The Glitch

 >> AGE 22  [ 5:00 pm, Mira’s bedroom; lights off]

It’s getting worse with time, that’s all she ever felt. Time is her worst enemy and her bed was no longer comforting, yet she can never seem to leave it. Mira has stayed in bed, mostly staring at the cracks in the ceiling, not much mobile, for the past week. That’s the longest time she has ever gone not leaving her bed. Suddenly, a beam of light illuminates the dimness of her room. It was a text message she has received; it reads: “There is a reason to leave the dauntingness of your space, the Three Colossi of Reason await you in the heart of the city, seize them!”

(Two Hours later) 

>> AGE 22 [ 7:00 pm, The Three Colossus of Reason, Heart of the City]

The thin air felt like a stranger, she hasn’t been out of the house for months, and yet this text she received got her rushing out of bed without thinking twice.

“What was it that made me hurry my way to the Heart of the City,” she said to herself. It was Reason. The one thing that she subconsciously knew she needed, but never pursued. “But who was that text from? And how did they possibly know what I need?” But she did not dwell on it, and before she knew it, she found herself overlooking three giant gleaming structures, glistening across the city. But she wasn’t the only one. As she took her attention off the colossal structures that shadowed her, she saw a crowd of people, young and old, locals and travelers. Their eyes spoke volumes. A glimpse of new beginnings, and their faces waiting in anticipation. A gleam of hope. But there was something more. She sensed, that they too, were here for a reason. 

“Did they receive the same text that I did?” she wondered. One thing was for certain though, that they all are here to respond to their desires.

>>  AGE 28  [ 12:00 pm, The Three Colossus of Reason, Heart of the City ]

A frequent dweller of these spaces. She knew her way around as she knew herself. She called it home, by familiarity, not by comfort. Up the fifteenth floor, an open courtyard calls her in, reflecting in the light of the day, speaking to her words of energy and nourishment. A door to the left echoes out, as it is time to take her down the staggered stairs that leads her to the second building, as a loophole, connecting two entities, separated by space. She goes there to find clarity, but once the place starts to get packed by noon, she then rushes down six stories to listen to the Chambers of Peace. She sits there watching the shadows of her thoughts being cast across the walls while listening to the chambers words of solace. Others too, where there for the same reason, watching own thoughts being projected, but no one can see each other’s. She dwells there the most until everyone flees, and it’s only her left. She then hurriedly rushes to the elevator of Higher Existence, that would lead her to the Euphoria Tower. But once she reaches there, it’s too late. The Euphorium calls out “Ma’am, I have asked you to leave, the gateway is closing.”

An obsessive sense of belonging got her clinging to this space, not leaving it, only by force. These Colossi of Reason became her new bed that she could never leave. Yet, there was no Reason, she hasn’t found it.

>> AGE 31 [ 4:00 pm, Upon entering the  Colossus]

A sense of vagueness took over Mira’s day, as she felt entirely disconnected from her surroundings. A usual trip to the Three Colossi would do the trick, she thought. She couldn’t have been more wrong. As she approached the destination, a cloud of vagueness too, was cast upon the structures. People were gathered in clusters. No uniform line to bind them. Everyone was circling with confusion. As Mira came closer, the building seemed to drift farther. She started running towards it, trying to catch the entrance. But there was none. Hurriedly she ran around, trying to reach the entrance of the other colossus. People, in large masses, were running in different directions too, bumping into each other in confusion. Some collapsed into the ground. Mira had her fall as a huge crowd came rushing to the direction of where they thought they saw an entrance, was soon vanished.

“Is this an illusion?” Mira thought.

Nothing made sense, nothing looked familiar. But it was there! On the ground! It was in those Tetris tiles that pave the way to the buildings, did she finally see something familiar: the handle of the entrance’s door. As she pushed towards the ground, she made her way in. She was greeted with a daunting narrow corridor. Yet another foreign space. The enormous foyer that she once admired has faded. On the far end was the elevator, but there was no button to take her to Higher Existence. Instead, the elevator glitched! It traveled horizontally instead of vertically. She was brought back to the same corridor. Only this time the staggered stairs were present, but they would only take her up and no way down. As she went up, to where she would usually find the Chamber of Peace, she instead, found herself back at the entrance. In fear and frustration, she rushes out of the building. Took one last look at its unfamiliar structure, and vanished into the city.

>> AGE 31 [2:00 PM, At Derwaza Tunnel]

A week had passed. Mira was still consumed with confusion, trying to make sense of the glitch. “How can something so familiar be so foreign?”. As she passes by the Derwaza to head home, she heard a name echo through the tunnel caused by the sound of a dozen voices. “Baba Jalal… l!”. As she leaned closer to one distinct voice, she heard the words of the lady. Mira eavesdropped as the lady reiterated. “An old man by the name Baba Jalal...is the heart of the Colossi…he holds the key to the powers of reason. He resides in the presence of those hoping to seek him.” Mira knew what she had to do next: To find Baba Jalal.

>> AGE 32 [5:30 PM, Sunset, At Derwaza Tunnel ]

It’s been months since she last heard his name “Baba Jalal!” but is nowhere near close to putting a face to that name. Her search has gone dry. She made several trips back to the Colossal, only to be reminded of the glitch and the dysfunction. She knew there was no hope in ever finding him there. As she passes through the Derwaza to make her usual walk home, she saw an old man with a stand sitting in the far corner of the Tunnel just by the entrance. Mira got closer to the stand and looked down closely at the goods. He was selling what seems to be antique looking medallions, and there it was! Upon the dozen stack of medallions, she found one engraved with the Three Colossal, entitled with words that resembled the text she received.

“Leave the dauntingness of your own space, seek reason!”. It was him! Baba Jalal!

As she lifted her head up from the medallions to call him, he was gone. Vanished without a trail. Leaving nothing behind but a stand of abandoned hope. Mira was overcome with despair. She was so close to restoring, what she thought, was her sense of living, her sense of reason. Nothing made sense to her anymore. She saw Baba Jalal as a robber of hope. Her place of solace and reason no longer exists. The three colossal were her drug, standing as an illusion of Peace, Higher Existence, and Euphoria. They gave her a sense of temporary satisfaction. They numbed her pain. Never really experiencing the extent of her inner space and colossal potential, she lays in bed, giving in to the dauntingness of her space.