It's 6am.
The awakening is tough, like every morning. He does not want to wake up, he does not want to be there, but he has no choice.
He gets up from his bed, the room is pitch black, not even the sunlight pass through the frail curtains. After all, despite being the morning, the night is still dark outside.
A regular morning. Breakfast with that same shitty food that somehow find its way into the cupboard. Brushing his teeth, that toothbrush always new, and that toothpaste always refilling itself during the night. Dressing with that elegant suit, not his though, it was already here when he arrived, perfectly suited to him and every day as clean as if it were brand new.
He-- The Young man. He looks sad, he looks scared, maybe even a hint of doubt in his eyes, or maybe all this at the same time.
It's 6:59am, it is still dark outside, but the day is about to start. So he stands in front of his entrance door. And as 7am rings, his expression shifts to a jolly artificial smile, his posture straight and proud, and he opens the door.
The night that was right here less than a minute ago is gone. It's a nice, warm and sunny day. The sun is high in the sky and shines brighter than it could ever shine. Speakers broadcast a jolly music through the streets of the suburb.
"Hello Thomas!" His neighbour is always the first to greet him. She does so, her smile not faltering the slightest as she waves at the young man, her jolly looking neighbour.
"Hello Carol!" The young man answers, waving and smiling back at his neighbour, a jolly looking woman, with a smile so genuine it could feel real.
And so it goes. The young man-- Thomas, greets everyone in the neighbourhood. Keith, Gary, Edgar, Susan, Arnold, Judith, Esmeralda... every single one of them, always with a grand smile and exaggerated waving movements from both sides.
Welcome to Mandelapolis. A massive suburb of who knows how much kilometers wide. A city seeming to grow every day. A city where everyone is always happy, everyone smiles, and where a single faltering of your smile and joyful voice is strictly prohibited.
This is how every day goes here in Mandelapolis. Thomas walks around the massive suburbs, and greets everyone. He has to remember all their name, he has to. He has to ask newcomers their name, he has to. He has to remember their and their family members' birthdays and wish them, he has to. He has to be the nice neighbour everyone wants, as they all have to be.
Because in this world, everything is artificial. Despite being actual grass on the ground, it is way too green to be real. The sun never moves, it stays high in the clear blue sky. No clouds, never a single drop of rain, never a single hint of melancholy whether it's from the weather, the landscape, or Thomas' neighbour.
Because in this world, everyone is artificial. The neighbours he has to greet, none of them are real. But he has to greet them, he has to smile, greet and converse with those... entities that act like humans. Because Billy Joy decided so.
Thomas does not know much about Billy Joy. He sometimes heard the name from his neighbour while casually talking with them. "Billy Joy loves us all!" "Billy Joy watches us all!" "Don't worry Thomas, Billy Joy is always here for us!". From what he grasped, Billy Joy seems to be the boss of this world.
Because yes, this world is not his-- not Thomas' world.
And every day goes like this in Mandelapolis. Once Thomas is done greeting every single neighbour in the massive neighbourhood, --except for the empty vacant houses of course-- he arrives back at his house, just in time.
6:59pm. Despite 10 hours having passed since the sun rose, it is still high in the clear blue sky. So he turns back from the door, the great smile still on his face, and waves to the whole suburb at once despite not being able to see everyone.
"Goodnight everyone! Sleep well, and see you tomorrow!" so he says.
"Goodnight everyone! Sleep well, and see you tomorrow!" and so they answer, all synchronized as the perfect little entities they are.
Every time he wishes them goodnight, despite being the one saying it, it always feel like there's someone else talking in rhythm, far far away in the suburb. Could it be someone else stuck in here? It doesn't matter as he can't look for them, he has to greet everyone and that other person, if they exist, also probably has to ; never meeting each other on their daily mission.
And so, he enter his house, opening the door and closing it behind him. As soon as the "clack" is heard, 7pm rings, and the day that was here a second before, turns to night.
The day night cycle is strict in this world. 7am to 7pm is the day, and 7pm to 7am is the night. The rule for real humans like Thomas is simple, be at home at night, and be outside at day. He never breaks the rule, he doesn't want to. He tried once, to stay home at day, to stay outside at night. But when he did so, he ████ ██ ██████ █ ████ █████████████████████████████
████
█
███
════════════════════════════════════
Anyw█y, ba██ to the t█pic. These entities act human at day, but they in fact never move from their position. They could be watering their lawn, or mowing it, or even playing with their child, or maybe tinkering. But never inside their houses, always outside. Their houses are locked, and they didn't really appreciate the time Thomas tried to enter one. Just like for his house, the curtains are closed, but for a different reason.
