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Silence is something different. Many people view it as calm and peaceful, while others will think it is strange and unsettling. There are many different views about different things, but they may change given a different perspective. Then, what is the truth?
These were the sort of thoughts repeating through Stephen's mind. He didn't see himself as misunderstood, more as misread. People understood him, just not the way he thought. He didn't really mind though, as this built on his thoughts, ideas can change given different perspectives. It's typically like the view you have of a friend, or family member.
Take famous serial killer, John Wayne Gacy as an example. John murdered his victims by luring them in with his alter-ego, Pogo. He was viewed as a friendly and welcoming individual by the townspeople. He was skilled in finance and he even had his own real estate agency. But when He was discovered, the view of him changed. Why was that?
Before Stephen could finish his thoughts, he heard someone calling him from the kitchen.
"Stephen! Dinner's ready!" Called his mom.
Stephen, who was caught off guard, frantically replied. "Coming mom!"
He snatched his coat from the nearby coat rack and headed downstairs.
The moment he arrived downstairs, he was met with a horrible smell.
"Ugh, what is that mom?" Stephen asked, disgusted.
"Ah, it seems your little brother had an accident in his diaper again." His mother replied.
Stephen gave his brother a look of disapproval before he sat down and ate. Today they were having some take-out Chinese food since there were no spices in the spice cabinet, and dad was working the late shift, as always.
Midway through chewing, Stephen spit his food out and a sickening expression spread across his face. “Mom, what’s in this chicken!?” He gasped.
“Oh, I guess I shouldn’t have asked for extra pepper.” Stephen’s mom replied.
“No, it’s not…it’s-it’s not-”
Before he could formulate a proper sentence, he dropped to the floor, twitching. His mom let out an agonizing scream, his eyes were rolling back, a dry inhale could be heard through, and then his head dropped, and he was out cold.
A tingling sensation then, and he sat up, gasping for air, but he couldn’t inhale, he could barely breathe. He tried to yell. But no sound, he looked down to see his mouth, perfectly visible…sewn shut.
He let out a shriek of pain, or what he thought was a shriek of pain, it came out as no less than an “MMMM!”
“Shut up, if you know what’s good for you.” He cocked a gun and pointed it at his forehead.
Tears were stroking down Stephen’s cheek. Not because he was being held captive. But because he knew, what happened before, it was all but a dream.
He had a reputation throughout the cosmos, as an intergalactic threat. Stephen Floren. Assassin of Universal Senators, Senator Denbar, Relto, Grangar, and a lot of other names he couldn't pronounce. He was tortured, for days, or what felt like days. He didn’t know how long he’s been gone on Earth, weeks, years, centuries, or seconds? It was all unclear, he couldn’t remember a lot of Earth, all he could remember was a warm green, the breeze, and, a tree. He didn’t know what was important about the tree, but he always felt a sense of longing when thinking of it.
“Quit crying, you fucking pussy.” One of the guards said. “Not feeling so tough now, huh?’
He didn’t respond, he couldn’t respond. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t form the words of the anger and how furious he was, he was taken away from his home, and now it would all thankfully, end.
He was sentenced to die today, at least 5 years ago when he was taken to this hellhole of a prison.
The guards gripped Stephen with such force, he almost fainted. They brought him with them, to the punishment room, with the thing known to end the cosmos itself, the white hole. Not your theoretical white hole, that can’t be entered. The behemoth of a hole, an abyss, rumored to be haunted by the screams of its past victim. Tormenting us for eternity. Until we collide with something that will eventually kill us due to momentum.
And the white hole, the end of the universe, was expanding at a rapid rate.
According to the prison library books, the universe was expected to be swallowed by this thing in 4 billion years. Once the hole has reached maximum size and swallowed our universe. It will multiply, and ravage the entirety of the multiverse, and yes, it is real.
Much like the actual theoretical white hole, it repels people from entering this thing from the outside, therefore you can only be teleported inside of it in order to fall. The room, however, is massive, About 5 times the size of the current size of the white hole. When the white hole reaches its maximum size, it would multiply, whatever would come between it, due to the white hole repelling anything nearby it, would be crushed and turned to dust.
But there was one way to stop it, even if it might just be a tall tale, it could still be true. The Jar of Before. It was said to contain the universe before us, the end of the previous could be the savior of the new.
The previous universe, which was in fact, IDENTICAL to this universe. Meaning, that we could save our universe, and still recover our present planets, whether the planets have all of the progress of the past universe inhabitants is another question.
It could fill the gap of nothingness in the universe, and save us all. Why was thinking of this all now? Steven said to himself.
“Any last words, Stephen Floren?” Asked the guard.
“Fuck you.”
And with that, he was teleported in. It was the start of Stephen’s torture.
Stephen’s last wish was for someone to save the universe, one courageous individual. Or else, everyone was going to die, die as a universe.