Darkness gripped my vision. I could hardly open my eyes, as if I had woken up from a long coma. When I opened it, the first thing I saw was the blue sky. In addition, a strange feeling...
It was only a little later that I realized that I was not standing on solid ground or laying. I falling, im FALLING FROM THE SKY. Panic gripped me. My heart raced, my throat ripped open in a scream that disappeared in the fall. The ground came closer – no, not the ground... Water!
Impact.Like concrete, my whole body screamed in pain as I drowned. It was cold, dark and I was also disoriented. I swam around, wildly, desperately, until I finally broke through the surface. I gasped, swallowed salt water, coughed, sobbed. Not far in front of me... a beach. I swam to it. Every move is a feat of strength. The waves tossed me back and forth as if they wanted to take me back into the depths. But I fought, struggled with everything I had.
Then I felt sand under my hands. I pulled myself to the shore, panting. I was there and crawled on, panting, until my hands finally felt the solid, crumbly ground. Moist, warm and salty sand. I pulled myself to the shore bit by bit until my body was completely out of the water.
I tried to take breather when suddenly a gag reflex overcomes me. I rolled up to the side – and threw up. First only water, then even more. It burned in my throat, in my nose, in my eyes. I spat it out and wiped my mouth with my forearm. That's when I noticed that the water was red. I stared at what had just come out of my lungs and slowly turned around.
Then I noticed it. The water was red. I stared at what had just come out of my lungs and slowly turned around.
The ocean that spat me out is blood-red. But it's clear, no as thick as broth, no slimy consistency – it moved like normal seawater. Soft, red-tinted waves rolled against the beach and receded again.
I hesitated, then slowly crawled back towards the waterline. Every muscle in my body screamed in pain, but my curiosity – or perhaps my distrust – was stronger. I bent down low. I smelled the scent and then it hit me. A smell – putrid, metallic, bitter. It smelled... after death.
I flinched back and let myself fall on my back. My strength was exhausted. I stared at the sky and breathed shallowly. But even here I could not stay long. The sun was high, the rays burned mercilessly on my skin as if they were sharper, more direct, more poisonous than usual. My body began to boil as if I had fallen into an oven. I closed my eyes, hoping for shadows, sleep, redemption. Time passed, maybe minutes, maybe hours. At some point I opened them again.
And there... it stood in the sky: the moon. But something was wrong. I stared at it, blinked, sat up slowly. It was... not grey, rather green with Ocean? It took me a few seconds to process that. And a few more to understand what that meant.
That wasn't my moon.I looked a bit further away and there’s also a smaller, but almost identical second moon.
Two foreign moons.I stood up slowly, my legs wobbly, my head heavy. I could only utter a single whisper.
I turned around, letting my gaze wander across the beach.
"Was zum…?“
//What the…?//
About ten meters away rose a small mound of sand. Instinctively, I approached it. Every step took strength, but something drove me – curiosity or perhaps the fear of never understanding what was happening to me. I climbed the hill.
Once at the top, I stopped. In front of me stretched a wide, quiet sandy landscape, crisscrossed by large, curving dunes. And then, on the horizon – as if from a dream – I saw it: a metropolis. Hundreds of Kilometers Wide, buildings that rose into the sky that I could only describe as utopian. Smooth, shimmering towers, interspersed with lines of light. The whole sight looked... not earthly. I stared at it with a heart, which was racing. And then it clicked.
I whispered, this time clearer, with a firm voice.. "Ich bin definitiv nicht auf der Erde."
//I am definitely not on Earth.//
[Hours later]
The sun sank further and further down and its rays now shone softer, as if it had lost its rage. At first, the city seemed within reach, almost as if I could reach it within minutes. But the longer I walked, the more I realized: it was farther away than it seemed – it was because of it´s size. The buildings there were not just big, they were gigantic. With each step, more details came to light: the architecture was a mix of the known and the unknown. Some towers looked like modern glass buildings from my world – slim, reflective, elegant. Others, on the other hand, seemed to flow as if they had grown instead of built. Their surfaces shimmered in colors I couldn't name, with geometric patterns that seemed to move easily all the time.
I murmured. "Definitiv nicht meine Erde."
//Definitely not my Earth//
It almost sounded like a statement, or a verdict.
The trail was slowly ascending, in which it seemed that the city is situated on an elevated plateau – perhaps a hill, maybe artificially built? I followed the gentle ascent, step by step, looking at the city again where I noticed something. A wall was blocking the way, in which is Solid, metallic and smooth. About ten meters high, completely unmarked, just a smooth wall over which the lower buildings of the metropolis stretched. But what was really strange was what was in front of the wall.
I got closer and that's when I noticed – Sun loungers, Dozens of them, maybe hundreds even. Seats, benches, small huts that looked like cocktail bars from a tropical holiday catalogue. And even though I couldn't see anyone, everything seemed... used. I was standing on the edge of a strange, quiet holiday idyll. And beyond the wall: probably a much stranger world. I stepped closer to the sun loungers. The fabrics were bleached, partly torn. The upholstery underneath slightly deformed, as if someone had been sitting there... from a long time ago. Even the small bars looked deserted. Their counters were covered with a fine layer of sand that had collected in cracks and corners. Glasses were still there – milky from the dust, half filled with dried, cracked remains. The ground crunched under my footsteps. No garbage, no decay – just old age. The whole scene seemed like a frozen moment from another time. As if there had once been life here, lots of life.
