My Own Universe

My Own Universe

  by

  James Bailey

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  PUBLISHED BY:

  My Own Universe

  Copyright 2011 by James Bailey

  [email protected]

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  Chapter 1: Age 17

  I walked down the street, a smile on my face on what was a beautiful sunny and cloud free day. The street was busy, I was in the shopping district of my city, pedestrians bustling past on their way to jobs or to shop or whatever else they did. Cars honked on the roads as traffic banked up behind a public transport bus that pulled out into the street. Neon lights and billboards adorned the skyscrapers around me promoting soft drink, sporting events, various other things I didn’t care about. In the sky I could see a helicopter in the distance looking for the right building to land on.

  I was very impressed, the city was even better than I had imagined. The size of the place was immense, and the amount of people all crammed into this small place with the noise and traffic was almost overwhelming.

  I decided to try and get a better look at the place from above. Seeing the tallest tower in the city a few blocks further along the road, I strolled towards it as quickly as I was able in the hope it would have some form of viewing area or observation deck near the roof. Dodging and weaving through the pedestrians I meandered my way through the throng of people, trying not to get bumped or knocked off course. I thought to myself that I could have hailed a cab or used a bus or something but I didn’t have any money on me and I was happy to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city, not to mention the smell. Diesel and petrol fumes, sweat from the thousands of bodies baking under the hot sun, food cooked by the plethora of street vendors all invaded my nose as I walked.

  I paused at a news stand where a multitude of magazines and newspapers were displayed. I picked up a newspaper from the largest stack, ‘The Daily Mail’ was it’s name. Checking the date on the front of the paper I realised it was the twelfth of June 1992. A good year I thought, few mobile phones to distract people and the internet was yet to become a major factor.

  The attendant spoke to me as I looked over his stock.

  “How you doing there?” He asked.

  “I am well, thank you,” I replied with a smile.

  “You a tourist?”

  “Yes I am in fact, just passing through and catching the sights.” I took a better look at the man, he was middle aged with a short greying beard, average height and build but with kind eyes and an old wide brimmed hat.

  “Ah, thought so. Make sure you check out the view from the big skyscraper over yonder. Worth the long elevator ride.” The man pointed at the tower I was heading towards.

  “Thank you I was just on my way there. They have a place to enjoy the view up top there then?” I asked.

  “Sure do, head on up to the 43rd floor and there’s plenty to see, nice cafe too if you feel like paying too much for instant coffee.” The attendant replied.

  I laughed. “Thank you my friend I will head there now. Have a good day.” I smiled at him and headed off.

  “You too, enjoy the sights.” The man said as I turned away.

  Reaching the tower I entered through the revolving doors into a large open lobby. A few business people hurried by to the elevators but there were several other tourists scattered around the area too. An information booth was set up to the left, manned by a quite attractive young woman who was surrounded by various brochures advertising different sites, events and attractions for the city. A large map of the building behind her showed me which elevator to take for the observation deck, I was happy to see the viewing platform was free of any charge as well.

  A couple ahead of me seemed to have the same idea that I had and I ended up following them into the elevator. They nodded in politeness as I followed them through the automatic doors before the three of us stood in an uncomfortable silence while the elevator slowly rose the forty three floors to the observation deck. I glanced at the pair as we waited, they looked like they were in their early to mid twenties, both well dressed and reasonably good looking. The two were holding hands I noticed, very cute.

  Finally the doors opened onto a well lit and open area. Walking out of the elevator I turned around in amazement. Glass windows surrounded the floor giving me an amazing view of the city and it’s surrounding suburbs. I walked up to the nearest window, squeezing between two groups of people for a better look. Peering out I could see the river that cut through the city wending it’s way to the north, a dock was in the distance, huge cranes unloading shipping crates from a transport ship. Walking further along I got a view deeper into the business district, looking down on other skyscrapers and buildings, the pavement and roads far below. The helicopter I saw earlier had landed nearby it seemed, the rotor blades slowly spinning down to a stop.

  I glanced around me and realised just how busy the observation deck was, numerous couples and families were bustling around, making use of the free binoculars or enjoying the cafe. They made the perfect audience to observe my first test of this place.

  Looking out of the observation deck at the helicopter below me I focused my attention on the craft. I imagined a large and powerful fist just behind it then punched out, mentally pushing the helicopter away from me. An ecstatic thrill erupted inside me as I saw the helicopter fly across the helicopter pad like a child’s toy, smashing into the side of a nearby building creating a huge ball of fire. Around me people on the observation deck gasped in shock, rushing to where I was to see the destruction. I just stood there, grinning from ear to ear at the possibilities ahead of me. I barely heard the tears and screams, the gasps and shouts, I just stood there admiring the destruction I had caused and wondering just what my limits were in this place.

