The guy didn't lose his face altercating back and squabbling with me, like most of my fellow citizens would do. Moreover, he looked absolutely calm, even undisturbed — neither fury, nor concern flashed across his face as he was merely watching me rampaging and stomping all around in despair.
What he did next made me positively baffled. He looked at me with a smile and said: "I have never been in close contact with a human from Earth before, but I'm forced to think I shouldn't have, am I not?" And then I heard his laugh. It rang out in my mind as a clear and joyful tinkling of a bell. All his face expressed genuine amusement, and in the depths of his light grey eyes shone sparkles of cheerfulness. His smile bared a row of pearl white teeth, and it seemed to me that his image was imbued with a barely discernible, subtle light. It was one of the few times in my life when I had nothing to say. "He must be hoping that his charismatic laugh and flawless smile will melt my heart", thought I. I blushed in anger and embarrassment when I heard him saying: "As you wish". And then, in a certain kind of a dreamy mood: "Charismatic laugh, flawless smile, I've never received such sophisticated compliments. Thank you so much". (Did I say it aloud?!)
As soon as the indispensable permissible time for a girl to sulk has expired, I decided that finding out in which situation I finally turned out to be was more important than quite justifiably keeping the seal of silence.
-Tell me everything as it is, the entire truth. - Dared I to break the hovering hush. Have I been relocated into a video game, or probably today's technology has made a major breakthrough, staying somehow unnoticed be me?
-No, not at all, although your theories are as fantastic as the truth itself. You have just experienced an intergalactic trip to a parallel universe, to a planet located in few light decades from Earth. I've never heard of any human from Earth to have done it, either.
-I see what kind of truth you are telling me, - I started quietly - Intergalactic trip, parallel universe — I declaimed, mimicking his convinced tone, - Are you at all thinking what you are saying?! - As I spoke, my voice got firmer and the tone became louder - Are you trying to assure me that in some magical way I teleported to a fairy-tale galaxy in another world?! I'm already afraid the next phrase is going to be that my private butterfly is waiting to fly me home! Then I won't have any doubts I've gone mad! - having said all this, I felt complete devastation and dumb despair, but, having conceived destruction of a possible constructive dialogue from my side, continued my efforts.
-Why should I trust you? - my voice sounded somehow hollow and cracked.
-There can be only two answers. The first one: because what I said really is the truth. The second one: because you don’t have another option.
-The second one sounds much more plausible – mumbled I.
At one point, an entirely new and unexpected thought, which would allow me to expose my new acquaintance’s true intentions and shed some light on the situation, struck my mind. Pleased with my ingenuity, I grinned, foretasting my future victory, and said:
Suddenly, happened something that practically defies description in words. The guy brought his palms together, and between his hands appeared a small sparkle, which first transformed into a radiant beam of light, and then continued expanding into a shining concentrated ball of ultramarine blue rays. Having forgotten the whole world, as well as my recent resentment, I was watching the marvelous and magical iridescence of color, when a bright, almost dazzling flash illuminated everything around and made me hastily cover my eyes.
A moment later the first thing that caught my attention was the incandescent air that burnt my nostrils through as I was breathing in. I slowly opened my eyes and instantly wanted to close them once again, hoping to wake up and realize it was all a nightmare or a stupid joke. I was standing in the middle of a boundless, striking the imagination with its tremendous size and cruel grandeur, desert. Above me I saw a white disk of the scorching sun, and the sky, covered with a rufous heil of heated dust, didn’t portend even a drop of vivifying moisture. From all directions I was surrounded with endless dunes, drenched in the platinum sunshine of midday. I glanced at my smart watch with an inline thermometric function. Near the dial I could read a large inscription - 42 degrees Celsius. I automatically ran the back of my hand across the forehead, and I felt wet droplets of sweat on it.
Meanwhile in front of me an indifferent camel approached a solitary thorn and started chewing it lazily. I didn’t think at least someone could boast to have gotten into both so many miraculous experiences and troubles in a single day, but it still didn’t cancel the fact I was all alone in wild nature without any water and suitable clothing, so I decided to search for a solution.
- If it really is the truth, there has to be a way for you to prove it. – I expected to confuse him with my logical and quite reasonable request, but, to my surprise, all his essence expressed steadfastness, that in some extent hurt my ego. In order to preserve control of the situation, I made an expression of impatient expectancy.
Eyes on fire (music)
When I raised my eyes to the blurry horizon, I let out a cry of joy and hope for salvation. In the distance, I was able to make out an oasis, wonderful with its beauty and pleasant to the eye with the density of emerald green foliage, perfect to give shelter to a wayward wanderer from scalding rays. Between the thriving thickets of succulent plants sparkled clear water of a wild lake, which could cleanse a face of those who had experienced hardships of a roving life and give a salvific swig of fluid.
I was about to head to that wondrous place immediately, when I heard a bone-chilling, hoarse voice: “It’s nothing more than a mirage. I have been chasing it for months, dreaming about a lush carpet of grass and juicy moisture of fruits, but all vainly. Here is where I am after the last sand storm”.
With fear and anxiety, I directed my look to the speech. Out of the quicksand to the surface stuck out a man’s head. His lips were chapped, the watery eyes were dull, as if he had lost any hope, and his face was all covered with a deathly pallor. In ineffable horror and dread, I recoiled backwards, and before I could take in any air to make a scream, I was strongly pushed in a different direction.