Megan's Bout with Deminity - Chapter Five - Book One

Chapter 5: Hitting Rock Bottom


Thus far her adventure in the world the Hooded Man had called chaotic had been exactly that. The reality was (if reality was really a befitting description), Megan hadn't even got her feet wet on the twists that were to come, with the exception that her feet were literally wet as she was swept through a twisting pipe underneath the pond. She didn't understand how a hole created from an explosion could have a perfectly designed pipe system attached to it, but she was quickly learning that nothing in Deminity had any logical discourse at all.

It was completely dark around her as she rode the grape juice current like a water slide, the rumbling of the current roaring all around her in the enclosed pipe. She could feel her body being swept around tight corners, over bumps that sent her temporarily airborne, and up and around a series of loopy loops.

On one of the more intense loops, she was upside down for so long that she could feel the blood rushing into her head. By the she had reached the top, she looked rather like a round faced tomato; the roots of it being her mangled and soaked pig tails. Unfortunately, before anyone had a chance to nibble her, the near vertical drop of the loop began, sending her hollow screams bouncing along the pipes.

When she was making her way up a slight incline with her feet leading the way, she tried to get a mouthful of splashing drink as it rained down on her, but ended up getting a noseful instead. She didn't want to expel the grape juice once it was inside her, so she grimaced as it burned her nasal passage and behind her eyes. Once she managed to swallow it, however, all the pain went away. Nothing could beat getting her fix as a way to soothe the body.

After going through what had seemed like an obstacle course, she was relieved that the pipe was leveling off, but it was still sloped downwards. She couldn't help but wonder if this entire pipe system was actually the insides of some strange monster, and that she would be properly digested soon. If she had been swallowed along with all of her juice, she wouldn't stand for it, not for a second. Surely she would claw her way somehow, if only she could see.

Now that she was on a tame path, all Megan could do was wait to see what would happen next. Her body was soaked from the bottom of her socks to her highest hair follicles. She realized how cold and damp she really was, but she didn't mind the shivering so long as her stomach would be rewarded a purple treat later on.

It wasn't for her to assume the worst was over, the pipe was lulling her to sleep after such a wild ride. Once her guard was down long enough for her heart to slither down from her throat and back into her chest, the monster (or so she called it) struck again.

The pipe became alarmingly steeper, sending her plunging into the eclipse at a frantic speed. The juice was splashing all around her as she slid frantically on her back, but her mouth wasn't open to drink any of it. Her bottom lip was being sucked upwards from the downwards momentum, and it felt like her round chin was being pushed inwards between her clenched teeth. How odd she would look when the adventure was done, having a chin inside her mouth and her tongue fastened above it.

The monster - bored with playing games - brought the tunnel to its end. It dropped off like the edge of a waterfall, sending Megan into its eager stomach. Her helpless cries descended into the darkness with it, creating a long, drawn out echo in the chasm around her. The fall was so long, that she needed to catch her breath between screams. It gave a whole new meaning to the term bottomless pit.

As she wondered what on earth she could do, which was her first major mistake, the light of day had appeared below her. As she looked on, realizing that the monster must have expelled her for tasting bad (she even smelled her arm pits, but they didn't reek), a sorrowing sensation overcame her. She was still falling, yet daylight was approaching. What would happen to her purple stream of goodness? Would she be separated in the open air?

She tried to swim up the stream of juice and back into the monster's inside, hoping the stream of grape juice would follow her lead, but it was too late. The daylight was already coaxing her out of the darkness.

Out the bottom of the toilet bowl pond she came, feeling like she was being poured out a pitcher of grape juice.

Wait a second, toilet bowl pond? she thought.

Megan was falling through the sky. When she looked down at her feet, she was shocked to see that the world had somehow flipped itself around. The ground was now the layer of graying clouds that had once been in the sky. With absolute confusion, she covered up her eyes by using her hand as a visor in order to protect them from being washed out of her head in the stream. With her eyes guarded, she managed to get a quick peak upwards. The endless blue grass field had now become the sky.

"Well this is unquestionably bizarre," said Megan.

When she looked down again, she saw that there was one puffy giant cloud in particular that she was heading for. Incidentally, it was no longer the grayish color of the other clouds, because it had been stained purple from the grape juice waterfall falling on it. She wasn't sure if the cloud would even be able to break her fall.

"Oh no..." she cried. "If I pass through that cloud, it'll have stolen all my grape juice."

Out of desperation, she leaned forward and spread out her arms and legs, hoping that it would somehow make her lighter. Never had she attempted to land on a cloud before, but she knew a cannonball wouldn't do.

With an incredible stroke of luck, the puffy purple cloud absorbed her crash as if she had landed on a giant sponge. It was the softest and most comfortable surface she had ever been on, although it was quite damp.

Safe and sound, she rolled onto her back in a fit of giggles, smiling like a maniac as the last of the grape juice poured upon her, allowing her kisser to fill to the brim. Grape juice was dribbling out of the corners of her mouth on her already light purple stained face. Her blond pigtails, skin, mangled yellow shirt, shoes and everything else were stained as well. Naturally, she didn't care one bit.