  Still smiling in satisfaction I gently eased my way out of the crowd and headed back towards the elevator. A few steps later I paused however, as a new idea popped into my head. I looked back at the windows where everyone was milling around, scrambling for a better look at my handiwork. Up the front I saw the couple I rode the elevator up with, their faces pressed against the glass. I concentrated on the window, focusing on willing the glass away, out of existence completely. Just like that, the glass vanished without even leaving a trace.

  The couple were the first to fall through, as the glass they were leaning against simply vanished in front of their eyes. Their momentum sent them stumbling out in to open air and before they even had a chance to scream they plummeted to the ground. Several others that were bunched around them also fell through. Screams filled the room as family members watched their loved ones fall to their death, one man stupid enough to fall through as he tried to stop his wife, who had also been pressed against the glass, from falling. This noise annoyed me and the elevator was still minutes away. I focused on these annoying people, focusing my attention on everyone in the observation deck whether they be man, woman or child. With a thought I imposed my will, thrusting all of the people out of the window. Sweeping them out of the forty third floor like an imaginary broom. Their screams quickly faded as they dropped to the ground, leaving me in happy silence.

  I walked to the edge of the window and gradually inched forward until I was at the very edge. A wave of vertigo almost overcame me, I had always been scared of heights and this was certainly quite a height. Peering down forty three floors the people on the ground seemed like ants, many of which were milling around a dark stain below me from the dozens of people that had just splattered on the pavement. I laughed to myself, the people here really were ants, my own giant ants to play with as I wished.

  I decided to test something out, try something that every man always dreamed of. Concentrating on what I wanted I stepped out of the building into the open air, closing
my eyes so I wouldn’t look at the ground. No rush of air, no sudden drop in my stomach greeted me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the ground was the same distance away as it was earlier. I was floating in the air. Shouting in delight I giggled to myself, any vertigo I was feeling evaporated as a sense of immortality overcame me.

  Looking back into the building I saw a new group of people had just exited the elevators and were staring at me in shock, I laughed and waved at them.

  Turning away I focused on flying, moving forward with a thought. After a few minutes it was as easy as breathing. I held my arms out away from me and felt the air rush over my body as I sped through the air. With a shout of exhilaration I flew through the city, weaving through the skyscrapers and ducking under the bridges that spanned the river nearby. Every now and then I would fly near the ground until I was scraping the tops of trees and light poles. I would hear the shouts and screams from shocked onlookers on the ground and laugh and wave at them before soaring off into the sky again.

  After several minutes of touring the city by air, I hovered over the bridge I had seen from the observation deck and looked down at my metropolis. I wondered to myself what limits my power had over this place. I hadn’t encountered any limits or barriers to my abilities yet so I decided to test them out in as extreme a method as possible.

  I determined that the skyscraper I had looked out of earlier would be the best example to test my boundaries and focused my attention upon it. I reached out with my mind, again picturing a massive imaginary hand pushing the building. A result wasn’t as quick as with the helicopter but slowly I could see the building start to tip. A grinding noise came to my ears as the sound caught up to my position, encouraging me to push harder. With glee and astonishment I saw the building slowly keel over, collapsing with a massive explosion, dust and debris creating a small mushroom cloud where the tower used to stand. Shocked and excited at the sheer awesome power I wielded, I flew closer to the destruction to try and catch a better view of my work. Ambulances, fire engines and police cars were approaching from all sides, disappearing from view as they entered the growing cloud of dust billowing out from the crash site. The dust obscuring my view of the destruction I caused. I didn’t mind, I knew how absolute the power I wielded now was. I shouted at the sky in delight.

  A dark glee filled me and I looked for bigger and better ways to cause mayhem. I cast my gaze towards the bridge I had hovered over earlier. A grin springing to my lips as a new idea popped into my head. I focused upon the bridge and with a thought ripped it from its moorings. Cars, buses and other vehicles careened off each end, plummeting to the water or concrete. Like a kid’s ball I threw the bridge straight up into the air, laughing as the few cars left on the bridge were flung in all directions. After flying in the air several hundred meters the bridge plunged into the river with a tremendous splash, mini tsunamis cascading outwards and flooding the streets near the river. I was having the most fun I had had in years.

