His Dirty Little Portal (An Original Sci-Fi Short Story) Part 1

Hey guys!

I'm going to try to post something every day. Thought I'd start with one of my favourites.

In a world devoid of happiness, Neville Turner may have found his salvation; A tiny portal floating around in the bottom of his tea.

ONE

On Neville’s twenty-fifth birthday he was woken by his girlfriend, Lilly. She’d snuck downstairs, boiled the kettle, and made a cup of tea. She then went back upstairs and nudged him until he woke.

“I made you tea,” she said, “because it’s your birthday.” As she went to hand him the tea, a hot droplet fell and landed on his naked shoulder. He winced.

“Thank you very much,” he said. He didn’t smile. Nobody did in this universe because this universe was unlike our own. Here the Earth rotated 0.00001% faster, and in the other direction. This had an adverse effect on the emotional responses of its inhabitants. No matter how good something was, their happiness was capped at mild amusement. Not even dogs, known in most universes as happy little bundles of joy, could bring themselves to wag their tails. Worse than that, the word ‘love’ didn’t exist, and neither did the concept. People found life-partners, but only because it was considered a responsible thing to do, and single people were thought of as silly.

Even the cup of tea that Lilly had given to Neville wasn’t considered a birthday present, or a treat, but a tradition. It didn’t bring him any joy, or satisfaction, but caffeine and hydration for the day ahead. It was similar to Christmas trees and wedding dresses: pointless, but practical.

As Neville climbed out of bed, Lilly got in. With the bed to herself, she bunched the covers up around her and snuggled her way back to sleep. Neville, with his tea, went and turned the computer on. He sat down in the comfy chair and took a sip. It was perfect; it was hot, brewed for the optimum amount of time, and had just the right amount of milk.

Once the computer was on, he went through his morning routine of checking e-mails, status updates, and news websites. He then had his daily ponder about what he was doing with his life and, more importantly, what he wasn’t. Neville thought about having life goals, and how they might help him to achieve things, but he could never understand why anyone would want to achieve anything, because after you’ve done it, it’s just a thing that happened, like all of the other things that have happened, are happening, or will happen. What makes one thing more important than another? Neville didn’t understand what made his things so special, and felt a little guilty for not giving other people’s things consideration. He opened up a drawer and pulled out a small notepad. He grabbed a pencil and made a note: ‘Stop being so selfish and think about other people’s things.’

As he drank more of his tea, he looked over to Lilly. They’d been together for a couple of years, and three years was the point at which most people decided to start the life-partner procedures, otherwise known as weddings.

They were a good match, Neville thought — ideal candidates.

As he gulped down the rest of his tea he saw a reflection in the bottom of his mug. It was himself, sort of. It wasn’t accurate, though, it was a top-down view of himself drinking tea, sat at the computer.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked again. He realised it wasn’t a reflection at all, but a tiny portal into a different dimension. He was looking at an alternative version of himself.

Phew ... that was part one. Imagine that. Some handsome devil (you) poking about in some alternative dimension in the bottom of your tea?

Core blimey, indeed!

Part 2 will go live tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Written by Luke Kondor
Published by Hawk & Cleaver | A digital story production studio bringing you the best new stories for you to watch, read, sniff, and absorb.