While this world seem to hide what's inside their houses, Thomas wants to hide what's outside at night. They don't like being watched at night, and neither does he like watching them. Because at night, all these entities just freeze. They stay frozen, in the same place as during the day. This is how they work, they only act during the day, doing every day the same activity. Again and again and again and again...
And every night as he gets home, he immediately remove that mask of a smile from his face. His muscles hurt, from having to smile 10 hours non stop, but he's getting used to it, after all he's been here for a while, and who knows how long he'll still be there.
He massages his cheeks, he even cries. This world is terrifying, he has to act perfectly, to smile perfectly, to remember every single one of their names perfectly, he does not want to ██████ again in case he forgets. So he never forgets, a good thing he has a good memory. He used to be the assistant of a great scientist in his world, but one day he went too far. He commited a mistake by researching forbidden and taboo topics, and he paid it.
And as every night, before his dinner, --with food that once again appeared in his cupboard--, he takes a sit and picks up the only item he appreciates in this world. It's a journal, it small and thin when closed, but it always seem to grow new pages, with this, he can write a log of his life in this world. Every day-- or I should say night since he arrived here, he wrote, about what he found out, about what happened, about █████, ab█
And as every night, he opens the last page that grew during the night, and he writes about today with the pen that was nearby, a pen than never seems to run out of ink.
"Day 752".
════════════════════════════════════
This morning was a special one. Thomas was really happy today. After all, he was gonna share his brand new research with his senior, the dream of every scientist assistant!
"Miss Lestrade! Check this out! I finally found out, I found out about the truth behind reality! The 'Fabric of Reality'!" A joyful Thomas dashes into the lab he shares with his senior, Miss Lestrade, a renowned scientist he respects and admires, what an honour for him to be her assistant!
Despite usually being supportive for his research, when Thomas told her about that "Fabric of Reality", her smile faltered.
"Thomas. These researchs are... forbidden. Give up, you might get us in troubles."
It was the first time she dissaproved one of Thomas' research. He's always so creative, he always finds interesting things. But a forbidden research? By her? By the government? Or... by something else?
Thomas was very clever, probably more than her or anyone at this lab. She knew it, she knew it too well, and she was affraid of that. Thomas was too clever, too clever for his own good. That is what drove him to discover what he discovered that day. Something human beings should never find out about.
His Theory was simple, the reality is made of a kind of "Fabric". This Fabric is not material, it is all around us a composes our reality. But when Thomas tried to "see" this Fabric, he witnessed something unexpected.
"The Fabric... is incomplete!?"
Yes, it was incomplete. See the Fabric as if it was a regular one, entangled points sewed together. But while a regular Fabric would just be some kind of "square" of these points, in the Fabric of Reality... half of these points were missing.
To be more precise... one point out of two was missing. Point, no point, point, no point. And so it went all around him. The Fabric was incomplete... no, it was not incomplete, there was something else in between. Something the exact same size of our Reality that was hidden all around us. That we couldn't feel, see, hear, smell nor even taste.
But what if there was a way to shift to this "void" between the Fabric's sewed points. That's what Thomas' secret research was about. What he was so proud so show his senior. But as she rejected him and his research... he couldn't show her. He couldn't show her that he has already succeed, already found a way to shift in between the Fabric of Reality. And whether she likes it or not, he didn't do all this for nothing, so he was gonna try it.
The device was simple, a headset. Just a headset, cable connected for alimentation. It literraly just vibrates, it aims to make the body vibrates slightly, just enough to vibrates between these points. Usually, one would always stay on these full points when vibrating, but what if we could vibrate half less? That's what this device was doing. It was the first time he tested it, but it could only work. Because Thomas is a genius, and once again... Thomas was too clever for his own good.
As soon as it turned on, the device fell on the ground and broke... it fell because the head it was placed on a second ago was gone. Thomas himself was gone. Because he had succeeded, he had slipped in between his Reality. What did he expect to find? He didn't know. But as the device didn't follow him and even break... he might have no way to shift back to his original Reality.
