A Block

stuck inside your mind. living in a loop. fear of opening the door and getting free. looping in doubt.

A room. Five walls. Candle in each corner. Three lit. One red. Bed perfectly centered from each corner; although one will always be offset. Three books at the foot of the bed. Seven next to them. All distinct in size and colour. In the midst, a boy rocking back and forth to the tune of his humming, facing the footboard. He misses the board when he leans too forward. In front of him lays a three-dimensional star. Each side of the star has a mathematical formula scribbled on by the boy. To the side, the cube contains some mystical riddles on its sides. In his hand, a pyramid, and the boy writes notes of his tune. All three-dimensional shapes are about half of a foot in size: length, height, and width. An approximation. When the boy’s done with writing, he gets up and walks to the door. As he approaches, a bark from a dog enters from the other side. The boys takes a step back. The dog begins to wail and howl. The boy freezes, entrapped by not knowing whether to open the door or not. Whether the dog is real or not. As the boy does not have a dog. As the family of the boy does not have a dog. The boy returns to his spot on the floor and starts rocking and humming again. All the scribbles have disappeared from the shapes. The boy begins with the cube and scribbles the mystical riddles once again. The riddles that have gone missing and unanswered.

The scene replays.

Stuck in a block of uncertainty. Unidentified reality.

Indefinitely.

© Jacob Greb — 2022

return to Story Teller

Original Date: 2002 Original Source: (00) Red Book

Inspiration: Being trapped in one’s mind and the inability to escape it. The other, fearing to leave the familiar and safe. The dog is a representation of something invisible, unknown, frightening. The loop represents no change, no growth, stillness, sameness, staying dim.