It’s a quiet world full of black, white, and gray. A frozen world, without movement or warmth, as still and as cold as death. There’s a sense of emptiness in that meaningless void, in that massive expanse without anything to fill it. Nothingness, not even the concept of concepts, exist in such a place. Abruptly, in that infinite sheet, there’s movement; a faint shimmer, a hazy wiggle. Suddenly -- color. There’s a field of green. Above, clear blue skies stretch out across the horizon, beyond the blue abyss is a black maw filled with both vastness and infinity. Sprouting from the field of green are splotches of color: pink, yellow, red, blue. A beautiful array of flowers fill the rolling hills, covering the world in incomprehensible spirals as the seemingly random placement of plants form mystical shapes, emanating an aura of freeing majesty.

A boy stands in the center of the field, face pointed upwards as his eyes remain closed, as if in deep thought. Around him, small wooden buildings rise from the earth, surrounded by towering trees that canopy the land, filling the colorful plain with a mystical forest. The boy’s eyebrow twitches, and suddenly sounds seep into the soundless world. Birds and crickets chip, frogs croak from some unseen pond, wolves howl, causing deer to grunt and huff. The buildings weave between the trees, never encroaching upon the others territory, living completely in harmony. While listening to the sounds of nature, the boy unconsciously feels as though something is missing. He opens his mouth, as if to call out, but all that leaves his lips is a light sigh. As if responding to that sigh, a dull groan is heard, increasing in intensity until, out of nowhere, the buildings become interconnected to each other by winding paths of cobblestone, forming an interconnecting web of roads. Finally feeling at ease, Eli opens his eyes.

He stands in the town square, eyes bright with joy. Passing by him, he sees the friendly faces of those familiar to him. He smiles, a natural movement that doesn’t even require the slightest command. He begins walking, clean and shining boots glimmering in the overhead yellow sun, bathing him in its heat. As he passes by the townsfolk, he nods to everyone. A flash of silver catches the corner of his eye, and he turns his head, spotting a man casually smoking a cigar. In the man’s hand is a silver lighter, the faintest of engravings can be seen on its side. Eli continues on his way after giving the man a friendly nod, receiving one in return.

As he walks down the street, he sees more and more people passing him. There aren’t many that live in this small town, so each and every one of their faces are familiar to Eli. He greets them all by name, they respond with smiles and waves. Eli suddenly finds himself drawn towards a sense of calmness. The feeling is without form, yet he feels as though a windless force is wrapping around his soul and guiding him closer and closer to its source. He turns a corner and spots a young woman sitting on a fence. In front of her are dogs and children, their eyes all locked on the girl as she strums away on her guitar. Despite playing the notes, Eli fails to hear any music. The instant he senses as though that’s strange, the gentle melody suddenly rings in his ears. His worries and confusion slip away without care, never to be looked at again.

Eli stands in silence, swaying side to side along with the children and animals as he listens to the music, taking in the young girl’s beauty as the golden rays of the sun cover her healthy skin in splendid radiance. Her deep eyes are clear and without worry, her face is relaxed and joyful, the color of youth brightening her features even further. Her hair dances in the wind, along with her comfortable clothing, giving her the feeling of a dandelion being whisked away on a breeze. As he listens to the soul of his dear friend, Eli closes his eyes.

When he opens his eyes, he finds himself inside a warm and cozy house. He gives a sheepish grin towards the older woman before him, averting his gaze towards the large roast that fills the entire table that he’s seated before. In front of him is the woman he calls Mom. Her lips are gently curled in a calm, peaceful smile. Turning his head to the right, Eli spots the man he knows as Dad, his expression is light as he cuts apart the juicy meat with gentle movements, sinking his silverware into the tender flesh. Following his dad, Eli does the same. Raising his hands that at some point picked up a fork and knife, he tries his best to cut apart the foreign food before quickly raising the dripping meat to his mouth. He doesn’t seem to notice the lack of taste as he continues to forking more and more food, seemingly chatting with his parents though never speaking a word. Their heads nod up and down as they agree with him, chewing constantly as they eat the roast, the untouched nature of it perfectly preserved no matter how many chunks they remove.