Miss Lestrade walked in the lab and found the device broken on the floor.
"What is... this?" she wondered. Why didn't she linked it to the forbidden research of that assistant of hers? Why didn't she wonder where he went? He was just here five minutes ago! The answer to that was simple... and arrived after a knock at the door.
"H- hello, Miss Lestrade? I am your new assistant, Billy."
"Oh Billy yes! That's true, I was supposed to have an assistant arriving here."
Billy walked in the room. Noticing the device on the floor.
"Is this... some kind of failed experiment from another assistant?" he asked.
"This? Oh no, to be honest I don't remember how it got here. But it's not an assistant of mine, after all... I never had any assistant in the first place." and so, she answered.
════════════════════════════════════
The air was fresh. The sun, high in the clear blue sky. He didn't feel the device anymore on his head, but he was sure of something: it worked. This wasn't Reality... or at least not his. It was a green landscape, so green it seemed artificial. The sun seemed real too, but it was supposed to be around 5pm, so it shouldn't be that high in the sky. Not a single cloud in sight, nothing to ruin the perfect view of this dreamy landscape.
He found himself wandering around, he wasn't even worried about going back to his Reality... he was fascinated, and nothing else. He found himself in front of something unexpected. It was █████. It was beautiful, terrifying, joyful, sad, interesting, boring, appealing, repelling. Not enough words could describe what he witnessed. █████████
██████████
██ ██████ Billy Joy ██ ███
════════════════════════════════════
███████ Billy ██████ Joy █████
════════════════════════════════════
He woke up in a bed. It wasn't his, but it felt like his. He didn't know where he was, but it felt like he belonged here. The curtains were closed, the night was still dark outside. He turned to the alarm clock besides him.
It's 6am.
It's the first times he wakes up here, but strangely enough, he knows about this place. It's like if he had always lived here. He felt like his day was going to be good, thanks to Billy Joy.
"Wait... who's that?" he didn't know any Billy Joy. But he knew of Billy Joy.
As its name suggests, Billy Joy brought Joy to his life. To the life of all his neighbours. Thomas didn't live there, but he lived there anyway. He knew not about the rules of this place, but he knew about them anyway. So he went on his morning routine, and when he left his house... the sun rose high in the sky. No... it didn't rose, it seems like the sky shifted from a night state to a day state, in the blink of an eye. And so, as he walked outside at 7am, a fabricated smile on his face, and he started introducing himself to all these neighbours he just joined, after all, he was new here, in Mandelapolis.
His first day ended. And as the night fell the second he closed his door, at 7pm, he found himself relieved. Relieved that this day was over because it was hard to keep the act and remember all these names for tomorrow. But also relieved because he was going to have another great day tomorrow, thanks to Billy Joy!
"No-! S- stop!" he rejected Billy Joy, but he also accepted Billy Joy.
He grabbed something that was nearby, it was a journal. He took the pen and wrote.
"Day 1, who the hell is Billy Joy?"
════════════════════════════════════
It took him a year to free himself from the influence of Billy Joy. Every time he thought about it, he felt joy and gratitude, all these feelings were contradictory with the ones he actually bore. So, as clever as he was, he learnt to deal with it, and managed to keep his true feelings above these false ones.
════════════════════════════════════
"Day 752, tomorrow, I will find Billy Joy."
It was his decision, after all he's been here for more than 2 years. As soon as he managed to free himself from that Billy Joy's influence, he started to investigate. His neighbours would always speak joyfully and gratefully of it.
He couldn't grasp alot. He had no idea if Billy Joy was something, or someone. An entity, or a concept. Alive, or inert. Sentient, or not. To be honest, he didn't have anything. Except one fact, something that was made clear when he thought about how he first arrived in this house, how he was under its influence... he had met Billy Joy the first day he arrived here.
He remembers how he arrived here, he remembers wandering... but that's all. Every time he tries to think about what he saw, he ███████.
"Urgh-!"
His head hurts, It's a real deadlock trying to remember. So he came to a conclusion. What he witnessed was Billy Joy, and that's why he cannot remember. That thing that is called Billy Joy, despite not having any idea what that is, it's obvious that it is what rules this place. A God maybe? He didn't believe in any religion, but now he might just start...
