Vortex

• Luke Marchant, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

It had been a hard night in the forest. Wind tore leaves from trees and rain whipped the ground. Turned soil sprouted worms, revelling in the wetness. It was over now, but clouds still grumbled, water still dripped from trees. There was a fresh new carpet of leaves on the ground, rustling under my feet. I was walking towards a place I knew, the same place I’d walked to every day for a long time.

I felt like I was in a dream. My feet carried me forward without really knowing why. Doesn’t that happen when you have a routine, something you do every day? What I do isn’t really normal, but to me it was just work. I paused for a second, making sure my equipment was tucked under my arm. Bristling metal spokes, buttons and levers, some sort of nozzle… my apparatus wasn’t something I understood very well, but at least it worked.

My feet stopped. This was the spot. I stuck the metal machine into the ground and looked at the attached screen. Sure enough, the light was on. Time to press the big red button. Boop. Looking up, I could see the sky was no longer visible, hidden behind a swirling mass of liquid in the air. My machine had created this vortex, tearing a tiny hole in reality. That was how I’d survived for so long by myself, charging my batteries with the energy given off from the portal to another dimension. Today it would go wrong for the first time.

I heard a beep. It was a warning, sounding from the charging unit. I dashed over, heart racing. It didn’t look like something had gone wrong. The batteries were still in place, but… the essential machine had disappeared. Into the vortex. Suddenly I felt weird. It was like I was underwater. Then my feet lifted off the ground, and I drifted upwards, straight towards the rip. It engulfed me, feeling just like warm water on my skin. Then I burst through to the other side and I wasn’t in the forest anymore.

My body floated through a desolate void. It wasn’t all black like you’d imagine, it was nothing. My one dull thought was, get back. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. All I wanted was to leave this place, it terrified me. Then I noticed a flicker of light, a star in the sky.

It got bigger as I drifted closer. It was another portal, like mine. I couldn’t stop myself from hurtling into it. There was a splash, and there I was. In a room, with plastered walls, furniture covered with sheets, and a window. I looked out at a city, buildings and transparency and crowds. Exactly what I ran away from. What I had hated. I was in my old apartment. Through the portal was the picture of my forest. I could go back to solitude. Or I could stay in the city. It didn’t seem so bad anymore. Maybe I could live here again, with my old family. Maybe that’s why I was sucked in. Something wanted me to come back here…



… nah.