You may think you had a sheltered
childhood, but I can guarantee it’s
nothing compared to mine. I’d never even
seen the outside world, much less been allowed outside. I’m not
exaggerating. At all. I’d grown up never given an idea of what the
outside world looks like, never even seeing another person. The only physical things I’d seen from the
outside world were food and water that was brought to me every day, twice a
day, pushed under the slat beneath the door. It’s difficult for me to describe what life
had been like for me, but if I were to summarize it into one word it would be
this: meaningless.
When the only person in the world
is you, and there is nothing to be seen except the four white walls that
surround you and nothing to be accomplished except eating and drinking to stay
alive, it’s hard to find any meaning. I
think I would have died of depression and hopelessness if it wasn’t for one
essential ability that I inherently possessed: the ability to think and to
dream.
My mind was a means of
transportation, a means of escape, to transport me into any situation, to any
location, to see and/or be anything. I’d
spend hours upon hours just gazing at parts of my body, letting my imagination
run wild. Looking at my hands, I’d imagine
that there were communities of fantastic creatures living in my squared-off
pores, that my veins brought water to those communities, and that the creases
in my hands were roads and bridges for the creatures to travel over the water. I’d map out pictures of my imaginings and my
dreams with the remnants of my food, trying to make sense of a world that I
knew nothing about. Of course, at the
time I did not know there were such things as roads and bridges or even other
creatures, but I instinctually knew that there had to be more to life than just
these four white walls. Rest assured, it
was a major shock when I finally did see the outside world, and this is where
my story truly begins….
-----
Groggily, half-asleep, I opened my
eyes and staggered to my feet, peering into the darkness for the source of the
unfamiliar sound I’d heard. I saw
nothing but the walls and the silence, both surrounding me, as usual. Nothing odd or new. Sighing in disappointment, I slowly began to
make my way back to my bed when I heard the sound again. I jerked my head around and saw the door
shaking and shuttering. Something or
someone was trying to break in. Or
trying to break me out. My heart soared and beat fast in both
excitement and fear of the possibility.
I wanted to see the outside world, but I was also very afraid. The unknown is a most fearful thing,
especially when the unknown comprised most of one’s life, as it did for
me. My life and the whole world was a
mystery that I’d been sheltered from in my little room.
The shuttering-shaking of the door continued
until finally the door burst open and blinding light poured into the room. I screamed and frantically shielded my eyes,
as the light literally felt as though it was burning them. I stood there, cowered with my hands over my
eyes, for several minutes until I eventually garnered up the courage to peek
into the light. With extreme caution, I slowly peered into the spaces between
my fingers. Even seeing a broken picture
of the world outside my door, I was filled with wonder.
My senses were overloaded. There was so much to see, to hear, and even
to smell. The very first aspect that
astounded me was the explosion of color.
Being locked in this room all my life, I’d been accustomed to only
seeing the white color of the wall and my dress, along with the blandly brown
color of the oatmeal and meat I was fed.
I found out that I knew only opposite ends of the spectrum. I discovered that there were seemingly
millions of shades in between. I also
noticed that the light of the outside world brought a whole new perspective to
my mind. Everything was not as it
seemed. The world was not the hopeless,
uniform, sterile one that I had known my whole life; it was instead a world of
such hope, magic, beauty, and complexity.
Besides the sights to be seen, my
ears and nose were bombarded with a symphony of sounds and smells. From the soft whisper of the wind that
tickled and kissed my skin and gently swept my hair across my face to the loud
chorus of chirping birds, there was so much to be heard that my ears were
constantly ringing. As if this wasn’t
enough, my nose was overjoyed with a myriad of fresh, luscious scents. I breathed in deeply and sighed in ecstasy,
high on the smell of the grass, the dirt, the flowers, and the very air
itself. I was so in love with the
newness of the world around me that I hadn’t even noticed the handsome young
man who stood in front of me, openly gazing at me with his mouth gaping, until
he gulped and then uttered a single word.
“H-hello”
I jumped in surprise and fear and
jerked my head toward the source of the sound.
Now it was my turn to gaze with my mouth gaping. Standing before me was a creature who
strikingly resembled me. He had the same
arms, the same legs, the same face, but it was the differences between us that
especially struck me and filled me with wonder.
He was much taller, his shoulders were wider, and his whole body
appeared much stronger. His hair was
much different than mine, too. It was
short, brown, and even appeared in stubble on his face, on his chin and upper
lip. His face was what enamored me with
him most of all, especially those eyes.
