The Box

 

The space was neither small nor large. Neither light nor dark. Neither hard nor soft. With a curious tck. tck. tck., It felt as though It had just woken up. How long had It existed in this space? As far as It could tell, there was nothing but Itself and the tck. tck. tck.ing in the space.

 

The tck.ing continued, steady and never-ending. It became aware of a sense of...movement. But in what direction It couldn’t quite fathom. Suddenly a thought occurred to It. What if the tck.ing could be used as some way to measure the passage of Its being? After paying close attention to the tck.ing for a length, It began to feel a sense of progression.

 

It shifted and looked for the first time at Its space, gaze coming to rest on something decidedly not like Itself. The tck.ing was emanating from this object. It picked the thing up and continued on until It bumped unceremoniously into a barrier. Confused, It studied the space, exploring this barrier. There were four of them, all the same, two facing two. There was another one above it all, and one below upon which It stood.

 

The tck.ing object continued its steady measure of progression. It turned the thing around a few times to examine it closer. Anchored between two dark strips of soft and supple material sat a hard, shiny round part. The inside of the round part matched the color of the walls around It. Circling the center of the whole contraption was an array of miniature marks, matching in color the dark material. None of the marks around the edge moved, but It noticed that there were three longer lines emanating from the center. The longest moved at regular intervals, synchronized with the tck.s, to point at each of the marks. After it had made a complete revolution, the middle-length line moved by one tick as well. What a discovery! Surely this was the very thing helping It to gage the passage of being! It placed the thing back on the floor and crouched close to watch the measured, methodical march.

 

It wasn’t until the shortest hand had made it halfway around its circle that It became aware of a dull ache Outside, and an uncomfortable pang Inside. It stood and stretched, almost reaching the barrier above as It did, and a grrRrRrr erupted from Inside.

 

Suddenly It became aware of a new kind of sensation. This sensation seemed to permeate the air, giving it a rich, heavier feel. Looking around, It suddenly noticed an odd pair of new things, lying only a small distance from the ticking thing. It bent to inspect the objects, puzzled. The larger one was a bright color, one that kind of reminded It of Itself, only far more saturated. When It pressed on the thing, it gave under the pressure, squishing underneath Its touch. This thing was...the opposite of the barrier below. Much more comfortable. When It released Its grip, the thing sprung back into its former plump shape. It sat down on top of the thing and felt a sense of pleasure. This was nice! Now for the other mysterious newcomer…

 

This thing - or perhaps more accurately a conglomeration - was very strange indeed. But this seemed to be the origin of the new sensation. There were all sorts of colors that differed vastly from the walls It had only ever known and even from each other. Supporting all of these colors was another white circle, like the ticking thing, only much bigger. It was hard, like the floor. In picking the thing up, It brought the pile of smaller objects closer. The things were indeed filling the air in the space with that heavy, rich feeling. It breathed in deeply, admiring all the mixing aromas and felt something Inside rumble again. Without even thinking, It took a bite out of something similar in color to the soft object, but much less bright, and covered in a fine layer of soft fuzz, kind of like Itself. The aroma emanating from the thing erupted in Its mouth, much stronger now, and something wet and sticky dribbled to the floor. It was very strange. But it was a good kind of strange. As It moved through the other things, It began to wish It had saved the first one for last. It was so much sweeter than the other things. Some were more savory in comparison, others produced a sort of burning sensation. One was outright bitter! The first one - the sweet one - had by far been the best. Oddly enough, It noticed as It finished, the strange pang went away.

Interesting.

 

The hands on the ticking thing kept on moving, and as time passed, It began to feel restless. Whenever It felt those pangs, It would simply think of the delicious objects that always made them go away and they would appear. It would consume them, and, comfortable and satisfied, It would sit on Its plush seat, wondering what to do in the intervals between the pangs.

 

~

 

Some time after all this had begun happening, the longing for something to do other than banishing the pangs became intense. It was startled to wake up finding Its space had seemingly grown smaller. No. Wait. No, the space wasn’t smaller. There was simply less empty space to be had. Sharing Its space were a small assortment of new things. One was small and round, and when picked up and dropped, it would bounce against the floor with surprising force. That one was fun until it left an uncomfortable discolored blotch on Itself. Another was a hard object, the same dark color as the strips on the ticking thing, with little see-through squares revealing a singular, equally clear spherical shape in the center. It picked it up and inspected it, but could not find a use for it. Another was round, but flat, a lot like the one that bore the objects that made the pangs go away. It stood raised from the floor, propped up by smaller, skinnier posts of the same, hard material.

