I don’t know who I am, but I think this is my home. I woke up with nothing but tattered clothing and an old leather-bound journal. The inside of the journal had no name, but a return address, I followed the address to this house. There didn’t seem to be anyone living here, I looked for a long time and found a single bedroom, all the clothing seemed to fit me, albeit a little loosely due to the fact that I was pretty malnourished.
All the fresh food in the house was obviously rotted, thankfully I was able to find some canned goods in the various cupboards. As strangely as it seemed, no matter how much I looked I couldn’t find anything with a name on it. It was almost as if something didn’t want me to know who I was, but obviously that’s crazy right?
I got myself cleaned up and went to make a call on the phone, this was stupid for two reasons. When I picked up the phone I immediately realized that I had no idea who I could call, I didn’t even remember myself, let alone other people. It didn’t matter because when I held the phone up to my ear the line was dead. Evidently I hadn’t been paying my bill.
Time and time again I looked at the old journal. My thoughts battled every time my eyes met the cover. If I opened it I might learn about who I was, I might get the answers to the questions I keep asking myself. However, this very well could have been my very own Pandora’s box. Did I really want to learn the answer to why I woke up in the middle of nowhere beaten and nearly starved? What if I was some horrid monster? I couldn’t open it, not yet at least.
I’ve been staying here for a couple days now, the food will sustain me for the time being but in a few days I’ll need to go out for something, I have no idea how I’d buy it though. From my searching I wasn’t able to find a wallet or anything like that, but I did find a safe. It was old and large. Obviously there was no breaking into it. Once again the temptation of reading the journal was all that occupied my mind. Maybe the combination is written inside. There could be money inside the safe, you need to eat and there’s only so many cans left.
Eventually I broke. This book was the only thing that had answers. Why was I scared of it anyways? It’s just some stupid journal, I justified to myself that I was being completely irrational and should have started going through it the first chance I got. Yet there I was, procrastinating even further. The small whispers telling me that whatever I read would change everything, forever. “Ah to hell with this I need to know!” I shouted into the air. I grabbed the book from the table and opened it. The first page was ominous.
Whoever finds this journal should know that these entries are not a work of fiction or hyperbole, this is a record of events during my time spent in a dimension discovered by my colleagues and myself. With luck, no one will ever have to read this again.
Entry One
Today is the day I venture through the portal, we’ve been debating for weeks on who will go through. As the operation is top secret, it’s been decided that only one person should go. In my personal opinion this is an idiotic choice, but nonetheless we decided to choose who leaves by the most sophisticated means possible. Literally pulling straws. I ended up pulling the shortest, meaning that I was charged with going through, alone. My colleagues helped me prepare for days, packing rations and supplies to throw up a tent. None of us knew what was on the other side, but all sources led to it not being from this world.
After a small feast and a toast, I was sent on my way. Men and women I long considered to be some of my closest friends looked on at me. Some in fear for my safety, some proud for my great leap into our future, some relieved that it wasn’t them who was going. Whatever happens after this, I hope I make it back in enough pieces to tell a good story.
Entry Two
In all honesty the entry wasn’t as graceful as I expected, instead of walking into one side and walking out the other, I was violently thrown out of the exit. When I got a grip of where I was, and back to my feet, I immediately noticed that a few things were off about my surroundings. The grass here is black, the sky is covered in oddly coloured clouds, and the air was noticeably thicker than I was used to back home. So far there’s been no evidence of any wildlife, intelligent or otherwise. I’ve been walking for a few hours, not really sure what I’m looking for but one thing is certain. The way back isn’t going to be as simple as I thought, when I looked back after leaving the portal, it was gone. I should probably set up my tent soon, my legs are getting tired.
I closed the book with a feeling of shock. I used to be a scientist? I willingly went through this portal that no one was certain of exactly where it went. Why the hell would I do that? I was so confused by it all. How long was I there? The biggest question of all clouded everything else. How did I get back? I still can’t wrap my head around it, but I’ll read more soon. Hopefully there will be more answers than questions the further I get.