//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Portal (rewrite Updated June 14th 2021) // Story: Broken Family, Healed Family // by Amos Anon //------------------------------// Ten minutes. That’s all the time we had left. The countdown on our phones could be clearly heard over the din of the ongoing war outside. How did it come to this? My dad, Otto, pulled us all close, the sound of planes screaming by overhead barely drowning out the air-raid sirens and intermittent smattering of gunshots. “I love you.” Panara, my mom, leaned against Otto, and placed her head on his shoulder. The rest of us waited in the dark, the coldness of the concrete basement which we were currently residing in seeping into our bodies, causing us to shiver. There was a pause. Of all the places we could be on this day, it just had to be my place. A distant explosion shook the earth, causing dust to shower down on us from the vintage joists above. I watched as a picture frame slowly teetered back and forth, then back, and then forward… until it slowly keeled over, falling from the shelf. I winced in anticipation of it hitting the floor, but was blissfully saved that unpleasantness by the hand of my eldest brother, Maelstrom, who caught the picture, and glanced at it before placing it back on the shelf face down. “Well,” stated my other brother, Percy. “I guess if there’s anything anyone wants to say before… well, you know, I guess now is the time to say it.” He hesitated, and then took a deep breath. “Since I suggested it, I guess I’ll go first.” He turned to us, and regarded us in turn. “I haven’t always been the happiest person, and I’ll admit I can be abrasive and opinionated, but I just wanted to say that I care for all of you; I love you all very deeply. And Mom and Dad?” He looked into their eyes directly. “Thank you. For everything. You raised us all to be the best we can be, and I couldn’t have asked for better parents.” A tear rolled down my cheek, and I sniffled. “That’s exactly what I was going to say.” Other quiet sobs and murmurs of agreement echoed around the room, periodically interrupted by an explosion, or by the sound of a jet breaking the sound barrier. Silence suddenly fell upon us, the explosions and gunshots petering down to nothing. The sound of fighter planes receded as they fled the area. Seems like they’ve realized the folly of continuing to fight.I glanced down at my phone, at the countdown timer displayed, and my heart sank. Eight minutes. I tore my gaze away from the screen, only to see the rest of my family meeting my eyes, having just checked their phones as well. I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. “Well, here we are. Who knew that the thing that would kill us all would be the same thing to warn us about it. I never thought that technology could be so sadistic.” Nervous chuckles met my statement. “I guess I should probably say something, too. You all know the struggles we’ve faced, and the adversity that we’ve had to go through. I just wanted to say that, in the midst of my roller-coaster of a life, and during the worst parts of my many mental health breakdowns, I’m glad, and thankful that we were all there for each other. I mean, look at us now; after all this, we’re still together as a family.” My parents blinked away tears, and motioned us to gather into a hug. ...Lord I come, I confess, bowing here, I find my rest. And without you, I fall apart, you’re the one, that guides my heart… Four minutes left.I looked up from my phone one last time. “I’m turning mine off. There’s really no point anymore.” A chorus of agreements met my statement, and the chiming sounds of phones being switched off filled the otherwise still air. Eerie silence filled the room; Even the air sirens that had been wailing their keening song not too long ago had been turned off. It was as if humanity had realized its folly, and in the last minutes of its existence, was reflecting on its mistakes. It was in this silence that something caught my attention. A sound, a presence that provided a backdrop to the stale air of the atmosphere. It was hard to describe, but it was somewhat similar to the sound a bubbling brook would make, only far quieter. It was only by focusing that I was able to notice it at all. What is that? I turned to investigate and, following the sound, crept up to an old dresser that had been in the family for years. It had been my grandmother's, and had been passed down from her to my parents, and from them to my sister, Tumak. It was an old Victorian-style piece with a large mirror that had been painted over an umpteen number of times, and was currently in the process of being restored. The fact that it was in my basement was a matter of pure coincidence; Tumak, Hawk, and their girls had been in the process of moving, and had needed a place to store the dresser, as well as the few other matching pieces of furniture, and my dwelling happened to be the