 

But the object that aroused the most interest was thin, and square in shape, like an inversion of Its space. The corners and edges of this one fit neatly against the corners and edges of the walls.

 

A little fumbling discovered the ability to manipulate the item. A protrusion on one of the narrower sides, when pushed, caused the center to burst into life, with more colors and shapes and images than It had ever thought possible before. Hundreds of diagrams and symbols lay arranged neatly, one after the other, but one in particular stood out. There, just at the bottom of the array was half of a picture of the ticking thing. Fascinated, It reached out to touch this strange thing, and found the images moved up and down if touched correctly, revealing even more images above and beneath the ones shown. It zeroed in on the familiar picture of the ticking thing, poking at it curiously. With a flash of light and color, the picture enlarged to take up most of the space. The image sat above a series of strange symbols, arranged in a line. Scrolling  through, It found many other images, some recognizable, many not, and each accompanied by similar symbols.

 

It wasn’t until a picture of the hard, flat object on posts appeared that It accidentally touched the symbols and discovered something astounding.

“Table. T. A. B. L. E. Table,” the picture said.

 

Intrigued, It scrolled back to the picture of the ticking thing to see if that one would say “table,” too.

“Watch. W. A. T. C. H. Watch.”

 

It looked over at the ticking thing nearby, the long lines continuing their steady revolution. An idea was beginning to form.

Finding the picture of the squishy, fuzzy orb that made those uncomfortable pangs leave, It touched the symbols with anticipation.

“Peach. P. E. A. C. H. Peach.”

 

“Peeeeachuh,” It slowly repeated, trying the sound out. A warm feeling blossomed Inside. The feeling was good. “Peach.” The warmth spilled up, tweaking muscles upward as it spread.

 

It continued through the “Tablet,” as it seemed to be designated, feeling that spike of warmth and a flutter of anticipation whenever It came across one of the things It could recognize. Slowly, gradually, It collected names for everything that shared the space with Itself. Watch kept ticking, the constant Sound a reminder of moving forward. Pillow saved It from the aches and pains of sitting on the Hard, flat floor all the time. The Plate of Food would appear - always including but not limited to Peach - whenever It began to feel Hungry, filling the space with those heavenly Smells and matching Tastes. If Boredom became unbearable, Ball could be (carefully) bounced against the wall. Lantern, It found thanks to the Tablet, could be used to make the space brighter. And the Tablet held so many more things It had never seen before! It poured over the pages for days, adding to Its growing knowledge, and becoming aware of more and more and more things in Its space.

 

~

 

Nearing the bottom half of the list one day, It spotted an image that stood out in particular. When It got to this image It couldn’t help but stop. How perplexing. The image was of Itself! Moving around the picture, Arms and Legs and Torso and Neck gained names; Eyes roamed the page, drinking in all the different names before settling on the biggest word on the bottom. By this time, It didn’t need to listen to the words to know what they said anymore, but It touched the word all the same.

 

“Human. H. U. M. A. N. Human.”

 

And underneath that, a series of smaller words: “(Me, You, He, She, They).” It tapped one of the words and the image changed to a picture of this “Human” pointing a finger at itself, labeled “Me.”

 

It pointed to Itself. “Me,” It said aloud. “Me,” It said again. Me smiled.

 

The next image contained not one, but two humans. This time the first one was pointing at the other. The image was labeled, “You.”

 

Me was confused. That is to say, if It was, indeed, “Me,” then where and who was “You?” Me looked around the space.

 

“You?” Me asked. There was no answer. The warmth Me had been feeling throughout all this discovery fled abruptly. Now Inside felt as big and empty as Outside.

 

~

 

Me continued through the pictures, moving onto very interesting words. Some of these words had pictures associated with them, but many of them at this point were defined by other words Me had learned. These terms were less concrete, and harder to define with just one image.

