be caught?

Would she really be killed?

Who would even know?

Would anyone even know?

No one could see her.

How could they know?

*****

She decided to veer off plan slightly.

Getting into that room seemed increasingly urgent.

It felt like she was somehow running out of time.

Time.

What an odd concept.

Time no longer mattered. Had almost never mattered, in her experience; however, it now seemed to matter more than anything else at all. She felt this urgency to get into that room. It was the only thing that mattered.

She sat in the dark in her small quarters.

She ran through the steps in her mind once more.

It was time.

*****

Instead of falling asleep, when all the other dwellers went to sleep, she crept into the long narrow hallway.

She stood there listening for any sounds in the dwelling.

There were none.

The dwelling was supremely silent.

She walked the length of the hallway. Back and forth, at least twelve times. As she walked, she listened for any other sounds that might occur in the dwelling. She had never been aware of this before, there were no sounds in the dwelling. Absolutely none. But how then, did she know what sound was and how did she know that it existed?

Well, that must have also come through in her dreams.

How lovely and how disturbing, that the only things she could find connection within, occurred only in her dreams.

There were no sounds to be heard in the dwelling.

The other dwellers were all sound asleep, and they were not even aware of her, or the others when they were fully awake.

She paused now, in front of the door to the room that housed the single window.

She looked down both ends of the hallway.

There was no one there.

She turned the knob, ever so slightly.

Just like in her dream the night prior, the door seemed to want to open itself. As the doorknob gently turned, it released the door from it’s closed position. It seemed to open itself.

It stood there open, beckoning to her from within.

She didn’t hesitate a moment longer.

She quickly crossed the threshold and walked to the covered window. There was some light coming from under the window cover, but not as bright as it was in her dream.

That triggered her to realize another dream detail.

The window in her dream…

It was uncovered.

That was where the light was coming from.

It was coming in through the window!

She walked forward now and yanked down the window cover. As she did this, the room was filled with light from the beyond.

Wow!

It was so bright.

She shielded her eyes with her hand. Giving them a moment to adjust to the light that now filled the room.

She turned away from the window now, and discovered the room was empty, except for the chair that the old man sat in.

Why did he sit in an empty room?

Why was he the only one allowed to look out the window?

She then turned back to face the window.

There was a shadow in front of the window now, it appeared to be that of another dweller. The dweller seemed to stand outside of the dwelling.

But how did one stand outside of the dwelling and not die?

Or be taken to be killed?

How was this possible?

She continued to stare at the window. She stared until the shadow disappeared. It slowly seemed to fade backwards, further into the beyond.

Was she too late?

Had she missed the message?

Had she missed the opportunity to free herself from this existence?

The opportunity to free them all.

No, she didn’t believe that she was too late.

She couldn’t be. The call had gotten stronger, and she had adjusted her plan according to that urgency. No, she was not too late. She was right on time.

Now, all she had to do, was wait for the shadow to return. She knew that it would.

And she would be ready when it did.

*****

She stood there, peering out as far as she could see. She had been standing there for at least an hour. There was not much to see. The beyond seemed to be void of color, yet so bright. The land in the beyond appeared to be barren.

There were endless sand mounds, as far as the eye could see. When she looked just beyond the furthest sand dune, she could almost make out another dwelling. She moved her face forward, closer to the glass. It was there, but barely visible.

The shadow, is that where it resided?

Did it venture from that dwelling, over to this one?

What if those sand mounds…

What if they all were dwellings?

She waited at the window for the shadow to return.

She started to feel anxious.

Even though she knew that it would return, it had not yet returned, and she was starting to feel like she was losing the will to carry on with her plan. Losing the will to carry on at all. What if all that was out there, was shadow? What if there was nothing else left? What if it had all become part of the beyond, and become nothingness?

She moved away from the window and began to pace back and forth in front of it. Casting her own shadow across it when she walked past.

She slowed her pace, till she had paused directly in front of the window again.

What if they had all become shadows of their former selves?

What if they had all become lost in the beyond?

What if they were nothing but energetic remnants of the past?

What if it really was too late?

Had they all been Acquiescent too long?

The girl walked closer to the window and placed both of her hands against the glass.

But what if, there was yet just a shred of hope?

That is what had propelled her this far. And, that is what got her here to this point, where she was finally able to look out the window, the window that had been a source of fear and mystery for all of her known existence.

How long had they been trapped in their dwellings?

Why had no one come to rescue them?

*****

It was at that very moment that it all clicked into place.

She remembered everything.

She became intensely devastated now. She felt the deepest grief fill her entire being. It was too much all at once. Then, when it felt overwhelming to hold all that pain, she became angry, she wanted to yell, she wanted to scream for the shadow to come back.

She wanted it to please come back…

She stood there with her hands and forehead pressed against the glass.

She became sad now and started to cry.

Tears falling down her face and on to the bottom edge of the windowsill. She looked through her tears and onto the ground. To the spot where they had landed near her feet.

She noticed now that the floor seemed different.

How had she never noticed before, that it was the same light silver as the receptacles. She moved back now and looked to the sides of the window. How odd, the walls were also the same hue.

Was this something that she had seen in the dream?

Well, no, of course not, she suddenly realized. She was never allowed in the room and even in the dream she had not ventured into the room.

Till now.

With great passion, she took her hands and rose them above her head slamming her fists against the glass and yelled for the shadow to come back.

Come back she yelled, her voice filled with tears and the heaviness of the pain she carried.

Come back, she cried.

Come back…

Come back, the sound echoed out into the beyond.

The sound echoed into all of the beyond. Faint echoes of her cry reached out across the land, being heard by anyone who tried to listen.

The sound of her cry, and the force of her will to see the shadow again created a ripple effect through space and time. Reverberating back to her, and somehow cracking through the glass in front of her.

She looked now at the crack.

Then the shadow appeared.

There it was, standing directly in front of her, looking at her, as she looked at it.

There was something so inherently familiar about that shadow.

It was then that she realized, the shadow was her.

It had been trying to reach her.

It had been trying to help her free herself. All this time it had called to her, till it finally reached her.

She gasped for air now, as her receptacle door opened as it malfunctioned due to the pressure she applied to the window.

She walked forward as her body adjusted to the natural air that was outside of the container that she had been trapped in for all of these years.

Suddenly, she was aware that they were still all trapped in there. The other dwellers, they remained in their receptacle.

She had to help them.

Instantly she knew this to be the urgency.

They had to free themselves, but they were running out of time.

She had to figure out how to reach them.

And she had to do it fast.

The clock attached to the machine indicated there was not much time left.

She couldn’t let them die in there.

These people, the other dwellers, she now realized who they were.

They were family.

They had not listened to her when she had warned them, and in the end she was unable to let them go.

So she stayed too, and was also encapsulated.

And now, they were running out of time.