Hello there ladies and gentlemen, a new short story is on the menu today! This is one of my new favourites, I have only just finished writing it this morning but I am so happy with it that I thought I would post it straight away! Don’t forget that the following tale along with all the other short stories can be found on the “writing” page and the audio series on the “audio” page! Or you can subscribe to the podcast straight from iTunes by following this link (it will open iTunes!): Original Short Stories.

Now though on with the main event:

The Bubble

By Daniel .M. Brown

Up and up it drifted, although so high up the prisoner felt perfectly safe. There was nothing to be afraid of, at least nothing perceptible. It was difficult to judge though, the oily surface of the bubble seemed to add something to world outside, or maybe take something away from it. It was impossible to tell, how could anyone see what it was really like outside of the bubble unless they too were outside?

It was strange though how from inside the bubble it was impossible for the inhabitant to comprehend the genuine nature of things, for example, the translucent watery sphere, silent, yet ever present served as both a mirror to reflect somethings as they attempted to enter and also keep some things in as they tried to escape. Of course this had huge benefits to the occupant assuming a quiet life was what they wanted and that they could live in a world where nothing was quite real.

From inside the bubble even distances were impossible to judge. Something might drift past a mile away and appear within touching distance due to the effect of the spherical  lens it was viewed from within. Equally if the glare of the sunlight happened to obscure the surface as something passed outside it may not be visible inside at all. It was also a regular occurrence for an item to become stuck to the surface, the watery exterior trapping anything that happened to touch it. This would lead to all kinds of confusion to the occupant who would not be able to tell if it was inside the bubble or not. Then as it surely would degrade and disintegrate over time it would sometimes appear to be vanishing not into time, but away into the distance as if clouds were obscuring it on it’s travels to some unknown destination, another bubble perhaps.

Viewers of this from the ground were used to the sad sight of those still floating away into the sky, many of the ground dwellers had themselves once been in that position. How foolish they had felt when first being taken from their high places and thrown in amongst the ground dwellers.

From the ground they had seen the same thing happening time and time again. A bubble would be violently shook by some great turmoil. Then as if it had never existed at all it would disappear in a second. This would without fail set the inhabitant, now unprotected, hurtling towards the ground. The immediate effect of this was that the poor soul would panic and arms and legs would be reaching out as if to grab hold of something unseen or non existent. As the ground drew nearer and it was clear that there was to be no safety found in the immediate vicinity acceptance quickly took hold and a relaxing effect could be seen instantaneously. Normally this would be followed by the drawing in of the limbs to a more fetal position, maybe this would be done from instinct or more likely to try and preserve the body heat, these people had never been outside before. That fact acting with the biting windchill that was present with such a dramatic acceleration to the ground ensured a penetrating cold was felt through the body.

After this stage it was suspected that, but never actually proven or remembered by the individuals, that one last look at the ground they were heading for was taken and then the impact occurred. This final stage was always a mystery though because nobody had ever seen anyone land, and the trauma of the incident seemed to leave the victim without memory of the final moments in any case. The only times that even the impact itself could even be confirmed was when some unlucky person would by chance stumble across the site of those who did not make it. Those who were not prepared for the fall.

The end.

Thanks for reading/listening folks,

I will speak to you again tomorrow,

as always look after yourself and have fun,

dan