“Ordinary World” a story by MRP Part 1
Ordinary World
Not so very long ago, in a land, not so very far from here, there lived a boy. His home was an ordinary house, on an ordinary street, in an ordinary town.
Every morning he would greet himself in his bedroom mirror, knowing exactly what he would see. The same black hair, the same plain brown eyes, the same dull _expression that he wore throughout everyday.
Every morning he would stare into that mirror, silently searching for something that hadn’t been there the night before. Something new, something unexpected. He hoped for a difference. Anything to set himself apart from the crowd. Anything. Every morning, he turned away, sighing in disappointment. Nothing ever changed in his world. Nothing was special. He, himself, was no exception to the rule.
So the boy went about his usual day. Going to all the usual places. Meeting all the usual people.
His friends were just as usual, just as ordinary as he. They all lived the same life. They all moved with the same rhythm. No one had any secrets. No one ever dared to hope for something more. In this life, there was nothing more. From sunrise to sunset, the boy followed the pattern set before him. Never questioning. Never straying. Deep in his heart he knew, he would never be anything, but a robot to society.
Yet nighttime was different. When the world fell silent and all the ordinary people were tucked away in their beds, the boy with black hair and brown eyes sat by his window.
He would stare up at the sky and wonder: What kind of magic was it, that made the stars sing? For when he closed his eyes and opened his soul, the silence of his mundane existence drifted away. Slowly, the emptiness of his heart was filled with such glorious music, the likes of which his ears had never heard before.
In the night, he entered a dream world. A place that was alive with color and vibrant light. Every corner that he turned there was always something new and exciting to see. New people to meet. New places to explore. Every breath held a mysterious adventure. He felt like he was dancing on air, soaring with a freedom he couldn’t even understand. In the night, he knew the joy of laughter. In the night, he felt the awe of beauty. In the night, he was lost in magic. In the night, he found happiness.
Then, the night would recede to dawn. And the boy always awoke to find himself alone in his ordinary house, on the ordinary street, in an ordinary town. Here he knew, that life would never offer him any surprises.
And yet, he started to hope for a change. He thought: If I look hard enough….. If I search long enough……. If I truly believe in myself….. then maybe….. I will find the magic I need to set this world aflame and have the strength to carry on ……
From then on, he lived each day fueled on the determination to discover all the wonders that his heart yearned to see.
But as the days faded into each other, the boy found himself trapped. It seemed the more he wished for a change, the more things remained the same. He was lost inside clouds of endless grey. The dreaded routine of all his days, the unending pointlessness of his life, began to seep inside the walls of his soul. Weariness had found a home. An evil voice in the back of his mind. An echo of worthlessness which stripped away all of the boy’s emotion, until nothing was left, except despair. A despair so powerful it took control of everything. A hungry storm of madness that the boy could not fight against. All of his hope drained away and a terrible sadness grew. Sadness that blacked out the daylight, bleeding into the night. Sadness took hold of the boy’s precious night and despair ripped apart everything that he held dear. His beautiful dream world was destroyed by a cruel misery. The magic which had always sustained him was gone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~