But it was useless trying to understand the nature of Billy Joy. What he needed to remember was that it exists somewhere in this world, as he found it when he first arrived. So tomorrow he'll go. And when he'll arrive at the edge of the neighbourhood, he'll run. Run away in the green fields of grass, run away beyond the hills surrounding the neighbourhood. And after that, he will have 10 hours to find it. 10 hours to find Billy Joy no matter what. He doesn't want ██████ to happen again if he breaks the rules of being outside at night and not doing his daily routine... especially when he'll be that far from his house.
And so, after eating the magically appearing dinner, brushing his teeth with the magically new toothbrush and the magically refilled toothbrush. He went to that magically bed that made itself while he was gone. And he fell asleep, deep asleep.
════════════════════════════════════
It's 6am.
Despite having an alarm clock, he doesn't need any alarm. He naturally wakes up at 6am for an unkown reason.
"Billy Joy's fault I guess." it became his favourite quote in this world.
But he knew well he was an hypocrit, after all it was his fault if he found himself here in the first place. He should have listened to Miss Lestrade.
"I hope she's doing well, I hope she misses me a bit..." thankfully, he had no family to worry with his vanishing. He had only her, his one and only mentor. It pained him to imagine her feeling guilty for not having stopped him in time, but there was no reason to feel guilt. He was the one at fault and that's all there is to it. Him and Billy Joy, they're the two at fault here.
After blaming himself once again like he did at least a hundred times before, he goes on his morning routine... hopefully his last one.
And as soon as 7am rang, he opened that door and stepped outside for his final day.
════════════════════════════════════
They didn't chase him when he started running away from the suburb. They never do that. No, the punishment is far worse than that, but he didn't want to think about it right now. It's been 5 hours, and still no clue of where Billy Joy could be. That was bad, really bad. The world outside the suburb was massive, probably infinite. Maybe there were even others suburbs. That's when he found it.
It was a crooked house. No-- a crooked building. It was supposed to stand tall, but it was crooked in an arch, its roof almost touching the ground. It was familiar. He saw that before. And this time it wasn't Billy Joy's influence. No... he definitely came here before, he came here the first day. That's it, he found, Billy Joy is here.
"Billy Joy is... a building...?" no, of course not, but this building definitely had something to do with Billy Joy. So he entered it.
Inside, was an unusual sight. The building was empty, with only a ladder to climb to the top... except it was crooked, and so was the ladder. But as soon as Thomas climbed, he seemed to follow the arch like if the world itself rotated for him. And when he finally arrived on to what was supposed to be the upside down roof... he found himself in another plain of grass.
Was that another world inside this world? He knew not, all he knew was what was in front of him.
And when he saw ███, he remembered of the words of a neighbour he had forgotten until now.
"You know Thomas, meeting Billy Joy was the biggest blessing I could have ever asked for. You were blessed once, and you will be blessed again, as we all were."
And so he was blessed again.
He was blessed.
H█ wa█ b██s█e█.
██ ███ b██████.
██ ███ ███████.
████████
██
█████████████████
██████ ███ ████
██████████ thanks to Billy Joy.
════════════════════════════════════
It's 6am.
The awakening is tough, like every morning. She does not want to wake up, she does not want to be there, but she has no choice.
She gets up from her bed, the room is pitch black, not even the sunlight pass through the frail curtains. After all, despite being the morning, the night is still dark outside.
A regular morning. Breakfast with that same shitty food that somehow find its way into the cupboard. Brushing her teeth, that toothbrush always new, and that toothpaste always refilling itself during the night. Dressing with that elegant suit, not her though, it was already here when she arrived, perfectly suited to her and every day as clean as if it were brand new.
She-- The Young woman. She looks sad, she looks scared, maybe even a hint of doubt in her eyes, or maybe all this at the same time.
It's 6:59am, it is still dark outside, but the day is about to start. So she stands in front of her entrance door. And as 7am rings, her expression shifts to a jolly artificial smile, her posture straight and proud, and she opens the door.
The night that was right here less than a minute ago is gone. It's a nice, warm and sunny day. The sun is high in the sky and shines brighter than it could ever shine. Speakers broadcast a jolly music through the streets of the suburb.
"Hello Jade!" Her neighbour is always the first to greet her. He does so, his smile not faltering the slightest as he waves at the young woman, his jolly looking neighbour.
"Hello Thomas!" The young woman answers, waving and smiling back at her neighbour, a jolly looking man, with a smile so genuine it could feel real.
The End