The Hourglass

I blinked. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. When my eyes adjusted, I looked around and noticed I was in a small room where there were neither windows nor a door, but bookshelves on both sides of the room full of office-looking-supplies like tape, staplers, rulers, etc., and above me were lights slightly hanging from the ceiling; they looked like Christmas tree lights. They reminded me of the stars. I don’t know why but they gave me a sense of peace and comfort. In the back left corner was a cardboard box full of instruments with some other instruments hanging on the walls next to it; some had strings, some were longer and bigger than others, and some looked so weird like how could someone play it? In front of me was a dimly lit, brown desk with small racks and shelves full of monotone colored books and knick knacks like dolls or snow globes, but more specifically an hourglass right in the middle of the desk, which was between two wooden stands with a wooden rod in the center to turn the hourglass. It was filled with black sand all the way at the bottom; it kind of shined in the dim lights and made it appear to glitter and shimmer.

Suddenly, I realized how heavy my arms felt. I looked down and noticed I was holding a big brown book. It looked really old and some of the pages that I could see were stained, ripped, or wrinkled. Even the cloth on the front was torn in some places and ruined. While my eyes were down, I also took notice of myself: I had a cute, floral dress on that was light purple with golden yellow flowers that looked like it was suited for warm weather and on top of my head was a headband with tiny little cat ears, the ears themselves were hollow and were just a frame or outline. My hair was short, chestnut, straight, and ended at my ears.

I shook my head to try and refocus myself to what was going on. My memory was fuzzy and I was pretty confused. Where was I? Why was I here? What was going on? I felt my small body start to tremble from the overwhelming thoughts because I didn’t even realize who I was! Who am I? What’s my name? Where did I come from? Too many questions but not enough answers.

I looked back at the hourglass and my eyes went wide when I caught it turning itself upside down! The black shimmering sand started to pour and something told me that was a sign that I had to do something before it ran out… but what? I looked back at the book in my hands and that’s when it dawned on me!

I walked towards the desk in front of me to put the book down and flipped open the pages to find, well, something. I didn’t really know what I was looking for but I had this book in my hands for a reason so hopefully this had some clues.

There were pictures of diagrams and steps that, I guess, I had to follow. It told me I had to grab some supplies such as marbles of any color, felt, stuffing like cotton, an outline of different shapes, sewing stuff, and cloths. I was confused. What do these things have to do with me or my purpose here? How does this help me? I looked back at the hourglass and the sand continued to pour. Something told me I didn’t have the time to question the steps so I just followed them and hoped for the best.

I left the desk and rummaged around the small room, looking in the bookshelves, in boxes, and in every place to find what the book said I needed. The things the book listed off didn’t seem familiar to me, yet it was like my body knew what to look for before I did! I found some white, soft cotton, along with the sewing needles and thread in the same place in one of the bookshelves, some light brown felt that looked kind of wavy or curly, green colored marbles. I picked out an outline from which there were many to choose from, and some cloths which had overcrossing lines and different colors of blue. I also found this really nice, deep red bowtie that I wanted to hang onto.

Once I found everything, I walked back to the desk and continued on reading the pages. I sewed the pieces of light brown felt together along the outline. Afterwards, I stuffed it with the cotton and placed the marbles at the top, as shown by the picture in the book, before closing up the sides with more thread. I sewed up the cloths and placed them on the stuffed thing where the book told me to.

I looked down at my creation and it was… a teddy bear? How was a teddy bear supposed to help me? I don’t understand. Did I miss something? Maybe I missed a step or did something wrong. I looked through the book again only to see that I did everything correctly. I looked back at the hourglass and it was about halfway poured. I turned the pages all the way to the back where I noticed something. There were symbols of different shapes and sizes along these lines. It was sheet music! Maybe I was supposed to play this melody! I felt a sense of hope come over me.

I quickly ran to the box of instruments I saw earlier and looked among them. Which one was I supposed to play? My eyes kept looking over every single instrument, but this certain one that was similarly shaped like the hourglass and had strings on the front and a funny looking piece of long wood and string attached to it, kept calling out to me. I grabbed it and ran back to the book. I placed the teddy bear on the floor in front of me and got into position to play the instrument as best as I could read the music. The instrument fit perfectly in my neck and hands, almost like it was my size. I started to play and the sound was beautiful and soothing to my ears. I felt like I was floating.

As I played, miniature lights of many colors, some I don’t think I’ve seen before, came from the instrument and towards the bear. With each note that was strung, a different magic light came forth. It was like they were performing a dance! I closed my eyes and allowed the music and magic to take control. For a moment I forgot about the hourglass. The colorful lights twirled and made circles around myself and the sweet little teddy bear. I felt myself feel lighter and lighter with each note I played.

I opened my eyes and looked back at the hourglass as I continued to play and time was almost up! My chest started to rumble a little faster. When I turned around, the teddy bear was… no longer a teddy bear.

Instead a little boy, maybe my age and around my height, sat before me. His hair was light and curly like the felt of my teddy bear. His eyes were green like the marbles, and he wore the cloths I put on my teddy bear too: the overlapping blue lines on his button down, long sleeve shirt and his dark blue slacks. I stopped playing the instrument and placed it on the desk when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was the red bowtie. I grabbed it and turned around as he stood up. I wrapped the bowtie around his neck and set it to wear so it was comfortable for him. I didn’t know how I knew to do that but I just knew.

I grabbed the book from the desk and handed it to him with a smile as he stared back at me with deep emeralds of green in his eyes. The last bit of black sand finally hit the bottom of the hourglass. And just as I stood before the boy, the magic lights from earlier, the same ones that danced to my music and brought my teddy bear to life, surrounded me and engulfed me with their dance, almost like I too became a magic light, as they flew around the room like wind, placing things back where they belonged. The books were straightened, the supplies flew with the lights back to where they belonged, and the instrument was placed back on the wall where it hung before.

The boy blinked, looked around the room and down to his hands where he hung onto the old book. He looked up to the fairy lights on the ceiling and back down to the desk in front of him, until his eyes were fixated on the hourglass of black, shiny sand. He stared at it for a moment, blinked some more, and when he did, the hourglass turned upside down.