I turned around – and I realized something. The real beach started here. This is supposed to be the beach. This one, this place full of sunbeds and huts, was the real beach. The sea that had washed me up in this place, what I had walked along before – that was not the actual beach at all. The water for some reason has been far withdrawn. It was... far, kilometers away. A shimmering, red ribbon on the horizon. Sun loungers, seats, huts, all built on solid ground, far from the water. And yet – everything seemed as if the sea had once washed up directly here. I walked on, silently, attentively. The wind carried the fine sand in spirals through the abandoned complex. Minutes passed as I wandered through the no-man's-land of empty vacation dreams.
Then I saw it – A staircase. Wide, elegant, made of a bright, shiny metallic material. It leads directly up along the wall. A clear, straightforward path, directly towards the city. I stopped and stared at it. My heartbeat quickened as I slowly walked towards the first steps. Was that the way in?
Somewhere halfway up I stopped. My legs felt heavy, my head throbbed. I turned to the side, slowly sat down on one of the steps and leaned against the smooth wall behind me. The cold stone felt strange – just like everything else here. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and little by little, the thoughts came. Quietly at first, then louder and louder.
I turned my head sidewards, my gaze wandered up. "Wie um alles in der...im Universum bin ich hier gelandet?"
//How...in the universe did I end up here?//
There it was, still standing in the sky – the foreign moon. Green, with bruises, vegetative. I stared at it, tried to understand it. And then... pictures are emerging from my mind.
[A memory]
A window. I looked through it – and saw the real moon. The one from Earth. Pale and familiar. I was sitting on a train. The automatic voice sounded, soberly and clearly.
„Ausstieg in Fahrtrichtung rechts.“
//Exit on the right.//
Direction: Frankfurt.
The train came to a halt. An intermediate stop. People exited, others entered. Voices, footsteps, the sound of closing doors. Then my smartphone vibrated. A notification.
I opened my banking app. „Von Ihrem Bankkonto wird demnächst ein Betrag von 200 Euro eingezogen.“
//200 euros will soon be debited from your bank account.//
Account in the red, not a deep one, but enough to annoy me. I put the cell phone back in my pocket with a sigh. My gaze wandered aimlessly throughout the wagon. There was... shouting. One voice, loud, angry, panicked? Security guards pushed through the corridor, dragging a man by the arms. He tried to free himself, but there was nothing he could do. Just before he was dragged out of the door, he turned around. His gaze met mine, wide-open eyes, a distorted face, a silent scream.
[Then – nothing]
I opened my eyes wide. I was here again, on the stairs, in this strange world with a foreign sky. I must have fallen asleep. The sun was already high up in the sky again, daytime again. It´s rays fell directly on my face. Was that really a dream, or a memory? I was still sitting on the stairs, leaning against the same wall as before. Then a thought came to me. A strangely simple thought: Do I still have my smartphone? My wallet? I felt for my trouser pockets – hesitantly at first, then faster, with growing hope. And indeed, both were there, my smartphone and my wallet. Two things that I always have with me, even here and now. In this... whatever this is here. A small moment of relief passed through me. I took the cell phone in my hand, pressed the power button – the display lit up.
I puffed through my nose. “Kein Netz.”
//No signal.//
The sentence came out spontaneously, and somehow, I had to laugh. „War auch klar...Als ob mein Tarif galaktisch funktioniert.“
//Figures...Like if my carrier works across galaxies.//
A quiet, genuine, unexpected laugh. It was Stupid, but at least any humor is better than no humor. I looked at the battery level: 90%. It´s way more than enough. Without thinking twice, I immediately switched on the Battery saver mode. You never know, perhaps... maybe I'll be able to use it here. But For what? No idea. I carefully put the smartphone back in my pocket and then reached for my wallet. A smart wallet, not a flashy thing with a hundred cards and huge bills in it, as others carry around with them. A few cards in it and in the middle: my ID-Card. I pulled it out and looked at him for a long time.
"Philipp"
Yep, that's me. I said it again inwardly as a sort of confirmation, as an anchor. Because I noticed how I doubted myself, not only because of the strange world, but because my memory... was full of holes. The last month is like... gone. Simply disappeared, as if erased. It must have something to do with my situation here. What happened to me? I raised my hands and clapped my cheeks lightly. A last wake-up, a wake-up call to myself.
I mumbled. „Schluss damit.“
//Enough of this.//
I put the wallet back in my pocket. "Ich... muss herausfinden, wo ich bin. Und... wie ich vielleicht auch wieder nach Hause komme."
//I have to...I have to find out where I am. What this place is. And... maybe also, how I get back home.//
My thoughts raced, but my body finally wanted to move. I slowly straightened up, knocked the dust off my pants and looked up to the last section of the stairs. Time to move on.
Step by step I climbed higher. The wind was stronger up here, colder. Somewhere inside me, I hoped to finally hear something. Birds, any animals, musical tunes, people or... aliens at this point, anything! But there was nothing, nothing at all.
The thought roared through my mind, louder than I could have spoken it. „VERDAMMT!“
//DAMN IT!//
Then, like a blow to the consciousness. The beach below, the condition of the sun loungers, the sand that had overgrown everything, the bay that had dried up for kilometers away whose waters had retreated blood-red to the horizon. This was not a place where life raged. This was a place that had long since been abandoned. The realization crept up in me – ice-cold and quiet. I wouldn't meet anyone here.
When I arrived at the top of the stairs, I stopped. I surveyed the city – and now I saw more clearly than ever. Everything was much more desolate and worse than it had seemed at first glance.