"I definitely want to go on that ride again," said Megan in excitement, now that everything had worked out in her favor. When she stared up into the sky at the field of blue grass, she realized she didn't know how to get back again, so she quickly gave up that idea and accepted her new surroundings. "Hmm... I guess I'm stuck here. Oh well, I can just live on this cloud and drink to my heart's content."

She rolled around the cloud a few times until she stopped on her stomach, grinning like she had never grinned. Then, she got onto her hands and knees and started licking the purple cloud with delight. She was so revved up on adrenaline, that she wasn't even concerned when some of the grape juice she had swallowed was leaking out of her stomach wounds, something she had failed to notice in the deep pond and splashing slide ride.

"Excuse me, do you mind not licking me?" asked the cloud in a polite and kind voice.

Megan jumped up in surprise, looking down at her feet to see who had spoken. She couldn't see a set of eyes or a mouth anywhere.

"Yes, I'm talking to you," said the cloud sweetly, her voice coming from the center of her whole being. Every time she talked, she pulsated ever so faintly.

"Oh, I didn't know you were alive too," said Megan.

"Apparently that's not the only think you don't know," said the cloud nicely. "You're leaking all over me."

"More for me to drink later."

"Well that won't do," said the cloud, sounding perturbed. "I have a wedding to attend, and I'm afraid I'll never be ready in time if you keep splattering all over me."

"You're getting married?" asked Megan insensitively, eying the cloud with suspicion. All the while, she was laughing in her head at the ridiculous notion of a cloud floating before a minister - a bolt of lightning flashing beside.

"No, but I was invited, so I don't have much of a choice in the matter," said the cloud, pouting. "When the groom - our great ruler - demands you do something, you do it. These are scary times y'know, scary times indeed."

"So I've heard..." said Megan, pretending to care. The cloud was really ruining her buzz. All she wanted was to bask in her own purple pleasure, not worry about some useless wedding with some typical demanding psycho.

"I had just finished forming a beautiful new coat before you fell from the sky; it had been the whitest I had ever gotten it. It might even have been considered pure amongst my kind at one time. Now look at me, I'm a stained mess. If I show up to the wedding like this, I'll surely be imprisoned...or worse."

"Sorry," said Megan sarcastically. "The next time I see the world flip upside down, you'll be the first to know."

"Dear me," said the cloud sweetly. "I've seen this kind of behavior before."

Megan went beat red. She countered with rudeness.

"I don't know what you are talking about, and honestly, I don't care."

However, Megan's attitude simply bounced off the cloud's kindred armor.

"I know that isn't the real you speaking, you poor thing."

"You're right," said Megan. "Me and a goat were cloned in a lab, but the wrong me got away."

"Goat and I..." said the cloud politely. Then, in almost a whisper, she added, "Whatever a goat may be."

Megan could feel her body tense up.

"You don't have to correct my grammar. I already know that rule...it just slipped out the wrong way."

"No doubt you knew it once, but talking incoherently is a major sign of grape juice addiction."

"I don't have an addiction," said Megan angrily, pounding her foot down. Her shoe disappeared into the spongy surface of the cloud, and when she removed it, her shoe print was engraved in the cloud's puffy exterior.

"Angry outbursts are a sign as well," said the cloud. Then, with a loud popping sound, Megan's footprint was covered by a new grayish layer.

"You know it all, don't you," scowled Megan.

"Oh yes. Mood swings, deteriorated physical grooming (Megan was light purple), making inappropriate remarks...."

"Enough."

"Irritability..."

Megan was on the verge of a meltdown.

"I didn't ask you for a life lesson!"

"Dear me no," said the cloud in her sweetest tone. "This is an intervention."

"I don't want your help."

"No?"

"Just tell me how to get back to the pond," demanded Megan. "You see, it's in the sky now, and I'd be happy to be on my way if you just give me some directions or float me back up there."

"Sounds like you want my help," said the cloud dreamily.

Megan's stomach was empty. She had all this grape juice at her disposal, yet the cloud simply wouldn't shut her annoying trap. There were plenty of other gray clouds around, why couldn't she have landed on a mute one? Surely they all couldn't talk.

"I'm tired of you, just leave me alone," said Megan.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," said the cloud.

"Fine, then I'll just stay here, and you will have to put up with me," said Megan, sounding like a snobbish child.

"I don't think so," said the cloud, but her voice remained sweet.

Megan ignored her and lay back down, sinking into the spungey surface and stretching out her arms and legs as if she planned to stay for a while.

"Ahhhh that's refreshing," she called out, burying her head into the fluffy purple cloud and closing her eyes with a smile. There was no greater feeling than to have the thing she wanted most underneath her, ready to be consumed at her leisure. She thought about how she would go about draining the cloud. Would she drink the grape juice quickly like she had before and then let most of it leak out? Or would she would take her time and savor the moment. She was happy either way.

The cloud wasn't phased by her rude outburst. In fact, she had almost been expecting such manner.

"I said you won't be staying here," said the cloud calmly, remaining firm on the issue.

"I don't want to have to hurt you," said Megan in a stern tone.