I’d never truly seen eyes before, except via my reflection in water,
much less actually look into them. There
was something extremely powerful and magnetizing about eyes, especially this
man’s. Such emotion, such complexity,
such vitality…and most all, such beauty.
His eyes were a pure, refreshing shade of light blue, a cool glass of
water in which the longer I gazed, the deeper I dove into its depths.
In the mean time, while I openly
gawked, a curious pink color slowly spread across his cheeks, and his eyes
shuttered open and closed. Eventually he
looked up and began to speak again.
“Umm…so…yeah…hi. My name is Henry. What’s yours?”
There was a prolonged silence as I
just stood there, both confused and fascinated. I’d never heard a human speak before, and
therefore I had no idea what Henry had said, but nonetheless I instantly fell
in love with the rhythm and melody of his voice. I wanted to respond, so I tried to imitate his
voice, which didn’t work well at all.
“Ur…m…ry…hiii….” I babbled
out. It came out in a surprisingly
high-pitched voice that made me clap my hands over my ears in pain. Henry looked on in amusement and laughed,
another sound I’d never heard before. It
was a low rumbling sound that radiated warmth and became instantly
contagious. An involuntary laugh flowed
out of my lips and caused my body to shake in unfamiliar ways. It was an odd sensation. Once I began to laugh I couldn’t stop. The laughter racked my spine and caused me to
convulse in a delicious pain. I almost
fell to the floor, I was laughing so hard, but Henry quickly caught me up in
his arms.
“Woah, careful,” he said, his face
mere inches from mine. I felt a peculiar
but pleasant warmth course across my cheeks, and my heart, skipping a beat,
fluttered out of control. “You okay?”
I smiled in reply, unsure of what
Henry had asked but loving the sound of his voice. He took that answer as a “yes,” and smiled
back a smile that made my heart melt.
For a brief, magical moment, we smilingly gazed at each other, Henry’s
arms holding me securely and tightly against his warm body. Sadly, however, the moment abruptly ended when
Henry came back to reality and realized the intensity of the situation. He loosened me out of his grip, flustered.
“Sorry,” he muttered. I, of course, had no idea what Henry had
uttered. All I knew was that I wanted
him to keep holding me. I didn’t know
why I was feeling this way, or even what I
was feeling exactly, but of one thing I was absolutely sure: I didn’t want this
feeling to end.
----
Henry
“It was love at first sight.” I used to roll my eyes at that phrase, but I
was now starting to see that it could be true.
I’d never really believed in much of anything before I met…her.
It’s crazy. I mean, we just met,
and I still don’t even know her name, yet I think I’m in love with her. There’s just
something about the girl. I can’t figure
it out. Well, there’s no denying that
she’s super hot, but it’s more than just her good looks and her body; it’s her
very soul. I can just feel the beautiful
joy and wonder radiating out of her, such a kind, sweet spirit. I’d never met a girl like her before. Pretty much all the girls I knew were
self-centered, vain, and avoided me like the plague. But not this girl. This girl seemed to actually be attracted to me!
Imagine that, right? Yeah, I’d always been the awkward, nerdy
guy. You know the type: always picked
last in gym class but always picked first for academic, school projects? Yep, that’s me. You could definitely say that it’s in the
family. Mix the egg of a marine
biologist with the sperm of a psychologist and voila! You’ve got me: the
insecure, awkward, nerdy dude. There’s
one gene I am very thankful for though at the moment, and that being my gene of
curiosity. If it wasn’t for my
curiosity, I never would have met the gorgeous girl standing in front of me.
See, my dad does research in
psychology, and he always had freely shared his research with my mom, me, and
anyone else in the public who was interested in what he did, but one project he
had kept secret from us—from everyone—for…well…I’d
say at least 15 years. I never would
have learned about his secret if not for the suspicious conversation we had had
this afternoon.
“Where you heading off to, Dad?” I
asked. I had just stepped out of the
house and was making my way to my car when I noticed my dad getting into his
SUV. He jumped, startled, and turned a
guilty face toward me.
“Oh, uh…I’m heading off to the office.”
“The office?” I asked, my eyebrows
furrowed in disbelief. “But it’s
Saturday. You never work on Saturdays.”
There was a beat of silence as my
dad shifted uncomfortably. I knew
something was up. There was something he
wasn’t telling me.
“Yeah, well, I just have a special
project I need to work a little extra on before Monday,” my dad said.
“Oh. Okay,” I said, totally unconvinced, as he
quickly got in his truck and sped away, in the opposite direction of his
office. So, there was only one thing left
to do: I got in my car and followed him.