  Deciding to get a closer look at my destruction, I landed on the ground out of sight of prying eyes and walked towards the scene of the the bridge crash. People were rushing every which way, some to escape the destruction, some to get a better look on it and others to check on friends and family. The few police and ambulance that weren’t attending the skyscraper I had pushed over could be heard in the distance, sirens gradually getting closer as they inched through the panicked crowds.

  As I drew closer to the river the roads were wet and covered with debris from the waves the crash created. A boat was washed up on the road ahead of me, a couple of kids standing in it posing for photos for a nearby friend.

  A woman nearby was in a pay phone crying on the phone. “Why is this happening? What is going on?” I heard as I walked by. I smiled at the thought that she would never realise that I was what had caused all this destruction.

  The streets were very crowded, far worse than when I first arrived at this city. No road traffic was moving with the amount of people on the asphalt. The majority of the people were moving towards the river rather than away from it, likely to catch a glimpse of the disaster first hand. I thought it likely that most still did not know of the earlier skyscraper crash what with the lack of mobile phones and internet at this time.

  Finally I reached the river and was able to see my handiwork from the ground, I gasped at the destruction. Smashed cars from the bridge were scattered along the river bank, I noticed bodies still inside the two vehicles closest to me. The bridge itself was smashed into pieces, some pieces somehow floating in the river, others washed ashore, while the majority of the bridge had sunk to the bottom of the water. The waves caused by the crash had destroyed the marina nearby, the boats flung onto the roads, many of which were mostly intact. Ambulances and paramedics were scattered along the road running parallel to the river, attending to people crushed by the waves or impaled by debris that had crashed into them. None of the ambulances had bothered checking on the cars that fell off the bridge. They likely knew there was nothing that could be done for those people.

  I walked along the road to the nearest paramedic who was attending a young woman sprawled on the ground, half leaning against the wall of a building. She had been skewered through her side by a sharp piece of wood that had likely broken off a boat or pier. Her eyes were running with tears as she woozily pleaded for help from the paramedic. The paramedic was doing his best to dress the wound while repeatedly calling for an ambulance on his radio.

  I was disturbed by this sight, a sense of realism finally penetrating my psyche. I looked around at all the people crying and in pain. I looked out at the bodies scattered along the shore trapped in the twisted steel cages they were driving in just a few minutes earlier.

  I felt a touch of shame for the first time since I had entered this place. Why was I doing this? Why was I causing all this suffering? This isn’t right. This isn’t me.

  I came to my senses quickly. None of these people mattered, none of them were real. They were tools, puppets even. Here solely for my amusement. They were nothing.

  Angry at myself for my weakness I launched myself into the air, looking down on my city. This was my city. My city. I would do what I liked with it.

  I hovered over a group of shocked onlookers that were pointing and waving at me. They were ants, I remembered what I did to ants when I was smaller.

  I pictured a magnifying glass concentrating the suns rays directly on this group of people. They screamed as their clothes burst into flame within a few seconds. Quickly they scattered, running in all directions. I focused on one man in particular, holding him in place with my mind and concentrating the heat directly on his body. His flesh melted off next, his screams quickly stopping. I continued baking his body until all that was left was a charcoal skeleton. I turned towards a police car that was approaching down the street and mentally picked it up and flung it against a building nearby so hard that it smashed through the other side.

  My dark glee returned and I rose high up in the air to contemplate my next move.

  “Simon, you coming down for dinner? It’s ten past seven already and it’s getting cold.” My mother’s voice sounded in my head as if it was from a different world. It really was in a way I thought, just not a world I had control over.

  I sighed to myself and replied. “Coming, be down in a sec.”

  I disengaged the head piece, or ‘rig’ as it was called, and pulled myself out of the game. Blinking my eyes I adjusted back to reality, a little sad and disappointed that I had to return to my mediocre life. I was sitting in my chair in my room. My bed, unmade of course, in the corner. My wardrobe, left open, in another corner. Clothes on the floor, candy wrappers under the bed. I focused on the candy wrappers, trying to will them away like I could in the game I just left. Nothing.

  I stood up from my chair and put my rig on the desk. I was very impressed by the game I admitted to myself, perhaps a little too impressed. ‘My Own Universe’ lived up to it’s reputation as a personal wor
ld of your own to do whatever you liked in.

  “Simon! Last call or it’s going in the bin!” I heard my mother shout from downstairs. I sighed then realised that after dinner I still had all night to resume playing. Resume my destruction. I could spend dinner thinking up what else I could do to my people.

  Grinning I left my room and walked downstairs. Who needed this universe when my own was far more fun.

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