It was cold and dark when he woke up.

He couldn’t remember anything. Not even his name, and he didn’t even know if he had a name at all. Maybe he was just born.

Straining his senses, he looked around, but all he saw was bottomless darkness. He began to feel scared. Straining even more, this time he began to discern vague outlines. He was in a room. High walls surrounded him on all sides, and in the distance, strange shapes loomed above. As he grew accustomed to the dark and his vision improved, he noticed a beautiful shimmer on the gray walls. It was as if a mirror held a thousand stars within it. He stared breathlessly at the crystalline glow, feeling like he could never get enough of it. The room was built from regular shapes and elements. He couldn’t judge the purpose of the space, but it was enormous compared to him. It extended several floors upward and downward. The floors of the levels were made of rods of some strange artificial material, through which he could examine the contents of the levels above and below him. Interesting boxes, spheres, and cylinders alternated seemingly haphazardly, yet evidently according to some mysterious logic. And everything was covered in that sparkling shimmer. He became more and more calm and smiled. He looked over his own body. He was dressed in a paper-made garment that displayed interesting colors. It covered his entire body, from the tip of his single leg to the rounded top of his head. He didn’t know why he was clothed, as this thin layer provided no protection from the cold. In fact, he somehow felt no need to be protected from the cold. He felt good and didn’t long for a warmer place. He thought that he must have ended up here for a reason, and a long and happy existence awaited him, filled with countless wonders to be discovered. The garment was likely given to him for aesthetic reasons, though as he looked over his stocky, dark brown body and straight, flat leg, there was nothing to be ashamed of. He was still glad he had clothes because, without them, he might have been shy. Not that anyone could see him without clothes in the desolate room, but the knowledge that the colorful paper dress concealed him from curious eyes was comforting. He started examining his surroundings again. On the wall opposite him, there were huge cylinders visible in the distance. High up, strange rounded spheres lay on an extension. He couldn’t even imagine what those things around him were, but since they apparently posed no particular danger to him, he didn’t bother with them any longer.

He was just about to start naming the things around him when his fate was fulfilled.

It began with the floor made of long rods trembling beneath him. Then the entire room shook. The massive objects around him shook rhythmically. Strange tinkling and rattling sounds could be heard from all directions. The shaking intensified for a while, then stopped. He was terrified. He had no idea what was going to happen, but a terrible premonition took hold of him. Suddenly, a blinding, incredibly intense light flooded the area, and at the same time, a cacophony of clattering and roaring sounds accompanied the disappearance of one of the room’s gigantic walls. A monstrous force gripped and flung him up from where he lay. He had no time to recover before he plunged into the blinding brightness. The force squeezing his body did not release him, only tossing him back and forth in the vast, blinding emptiness. The pleasant cool air was replaced by scorching heat, which began to suffocate him through his clothes. He dared not move. He knew he was about to die and could do nothing about it. He tightly closed his eyes and endured. He decided he would face his end with pride, but panic quickly overwhelmed him when his colorful paper garment began to tear apart amidst terrifying crunching sounds. The intense light and heat immediately inflicted wounds on him where the remnants of the garment no longer protected his body. Tiny transparent liquid beads began to appear on his dark brown skin. He would have screamed, but no sound emerged from his throat, as suddenly his entire garment was stripped from him, and the burning pain made it impossible for him to breathe. Suddenly, a giant drooling mouth appeared, filled with shovel-sized teeth and a huge tongue, which inevitably began to approach him. He fainted. His last thought lingered on the unfair brevity of his existence. He didn’t feel the mouth’s dark interior swallow him, the massive lips latch onto his neck, or the corrosive, scalding saliva begin to dissolve his dark brown skin. The gleaming teeth slowly touched his skin, and after a moment of idle pressure, they snapped shut. Thus ended his short life. His soul was already departing when the chattering teeth methodically stripped his dead body of its dark brown skin and dug into his snow-white flesh. Slowly, the mouth savored what remained of him with relish. The tongue nimbly caught the body parts liquefied by the immense heat. After a while, only the straight leg and a few melted bits of flesh remained. Then, the force finally released him. While his essence soared upward into the light, his remains plummeted into the dark depths.

I lifted my foot off the pedal, and the trash can lid closed. I closed the little door under the sink and headed back towards the refrigerator. In this sweltering heat, it would be nice to wash down the sweet taste of a vanilla Magnum with a bottle of Heineken.

It was cold and dark when he woke up.

He stood in a narrow compartment, tightly pressed against several cylindrical companions. He didn’t know how he got there or what he was really doing there, but for the time being, he didn’t mind, wherever he was. He enjoyed his existence, the small bubbles that pleasantly tickled his insides, and his cute little cap that sat atop his long, green neck. He thought that he must have ended up here for a reason, and a long and happy existence awaited him, filled with countless wonders to be discovered…