your childhood home had always been.. interesting. to say the least.
it was a giant glass dome--at least you'd thought so at first. but as you grew, you came to realize it was more akin to a giant fishbowl than anything. yet it held no water.
the surroundings of your giant fishbowl were entirely water, but the actual fishbowl was empty. it was a few days later of confusion when you looked up and realized a thick, heavy cork sat atop, keeping water from entering the large dome of glass.
thick vegetation and flora and fauna decorated rocky paths that led into bushy, sheltered forests of all kinds of trees, spread out in seemingly every direction. for a fishbowl, it was quite large, almost like a tiny island in a way, and you found yourself wanting to explore it endlessly.
you hiked through mountainous patches and desert-ified rough spots, climbed over boulders much bigger than you would ever be and up trees twice or even three times your size, wade through mud and muck and streams that reached up to your chin, delved into caves and mine shafts littered with cobwebs, debris, and old mine tracks, despite no sign of any life ever having been there before you.
it was all very surreal, but not quite as surreal as seeing the large and equally terrifying creatures that lurked beyond your dome. from behind the glass, you could often see figures, inky black and oozing like they were coated in oil or tar, swimming around and sometimes, you think, in moments you are torn to consider to be lapses of judgement or a brief second of clarity in your understanding, that they are trying to find a way in.
the glass wont break, you know that because you've tried, but it scares you nonetheless. the thought of them getting in, or you drowning without even knowing, is terrifying, but more so is the idea that you are all alone here, that you will never get out, and no one has or will ever know you exist.
you find yourself thrown into the woes of grief, struggling between staying afloat and doing what you can to make the best of your situation or falling to the ground in a sparse moment of self-pity and depression, the iron-strong, cold grips of something, someone, so very terrible, gripping your shoulders and keeping you here.
you often would stargaze during the cold of night, just watching the stars while you sat on unnaturally perfect grass, the yowls and yips and howls of distant creatures in the woods and jungles and deserts and mountains almost a sort of song--a lullaby--to try to fall asleep to.
there was plenty of food and water to drink, but you felt like it wasnt yours to take, sometimes. like someone else belonged here, like there had been a mix up somewhere and you werent supposed to be here, but with no one to really keep you company or confirm it, you eventually gave in.
the fruits were sweet, and the water tasted strangely reminiscent of the sweetest of fruits. everything was sweet, but there wasnt much else, so you found little reason to deny yourself what your body needed.
the trees were taller than average, you'd like to think, but you had realized early you didnt have any idea what counted as "normal"
or "average", so you stopped trying to compare.
fish, "normal creatures", and other aquatic animals that werent the inky splotches, regularly came up to the glass, confused and, if fish could feel disbelief, well, she thought they'd be a pretty good representation of that. the sea creatures that came up to your dome never knew what to make of it it seemed, and since you couldnt talk to them, never got to hear their opinions or what they had to say. you doubt you would've through the thick glass, but you'd have tried if you could.
you couldnt ever find the bottom of the dome, but you figured it must be there, somewhere. there was no way there wasnt one. you'd tried digging around, searching for it, but never found it. you did find that most of the 'ground' was dirt and sand though.
an excursion with a big cat-esque creature, white as snow with black, inky patches on it, tells you that whatever these animals--things--are, they are most likely not "normal". you dont look like them, but maybe you're the abnormality here? it had given you a nasty scratch on your shoulder, but unlike the cuts and scratches on plants or the trunks of tree or other animals, it didnt whiten and pixelate or bubble and thicken like ooze or slime. it also didnt turn black either.
you have so many questions about this place, but you feel it will take too long to ever find the answers.
so for now.. you wait. wait for what, you dont know, but you wait in your little fishbowl, heart and mind in sync for once, wishing you will be found and taken to the "normal" world that you know must be out there.
because if you dare to believe that there is nothing else out there, dare to think that you are the only being in this expansive universe, that you are alone, well,
then there would be no point.