I spent days within the darkness of the train. Its bleak dark walls eventually became background to my mind. I became used to the bodies that covered the floor to where the bottom was not seen. The noises of my vacant stomach were only masked by the slight ringing in my ears due to my own mind being very accustomed to the loud noises of machines twisting, grinding, and turning. Throughout my time on the train, the voices would come and then go through moments of the day, whispering quietly in their now familiar ghostly voices. My thoughts were becoming more tailorable to the interruptions caused by the in-head whispering. I could think of ideas without having my thoughts scattered all about. But as my mind grew accustomed to the voices and as a result I could finally truly dig into the depths of my own head. But as I reached into the depths I would get these strange feelings of insects crawling and tunneling away underneath my skin that made my body instinctively recoil in both fear and disgust. I would usually feel something….. Something on the other side, something that could be an answer to my time of uncertainty 

I was ultimately Correct.

 On the brink of starvation, my options were slim to nothing. In my desperation, I swore to myself I would reach the other side and grasp it with all that I had. The process was lengthy and more complicated than I imagined. I could not get around my instinctual reaction to that feeling of the bugs. If I were to succeed in the endeavor I would have to push past the boundaries set by my own body, and that was a difficult task. I spent what felt like hours trying and trying again. I could have sworn I was on the brink of absolute insanity, it was like torturing myself over and over and over again. But as both desperation and tolerance grew I was able to push past the boundary and grasped onto the other side with the palm of my hand. The once ghostly whispers of voices almost instantly shifted to all about yelling and screaming. It was all at once so fast that I covered my ears and closed my eyes. I clenched into my own ears to the point It hurt. But surprisingly I heard nothing, I felt something I have not felt in a long time, the wind blowing past. Once I felt the sensation again I released the clasp of my ears and opened my eyes slowly. At first, there was a blinding light that soon took shape. 

The sun! It was the sun! I was outside after spending days on that hell of a train. My eyes widen and my face turned from the hopelessness that was seen on the faces of people in the streets. To one of the happiest and most optimistic smiles, I have experienced in my entire life. But all this happiness faded as I observed my surroundings. I was still in the city but everything around me was in complete ruin. Buildings toppled and crumbled upon the ground. Cars and ships were wrecked and scattered all about in the streets. The ground having cracks and crevices strung about at complete random. The buildings that still stood tall had at a glance either faced minor damage or were on the verge of falling like a Jenga tower. But this destruction paled in compression to what I could only call “anomalies”. Islands floated in the sky like a helicopter. Places around me seem to fuse with structures and trees I have never seen once in my life except for one. These trees and structures would seem like they were from a different world altogether. I saw those purple trees like the ones behind the portal from before but also trees covered in complete darkness. Their bark and leaves were a deep black as they cast a shadow down upon the ground. I could feel a slight unease when looking at the trees. It was like their presence alone was a deterrent to everything around it including me. 

I turned my head to look at the sky more and plastered around were the portals of shattered glass whose shards were spread all about. It was like looking at snowfall that shined like glistening gold. After taking in all my surroundings my feelings turned into a melting pot of dread, fear, and hope. I could only mutter one thing to myself at the end. “This is a glass world.”