most convenient place for them to be temporarily housed at. But that was before the war began… I lovingly traced the etchings along the edge of the mirror, admiring the craftsmanship that had been somewhat marred by the many coats of paint. So much for restoring this. “Moto? What are you doing?” I held a finger to my lips. “Everyone, stay quiet for a minute…” Oppressive silence once again fell on the room, but then… “Do you hear that?” In the absence of any sound, the bubbling brook once again made itself known. I crept along the frame of the mirror in the dresser, inspecting the chipped paint. It was then that my youngest brother, Ixisten, spoke up. “Are you sure it isn’t just a burst pipe somewhere?” I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I think it’s… coming from here.” I gestured to the mirror, accidentally brushing my finger along the glass surface, only… Instead of my finger tapping the mirror and leaving an unsightly fingerprint, the surface… Rippled? ...What in the world??? “Are you all seeing this, too?” I tentatively sank my hand into the mirror up to my wrist, and then pulled it back out again. The surface clung to my skin, almost as if wanting to pull me back in again. The surface tension of the mirror snapped away from my hand, reforming itself into its former state. I inspected my hand, rotating it back and forth, and opening and closing my fingers before looking back up at my family. I laughed, somewhat maniacally. “I’m dreaming. Yep, that’s it. The stress has finally got to me, and I’m hallucinating.” “Well, if you’re hallucinating, then we must all be having the same hallucination, because I’m seeing it, too.” Karra, my eldest sister, grabbed my hand, examining it for herself as the rest of the family gathered around the old piece of furniture. “I don’t see any damage. Do you feel any pain?” I shook my head no, and gestured to the dresser. “What do you think it is?” No one answered immediately, but the same thought ran through all our minds; What if this is our way out of here? We’d all seen Stargate, after all. Percy, Ixisten, Maelstrom and I glanced between each other, and by unspoken agreement, we all came to the same conclusion. “Let’s go through.” Tumak, my older sister, gasped, and backed away from the dresser. “Are you insane? What if there’s nothing there? What if we just end up back in this same room? What if we end up somewhere there’s no air? We don’t know if we’ll die in there.” “Maybe so,” I answered, “but we know that we’ll die for sure if we stay here, so why not take the one-in-a-million chance that we might survive over the 100% chance that we’ll die?” Tumak frowned. “But if we stay here, we die quickly with minimal pain. What if we end up somewhere where we die slowly, and with a lot of suffering? Do you really want to subject our kids to that possibility?” Hawk, her husband, placed his hand on her shoulder. “I think we should go.” When he saw her look of incredulity, he raised his hands in a placating manner. “Look, I don’t like it any more than you do, but don’t we at least owe it to the next generation to try? Yeah, there might be suffering on the other side of that thing, but at least there’s a chance of survival. Isn’t that worth the risk?” Tumak breathed a heavy sigh, then turned and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. She looked down at their two girls, and bit her lip. “I still don’t like this. I don’t think this is the right decision to make, but if you’re all sure this is the best thing to do, then I’d rather we all do it together. At least if we suffer, then we’ll suffer as a family.” Otto pushed his way to the portal, and put his hand through. After pulling his hand back out and examining it closely, he turned to the rest of us. “Okay, so we’re all sure we want to go through?” Steely gazes and determined nods met his question. “Okay, then if we’re doing this, then the youngest go first. We don’t know how much time we have left, so let’s move!” We scrambled to usher everyone through, the children going first. I swallowed a lump as I saw them crawl through the mirror, their small bodies disappearing in a flash of light. I sure hope we didn’t just send them to their deaths. Next was Mom and Dad. Come on, come on! Then the spouses. My sisters next. Maelstrom and Percy disappeared, leaving just Ixisten and I. “Moto... What do you think our chances of survival are?” I shook my head. “I don't know, man. Either way, this is our only chance. Just go. If we survive, we’ll talk about it.” He nodded, then dove through the mirror, myself following suit. The sight that greeted my eyes upon being unceremoniously ejected from the portal was one of confusion. A lavender horse was staring at me in disbelief. Wait… Are those wings? And a horn? I stared at the vaguely familiar form, and she stared at me. I reached out a hand. “Close the portal, there’s a…” That was all I could get out before my world went black.