In the blink of an eye, Eli is standing at the kitchen sink. To his right is his mother, and in his hand is a wet rag. The pair chat without speaking as they clean up their dinner, scrubbing the spotless plates and placing them atop a perfectly even stack of dishes. They rinse their hands in the water again and again, without stopping, as though following a program set on a loop. Eli throws his head back in silent laughter, he then carefully hammers a nail into the block of wood placed in front of him. His dad praises him as he admires how smoothly the nail went in, following such a compliment by hammering his own nail into the wood. Neither of them look at the strange and abstract structure they’ve created by mindlessly hammering more and more nails into the chunks of wood. Sweat drips down Eli’s face as a familiar sense of exhaustion spreads through him. With a smile, he raises his hands and wipes his eyes.

The seeping colors fill the skies like stains of ink. Oranges and reds and purples cover the horizon, filtering through the overhead leaves, covering the small town in colors of twilight. Leaves dance through the air as the sounds of laughter fill the sky. Children run around town, chasing each other with cheerful expressions. At their heels are panting puppies, black and brown and white, their coats flickering with glossiness in the sinking sun. They yip and bark, chasing the heels of the giggling children that weave between trees and houses. Eli listens to the music and wind and chirps that flow through his cracked window on the second floor. He slowly sinks deeper and deeper into his bed.

Instead of falling asleep, he keeps his eyes open, watching with a distant gaze as the sky slowly darkens, and the starlight fills peaks through the leaves and branches. By now the music has disappeared. The laughter of children and the chirping of birds are also missing. Despite that, Eli remains entertained. He listens to the howling of wolves, to the hooting of owls, to the chirping of crickets. These sounds are foreign to him, he gradually realizes. Why? Why does everything feel so unfamiliar to him? Why does he feel a sense of wrongness? He shifts his gaze, only briefly taking in the completely alien room before the scene before him changes with a shimmer.

Eli lies on his back, far away from the town, staring up at the cloudless night sky. His right hand is warm so he turns his head. A familiar face stares up at the infinite sky with glittering eyes. An expression of awe graces her face, her eyes glimmer with wonder. As he tries to recall the girl's name, he follows her line of sight, and shifts his eyes back to the sky. He quietly takes in the breathtaking view. It’s like a sea of fireflies have filled a black ocean. Their blinking bodies are so small and far away, yet they leave him with peaceful longing as he wishes to reach out and grab them. The sky seems to spin, the distant stars forming a swirling vortex centered around him and the young lady, leaving streaks of brilliance as they dance through the galaxy, unfettered and free.

Strange and unfamiliar terms seep through the cracks of Eli consciousness. Fireflies? Ocean? Galaxy? And how does he know what crickets sound like, or even are? Since when has he ever laid eyes on the sun, or even heard of a blue sky outside of the history books? How is it that he can so easily recognize such things, when he has never even heard of the terms that describe them? Green grass? Trees? Flowers? The environment on Earth eradicated the majority of nature, with the final visages growing in heavily guarded farms controlled by the royals. Never in his life, or his parent’s life, or their parents' life has a flower been seen. And yet, here they are, surrounding him like a blanket, like a carpet leading to the doors of salvation. As doubt and distrust collide with his sense of mindless blissfulness, a gentle calmness seeps into his bones. Eli looks to his right. The girl has vanished.

Silence.

Complete and utter silence.

Looking upwards once again, he abruptly finds himself overlooking everything from above, taking the place of the distant stars with a formless body. He gazes down at the finely painted canvas, observing the beautiful scenery with eyes of reluctance. Looking around, Eli follows the seemingly endlessly rolling hills, until eventually, all that remains is a colorless expanse that stretches to infinity. He looks in the other direction, finding much the same. Faintly, it finally dawns on him. He stares down at the hills and forests and houses and people and animals and music and peace, and slowly watches as everything dissolves into flailing, squirming strings. The strings lose their color, and as if bleeding, turn different shades of red and black. The canvas begins to dissolve, leaving Eli suspended in midair as he overlooks the formless void with hollow eyes.

He sighs. Disappointment and agony coat the empty sound, filling the expanse with a hollow sense of coldness. His reality has now collapsed into complete and utter nothingness. The cycle will continue. Again and again and again. Despite not understanding how such a thing is possible, he couldn’t care less. The incomprehensible world will rebuild itself despite his intentions. It will fill itself with hollow dreams. It will collapse in the face of truth. Over and over and over again. He will be forced to see such a false reality forever, until the day he dies. It's too late to return to how things were. For too long has he gazed at would cannot be gazed at. Now he must suffer the consequences. He blames the ability he was born with, the sickening curse to see everything that was and everything that will never be again. He blames his ignorance, which led him to believe that such an ability was for him alone. He blames himself for indulging in such ignorance.

As he stares into the forgotten Yesterday --

Eli opens his eyes.