Chapter 2: Black Hole
1291 Words
“Ah!” Vincent let out a miserable cry, convulsing in pain and shivering. Suddenly, he seemed to lose his footing and toppled over from the balcony railing.
“Ah, s**t!”
“Bang!!!”
________
“Hmm? Am I... still alive or...am I dead?” Vincent raised his head slowly, realizing he was on the ground. It was dark.
Vincent rubbed his head and tried to move his body which was aching all over. Before he could try to stand, however, something fragrant reached his nose. Vincent squinted and stared in the direction of the enchanting smell.
It was a woman. A beautiful woman. And in Vincent’s drowsy state, she looked like an angel from heaven.
“Am I dead?” Vincent whispered to the girl.
The girl turned on the phone light and tiptoed over, looking at him anxiously.
“Hey... You... Are you alright?” The girl slowly squatted in front of Vincent, looking at him worriedly.
“Hmm? I... I don’t know... Am I dead? Are you...a human or an angel?” Vincent was still dumbfounded.
“An angel! Are you drunk?” The girl furrowed her brows and pouted her lips, seeming even more beautiful than Lora under the light of her phone.
But she was not Lora.
“You’re not an angel? Let me see if you are warm...” Vincent touched her leg.
It was warm.
“Ahhh!” The girl screamed in shock suddenly. Out of instinctive reaction or not, she kicked Vincent’s forehead in panic.
Vincent passed out again.
“You asked for it, you asshole!” The girl cursed in fear and hurried off when she heard someone coming.
Right after she left, several people rushed over from the houses, “Oh my god, someone jumped off the building! It’s the doctor boy upstairs! Oh my god, come on you guys!”
“f**k! Is he dead?”
“Oh my God, did he attempt suicide?”
“Where is his girlfriend? Quick, someone calls her. Where is she?”
________
“Where am I...” Vincent was a little dazed looking at the dazzling scenery in front of him.
Wasn’t there a beautiful girl in front of him just now? Where was he now?
Vincent looked down and found himself standing in...in a blank space. There was nothing around him, above him, or underneath him. It seemed as if he was in a void universe, surrounded by stars and twinkling lights. Was he in outer space? Vincent blurt out in laughter at his own preposterous thought.
“Oh, my gosh!” Vincent yelled out as he felt his feet give away from underneath him.
“What... What is going on with me? Am I playing some kind of virtual reality game? Is this some sort of prank?” Vincent fumbled around to touch something. But there was nothing, nothing at all.
He waved his hand, but there was even no air!
What the hell? Was this a dream? Or was his soul out of his body?!
Out of no choice, Vincent turned his head speechlessly, trying to adapt to the situation. He even jumped to see if he could fall and wake up as he did in a dream.
But it was all in vain. All he could do was stay there, watching and listening.
The stars and twinkling lights seem to move as if playing a story, a reel that Vincent did not understand. He stared intently and his heart started to beat as he realized what was playing. It was the universe!
Big Bang... Expansion... Matter and dust... Gravity... Galaxy, Nebula, the Milky Way... Collision...
The little matter was being synthesized constantly in front of him. Were they particles? Quark? Neutrons, atoms, or molecules? How could he even see such quantum inside a matter with his eyes? What bullshit... where the hell was he?
Suddenly, Vincent felt a force surging through his body and the desire to control the force of nature unconsciously emerged in his mind as well? What the f**k?
Decomposed... synthesized... decomposed... synthesized... What was the force?
Wait, what was that?
In front of him, a dark round celestial body suddenly emerged. It was attracting, pulling, and devouring everything around it with force. The matters of countless celestial bodies twisted and were swallowed, turning into dust in front of Vincent's eyes.
Was that...a black hole?
While Vincent was still looking at it in astonishment, he saw a familiar figure having her back to him and walking towards the black hole hurriedly.
Lora?
“Lora! Come back! Don’t go there! Lora! No!”
Watching her delicate and graceful body being distorted, twisted, and torn into pieces by the black hole, Vincent could not help but scream loudly!
“Ah!” Vincent sat up as he shouted and waved his hand trying to stop Lora.
However, instead of the black hole, the bright white light of an incandescent bulb dazzled his eyes. Vincent looked around in confusion; he was in an old mottled bed, wearing a hospital gown with a drip in his hand.
“Am I in... the hospital?” He wondered.
Vincent shook his head and blinked, trying to adjust to the light.
“See?! Told you he’s fine! Jumping off the building is too much for a coward like him! Didn’t you see him choose a soft place to jump?!” A familiar voice sounded with indifference and disdain.
Vincent was taken aback to see his director, the same one who had failed him, standing near him. Was he at the hospital he interned at?
In a daze, Vincent then found that not only was Mr. Johnson by his bed, but four other people surrounded him. The mean old landlady of his apartment, Mrs. Brown, and two male neighbors living in the same building. As for the last one, she was a kind aged lady called Mrs. Moore.
“You are alive! Thank God! Can you speak boy?” Mrs. Brown talked in Vincent’s ear. Vincent squinted and tried to pull away as her breath smelled like cabbage soup. She was the typical landlady you saw in movies, old, mean, and who had a constant eye on Vincent and whoever else he brought into the apartment. Vincent rather disliked her but he had no choice to put up with her because the rent was rather cheap.
“Do you recognize us? We are your neighbors!” The two men stared at Vincent inquisitively.
“Hush, you are overwhelming him...” Mrs. Moore touched Vincent’s forehead caringly, “Do you recognize me?”
“Yes, Mrs. Moore. I can recognize all of you. I’m fine.” Vincent smiled at Mrs. Moore, and then nodded at the rest, “Sorry to have you worried.”
As he said that, he glanced at Mr. Johnson whose hateful gaze was still on him.
“That’s good to hear. But why did you jump, Vincent?” Mrs. Moore wiped the corner of her eyes while looking at Vincent sadly.
Vincent was torn between annoyance and a desire to laugh. If he told them that he was...well, hit by something strange like a meteor, who would believe him? It was more likely that they would think he had gone mad after he jumped off a building.
However, before Vincent continued, Mrs. Brown clapped her hands and spoke in a loud voice, “Hey, I’m worried about the rent you have not paid! It has been four months since you paid last time, remember? When are you going to pay my rent?”
- Writer
