The Threshold
“I have everything. I lack nothing. I am happy. Haha.” Robert was riding in his late model car on the high-speed highway.
The wind caressed his brown hair while his brown eyes looked in the rearview mirror at his symmetrically perfect face. Robert's newly whitened teeth glistened in the sunlight, and his athletic body moved to the sound of the music that flowed through his hi-fi stereo.
“Life is beautiful, and you have to live it to the limit, don't worry, don't worry, just live with fascination...” sang a song at the top of his lungs.
The speedometer needle was approaching 100 kilometers per hour. The speed excited Robert, who kept pressing the accelerator. It was as if his foot had a mind and was anchored to the pedal, seeking to go faster.
Everything around Robert seemed to blend into unreal shapes, objects seemed to lose shape, and the sound of the wind seemed like a low, low-pitched whistle as it passed through his eardrums. The convertible car made the branded clothes flutter without resistance.
The speed was increasing, and Robert was in the middle of his extreme emotions, which had activated a dangerously high dose of adrenaline, and absorbed in the situation, he kept singing and laughing non-stop.
Suddenly, he lost control of the car and ran into an oncoming truck. Robert had no time to react, and the collision was inevitable. The frightened man only heard a tremendous roar and then nothing. An intense darkness covered everything. He did not know where he was nor who had taken him to that place.
He got up and began to scream in desperation, but his cries were swallowed by that dense darkness. Robert continued walking and groping like a blind man. He took a step, and after a while, he took another. He was afraid of falling into an abyss or something similar. He kept screaming, and tears of despair were falling uncontrollably.
He kept walking through that dark place. Meanwhile, fear was growing inside him. Robert couldn't believe it and prayed that everything was a nightmare and that at any moment, he was going to wake up in his luxurious mansion with his good life. But reality did not seem like a dream, and everything was surreal.
Robert's eyes had become useless in that situation, and he only depended on his ears, smell, and touch. “Help, anyone, can you help me get out of here?” He screamed insistently, and helplessness grew inside him.
Unhurriedly, he kept walking through that place, hoping to find a way out, a door or a window, something that would give him hope of getting out and waking up to his life of luxury and excess. The fear of the unknown made him cry and scream as loud as his lungs would allow.
A smell of incense invaded the air. Robert began to follow that smell in the hope of finding an escape from that unintelligible situation. After about twenty-three steps, he heard a terrible roar that seemed to rupture his eardrums. A scream of terror came from his mouth. He threw himself on the ground and covered his ears with his hands. “This is a dream, this is a dream...,” he repeated.
After that terrible sound, he looked over the horizon for a thread of light. Robert composed himself and fixed his eyes on that light, which began to expand. The darkness began to be devoured by the light, and the brightness was so blinding that Robert opened his eyes and began to run towards it.
Despite the terrible fear, he felt he had no choice, and the smell of incense grew stronger as he got closer to the light. He screamed intensely and cried, but he thought it was his escape from that terrible darkness. The threshold finished opening, and Robert saw on the other side his grandmother, grandfather, the childhood dog, and many people he had known on earth.
“Come, son, it is time. You don't have to be afraid anymore. You are home now,” Robert's grandmother extended her hand to him.
“Where am I?” asked Robert dumbfounded.
“You are where you belong.” Grandma painted a warm smile.
Robert took his grandmother's hand and felt a deep love that made all fear of that place vanish, and they walked toward the horizon, fading into time.
The end
El umbral
«Lo tengo todo. Nada me falta. Soy feliz. Jaja». Robert iba en su carro último modelo por la autopista de alta velocidad.
El viento acariciaba su cabello castaño, mientras sus ojos castaños miraban por el retrovisor su rostro de facciones simétricamente perfectas. Los dientes recién blanqueados de Robert relucían con la luz del sol, y su cuerpo atlético se movía al son de la música, que fluía por su estéreo de alta fidelidad.
«La vida es bella y hay que vivirla al límite, no te preocupes, no te preocupes, solo vive con fascinación...», cantaba una canción a todo pulmón.
