Jack in the box (An original short story)
The world in which I lived was cubic.
But since my body wasn't properly designed for life in it, I was not comfortable. My height did not allow me to stand, lie or stretch out my legs. I was always forced to sit in a slightly hunched position. Besides, it was dark. The world itself was symmetrical and harmonious. It was dry and quiet. From anywhere, I could reach out and touch the boundaries of my world. They felt smooth as if lacquered. I sat in a ball and breathed the smell of my body, which I liked.
Once, I noticed with amazement that my arm had two sides. One was soft, the other rough and covered with hair. It occurred to me that the inside of my arm was smooth, like the wall of my world. What if the wall had an outer side, too? If it had an inside, mustn't there be something beyond, like my hand being surrounded by air? "No, this is not possible", I said to myself. "How can I draw analogies between my hand and the walls of the world?"
I no longer could love my world as I had before. A strange feeling of loneliness and confinement troubled me. It bothered me that I could turn only after strenuous effort and even then, I was forced to sit in the same uncomfortable position. I was no longer satisfied that everything I touched was always the same. Even the smell of my body lost my interest. "What's wrong with me, hypochondria? A person just doesn't know what they want."
The wish to break out seized me and wouldn't leave my mind, but how? This seemed impossible in my position. Who knew how strong the walls of my world were? I couldn't even brace myself well. For a long time, I tried to change my hunched position into one more tenable, in which I would have been able to stand on my knees and brace my back and head against the wall above. I spent a long time at this pursuit but only tired myself. As I said, my body was not designed well.
For a long time, I sat and thought about what to do. I did not keep track of time. Although I had a watch, I could not see its face in the dark. The only thing I could do was to bite my nails, with which I promptly occupied myself. After I bit the nails from the first two fingers of my left hand, my back began to itch. As usual, it took great effort on my part to stretch around and scratch under my shoulder blades. Finally, after I had done it, the spot hurt slightly.
This pain gave me an idea. I touched my nails with my fingertips. The ones I hadn't bitten stuck out about three millimeters. They left an impression of sharp objects. I pressed the wall of my world with the nail of my index finger and felt the spot. The wall had a small indentation. I drew a line along the wall and another one adjacent to it. Then cautiously, in order not to damage my nails, I began to remove the matter between the lines. After I succeeded in tearing out a strip, I could feel the indentation along the groove.
It was a new and very pleasant feeling but the feeling of newness disappeared quickly. I had to remove several rows of the first layer to get my fingers inside the groove. Then I had to do the same thing with each one after it. I planted my elbow against the back wall and pressed the strip with my fist without success. After the sixth layer had been removed, it seemed that I would be able to break through at last. I tightened my muscles so intensely the tendons in my neck began to vibrate.
After a long while, the front wall broke. I leaned back and sat breathing heavily, and in spite of the pain in my hands and the blood throbbing in my temples, I felt joy. After a rest, I managed to open a gap that stretched the entire length of the wall. Then I pressed a fist against one side, got my hand through the opening and pulled the other toward me. For the first time I really had a support! Again, I braced myself and ripped a piece from the wall. A light shone through the hole.
It was a real light, not the imaginary one I had created previously. It didn't blind me as I had expected. It was pleasing to my eyes. I actually swept away the rest of the wall that faced me as though the light gave me more power. I crawled out and looked around. My world simply had been a box!
The New World or actually, what had been the real world all along, was magnificent! It also was a box, but of greater size and comfort. My life instantly became much freer. I could almost stand to full height. I could sit, stretch my legs or move them apart, and I could easily turn on my axis. And there was light! It was so beautiful to be able to see my hands. Of course, I did not know the time since the light had been too weak to show the face of my watch. But again, that could have been a defect of my organism. And certainly, such details couldn't take away my delight! I liked everything in here. A sweet feeling of freedom seized me. I laughed happily and foolishly. Then I laid down in the middle of the New World, put my head on the remnants of the old one, spread my legs and hands as wide as possible and pleasantly fell asleep.
I woke feeling cramped. Again, I found myself in an uncomfortable position. My first thought was that everything I experienced was simply a dream but I realized that I sat on the remains of my old box. Oh, how little and miserable it seemed to me.