 

“Happy,” Me read one day. “Often warm and pleasurable. A pleasant feeling.” The word was surrounded by pictures of Humans interacting with objects or with one another, smiling, and laughing.

 

Me thought about that. Happy sounded familiar. Me thought about Peach and how good it had tasted, and how good Me had felt when learning how to call the fruit by its name. Me had felt Happy before, yes. But Me could feel no Happy now, studying a picture that showed two Humans holding each other’s hands with smiles on their faces.

 

Me looked around the room. Ever since Me had begun to learn about new things, Me had become aware of so many more of them filling the space. The room was full to bursting with interesting things to See and Touch, Smell, Taste, and Hear.  But despite the clutter of all the things that had come to share the room, it felt larger and more empty than it ever had before.

 

Suddenly, the whole space flickered in and out of sight. Then it became completely dark. Me felt a surge of Fear. Everything had disappeared! Me took a step forward looking for Lantern, and felt a jolt of pain. Foot had collided with Table. The Tablet fell to the floor, the screen turning off, the whole device disappearing in the dark, and Me made an involuntary sound, following suit. An uncomfortable pounding seemed to be trying to break through Chest from Inside. Even though Me’s eyes were opening and closing, the darkness would not recede, like it normally did. Eyes began to sting and prickle, and before Me knew it, wet, hot liquid was falling down Face. Tears. A liquid associated with Sad or Scared.

 

Me crawled around until Hands connected with Pillow. Curling up with the soft fabric against Me’s face, Me continued to cry.

 

“You?” Me called out again, desperate for an answer. But as with every time before, the call was met with silence, dampened only by the ceaseless tck.ing of Watch. Another word from the less concrete list of terms came to mind as Me hugged Pillow tighter.

 

“Alone.” To be singular or separate from all else.

 

Logically, Me knew that nothing had disappeared with the light - that all the things were still in the space, too, somewhere. But it didn’t matter.

Me felt Alone.

 

~

 

Me woke up, still enveloped in darkness. But, surprisingly, the space was no longer pitch black. In the far corner of the room, Me could make out the faintest contrast to the inky blackness. It was an almost imperceptible green-ish-yellow glow. And from the light came the ever-present ticking noise of Watch.

 

Me sat up confused. If the green light was Watch, how was Watch so high up off the floor? Me suddenly became aware of the sound of...not something else. The sound was familiar. It was a sound Me made all the time.

“You?” Me asked tentatively.

 

The sound stopped, and there was silence.

 

“You!?” came another, affronted voice. There was a shuffling. Me felt the presence draw nearer. It also helped that the green glowing Watch was drawing nearer, too. As it came closer, Me could begin to make out the vague shape of Hand. But it was not Me’s hand. Me felt for Lantern, and, locating it, illuminated the dark space somewhat. The room wasn’t as bright as usual, but once Watch and its carrier were close enough, Me could make out a...a human! Another human!

 

“You!” Me exclaimed!

 

The other shook Its head. “Me,” It said, pointing at Itself.

 

Me was confused.

 

Pointing a finger at Me, the other said “You…”, then moved Its finger to Itself. “Me.” It finished.

 

Oh.

 

Me scrambled for the Tablet, its black shape now a smudge against the dimly-lit, white floor. Finding the pictures with all the humans in them, Me held the glowing screen up for the other to see.

 

“Me...you?” Me pointed at the pictures, looking to the other for a sign of understanding.

 

The other studied the page with a look of recognition. “You...me.” It finally said, and smiled. Me felt a smile come, too. Me wasn’t “Me,” then. And this other wasn’t “You.” Not entirely anyway. But it would do.

 

Me brought Lantern to sit between the two of them, bringing greater definition to this other’s features. The other looked very much like Me, except not. Me studied the other’s Face for a moment before pointing to the picture that matched it the best.

 

“She?” Me asked, searching the other face for understanding again.

 

After studying the page, the other nodded, a light dawning in Eyes, and pointed to the other picture, then at Me.

 

“He,” She said.

 

He smiled back. Then He searched his memory for a word He’d remembered seeing in the less concrete list of terms. Still smiling, He took She’s Hand, just like the picture He had seen. Anything remaining of Alone had vanished, replaced with that familiar and desirable warmth.

 

“Hello,” He said.