La aguja del velocímetro se acercaba a los 100 kilómetros por hora. La velocidad excitaba a Robert, que no dejaba de presionar el acelerador. Era como si su pie tuviera voluntad propia y seguía anclado al pedal, buscando ir más rápido.
Al rededor del Robert todo parecía mezclarse en formas irreales, los objetos parecían perder su forma, el sonido del viento parecía un silbido grave y átono, cuando pasaba por sus tímpanos. El auto descapotable hacía que la ropa de marca ondeara sin poner resistencia.
La velocidad iba en aumento, y Robert estaba pedido entre sus emociones extremas, que habían activado una dosis de adrenalina peligrosamente alta y absorto de la situación seguía cantando y riendo sin parar.
De pronto, perdió el control del auto y se encontró con un camión que venía se frente. Robert no tuvo tiempo de reaccionar y la colisión fue inevitable. El hombre asustado solo escuchó un tremendo estruendo y luego nada. Una oscuridad intensa lo cubrió todo, no sabía dónde estaba, ni quién lo había llevado a ese lugar.
Se levantó y empezó a gritar desesperado, pero sus gritos eran tragados por aquella oscuridad densa. Seguía caminando y tanteando como un ciego, daba un paso luego de un largo momento daba otro, temía caer a un abismo o algo parecido. Él no paraba de gritar y unas lágrimas de desesperación caían sin control.
Seguía caminando por aquel lugar oscuro. En tanto, el miedo iba creciendo dentro de él. Robert no lo podía creer y rogaba que todo fuera una pesadilla y que de un momento a otro despertaría, en su lujosa mansión y con su maravillosa vida. Pero aquella realidad no parecía un sueño y todo era tan surrealista.
Los ojos de Robert se habían vuelto inútiles en aquella situación, y solo dependía de sus oídos, olfato y tacto. «Auxilio, quien sea. ¿Me pueden ayudar a salir de aquí?», gritaba insistente y con la impotencia creciendo dentro de él.
Sin prisa seguía caminando por aquel lugar, esperando encontrar una salida. Una puerta o ventana, algo que le diera esperanza de salir y despertar a su vida de lujos y excesos. El temor por aquello desconocido lo hacía llorar y gritar tan fuerte como sus pulmones se lo permitían.
Un olor a incienso invadió el ambiente. Robert empezó a seguir aquel olor con la esperanza de encontrar una escapatoria de esa situación inentendible. Luego de dar unos veintitrés pasos, escuchó un estruendo terrible que parecía romper sus tímpanos. Un grito terrible salió de su boca y se tiró al suelo con las manos en los oídos. «Esto es un sueño, esto es un sueño...», repetía una y otra vez.
Después de aquel terrible sonido, miró en el horizonte un hilo de luz. Robert se recomponía y fijaba sus ojos en esa luz, que luego empezó a hacerse más grande. La oscuridad empezaba a ser devorada por la luz, y el brillo era cegador tanto que Robert entre abrió los ojos y empezó a correr hacia ella.
A pesar del miedo tan terrible que sentía, no tuvo más opción, mientras tanto el olor a incienso se hacía más intenso conforme se acercaba a la luz. Gritaba intensamente y lloraba sin parar, pero sentía que era su escapatoria de aquella terrible oscuridad. El umbral terminó de abrirse y Robert vio del otro lado a su abuela, abuelo, su perro de la infancia y muchas personas que había conocido en la tierra.
«Ven, hijo, ya es hora. No debes temer más. Ya estás en casa», la abuela de Robert extendía la mano.
«¿Dónde estoy?», preguntaba Robert atónito.
«Estas donde perteneces». La abuela pintaba una cálida sonrisa.
Robert tomó la mano de su abuela y sintió un profundo amor que hizo desaparecer todo miedo de aquel lugar y juntos caminaron hacia el horizonte, desvaneciéndose en el tiempo.
Fin
This is my submission to the Inleo prompt suggestion for October. The topic is "Fear of the unknown"
Day 18
decemberinleo
Edited by Rincón Poético
The text of this post was originally translated from Spanish to English with the translator DeepL
Original content
¡Thanks for you reading!
@rinconpoetico7
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