I looked out above the world and wondered if anything truly existed beyond the horizon. Reports of monsters beneath the waves and gods above the clouds have been around since the dawn of time, but I wanted to know for sure. So, on the morning of my thirteenth birthday, aa the sky turned pink and gold, I stole away to a land of yellow wallpaper and moist carpets and walked with my friend James past the walls and pillars into this unknown land. On the twelfth day of our journey, an earthquake came down from heaven, so harsh the ground itself was lifted in a pillar from the carpet, and us with it. James and I tied ourselves to the pillar with heavy ropes, closed our eyes, and prayed. When we opened our eyes again we were on the shore of an unknown land. A group of creatures appeared and took us through a dense jungle to a palace at the top of a great mountain. We were marched through long empty corridors, until we came upon a blue carpet that was thrown aside to reveal a door cut into the floor. A silver key was produced by one of the creatures and the door in the floor was opened, revealing a long downward staircase. James and I were brought to the bottom, where we stepped into the most wonderful crystal caverns. A sad-looking man was sitting on a throne made of gold.
“I am the king of the frowners, ruler of the Backrooms” he said
“Who are you?”
“The Backrooms?” I said in shock.
“We are in the Backrooms?”
“Of course you are in the Backrooms,” replied the King.
“Where did you think you were?”
“The Earth!” “Why would you be on The Earth?”
“It is where we live. It is where we came from.”
“The Earth? Then how did you get up here?”
“It must have been the earthquake,” I said.
“Well, you must have great powers,” said the King.
“You will help us win the battle.”
“What battle?” asked James.
“What battle?” repeated the King, shocked.
“The battle against the smilers!” James got a familiar look on his face, and I knew he was not satisfied with this answer.
“Why are you fighting with the Smilers?” he asked,
“The smilers only want you to be happy.” I smiled at James, whose vast learning was one of the reasons I wanted him by my side on this trip. His friendship and loyalty were the other reasons.
“The smilers are monsters who believe there should never be sadness or tears!” Proclaimed the King of the Frowners.
“Without sadness, there are no tears, and without tears, there is no water, and without water there is no life, and with no life there are no memories.” The King of the Frowners stood and raised his fist to the sky.
“And without memories, nothing is worth living.” The ground beneath our feet began to rumble. “Ah” said the King of the Frowners,
“The Skin-stealers have arrived.” The battle raged for five hundred years. The skin-stealers chased us across the rooms, and we rode in our ship across this reality. The smilers, smiling so wide it hurt to look at them, were relentless as the war raged on. The frowners were overpowered and many died bravely around us. As the devouring enemy advanced on us, we found ourselves unable to fight them directly, and we thought all was lost. But James saw our shadows on the side of the wall, and he realized these shadows could fight where we could not. James’s shadow was the bravest of all, leading the charge. I watched in awe as it single-handedly drove back the soldiers of the smile, until peace was called and balance was restored. The King of the Frowners, exhausted from the fight, asked James to take his place on the throne of the Frown. James said yes, as I knew he would, and vowed to be a good king. On the morning of his coronation, he grabbed my hand, and without saying a word, we had an entire conversation.
-Stay
-I can’t. I don’t belong here, but you do.
-I’m not sure I can do this on my own
-I know you can
He reached out his hand and I held it. I closed my eyes so he wouldn’t know the other thing I was thinking.
How am I going to live without you?
I boarded our ship, and I sailed back to Earth on a cloud.
I wondered how much Earth had changed in the five hundred years I’d been gone… and was utterly shocked when I saw my father, alive and well, waiting for me at the dock when the ship returned. He was angry I’d gone on this journey, and he pulled me from the vessel and dragged me home, where I was punished and sent to my room. Even though I had been fighting in the Backrooms for centuries, only a few days had passed on Earth. No one believed my story, and when James’s mother came to me, weeping on her knees, wanting to know where her son was, she found no comfort in learning he’d become a king. Out of her mind with grief, she told me James must have gotten lost and perished. She blamed me for his death.
I can still hear the sound of her cries as my father lead her from my room, “Murderer!” she called. “Bring me back my son!”
But James could not come back. He was on his throne, making sure the universe was safe for remembering.
Simply a different way of turning the kaleidoscope
Credit to Brian Selznick for creating the kaleidoscope