"Did you know that there have already been countless lives destroyed over outside influences in Deminity? Similar to the one effecting your judgment now."

"There may be one more life lost if you don't stop talking," growled Megan.

The cloud dismissed her threat and continued her lecture.

"The ancient war arose out of the awful effects of a Staroid, the only one known to exist. It's monstrous rays turned a bunch of good natured individuals into an army of hideous beings. I even watched all my closest friends fall victim to its terrifying grasp; in particular, my hero Marsius. He was once an excellent leader, filled with passion and a desire to free those who were discriminated against. He inspired many others facing these horrors to join his cause. But once he basked in the Staroid's aura, he became filled with paranoia and delusion. Soon his noble goals were turned to hatred and revenge, and all who opposed him were his enemy. His powers grew a hundred times, summoning confidence that one could only invoke from a true feeling of invincibility. He believed he could do almost anything, and almost anything he could do. I had never seen such a manipulation of variables in all my life. However, his own false confidence killed him in the end, him and his transformed army of evil, but not before he terrorized and murdered countless others in the most brutal war to ever ravage this world. Ever since, there has been a stain on Deminity, one that cannot be washed clean. A new dictator arose from the ashes to take his tarnished throne, and I can't help but feel it is all my fault. I wish I had been stronger, that I had stopped Marsius before the Staroid consumed him, but I ran away and cowered. I've never stopped blaming myself for that."

Megan had been lying on her back, absorbed into the cloud, listening to the story despite the aggravation in her veins. At first she had been scowling after every sentence, but as the cloud's pulsating had gotten more distinct, which Megan guessed it had been her way of crying, she had calmed down. By the time the cloud had reached the end of her tragic tale, a single tear had grazed her round and purple cheek. She had been back to her old self, if only for a moment.

"That's...awful," said Megan, sincere for the first time in a long while.

The cloud needed a moment of silence before speaking again, but eventually the words flowed out of her.

"This grape juice may not be nearly as potent as the intensity of the Staroid, but it's still ruining you as an individual. I can sense a kindred spirit deep inside you, one who wants to help others just like Marsius. You just need help coaxing that part of you out again."

"Really," said Megan calmly. "I'm fine now. Thanks."

"I wasn't born yesterday," said the cloud. "Actually, I may never have been born, I can't remember that far back."

The cloud paused for a moment, as if entranced by such a concept.

"Anyway, I'm rambling on. The point is, the only way for you to actually get better is to be separated from the grape juice."

"No don't..." said Megan, sitting up.

"I'll just put you on my four step program," continued the cloud. "There would be more, but there are only so many layers of the atmosphere, that I had to limit it. You'll be as good as new by the end, I figure."

"I said no," said Megan, her tone rising in intensity as she climbed to her feet.

"I know you aren't from this world, I didn't even need to sense it out of you, so listen up. You can breath anywhere in Deminity. Don't you doubt that for a second, you hear?"

"I DON'T WANT TO GO," bellowed Megan, and many of the surrounding gray clouds took off in opposite directions. The purple cloud now looked like an island in the middle of a blue sky.

"I'm really sorry," said the cloud kindly. "Hopefully we meet again some day. You can tell me all about goats."

"NO!" yelled Megan, getting up onto to her feet. She wanted to rip the cloud into pieces, but she didn't know the first thing about fighting condensed water droplets. Before she could figure out a way, it was too late.

The cloud dissipated itself, releasing all the contents of juice inside and leaving Megan with a look of befuddlement as the purple puffy footing disappeared beneath her. It all happened so quickly. Without anywhere to go but down, she was once again falling.

"How could you," she cried out, but the cloud was completely gone. The grape juice was no longer in a semi-concentrated stream like when it had come out of the hole in the pond. The cloud's plan was to spread it out in long rain drops, so that it would dispersed in many different directions. Without any way to retrieve it, Megan's eyes welled up in tears as the purple droplets vanished into the atmosphere. There was still a part of her that hoped the world would flip again, and that maybe the juice would make its way back to the pond to be with her, but that thought quickly fizzled out as she fell further and further away from it into the void. The sky was a massive place, and she had many layers of the atmosphere to get through. Her five step program began.

The first step was the Troposphere, but she was so preoccupied by her loss as she tumbled her way through it, that she didn't even shiver as she passed through the icy cold trap in the atmosphere. She did, however, notice a thin purple layer of ice coating her skin, so she licked her arm in desperation for a quick fix to her craving. Instead of getting that feeling of relieve that only an addict can understand, her tongue stuck mockingly to her arm. She made loud groaning noises as she tried to pull her it free, but it wouldn't wiggle loose.

It was in that moment that she admitted she was powerless over the grape juice.

In step two, she plunged into the Stratosphere, and slowly her mind was coming back to her. The separation from the grape juice was helping her recover, but she also felt an overwhelming surge of grumpiness from the withdrawal. She even snapped at the ozone layer when she plummeted right though it, putting a human-size hole in its body.

"You inconsiderate jerk, look what you've done!" the ozone layer had yelled, shaking his fist of ozone at her.

"Nobody cares about the ozone layer anymore!" she had yelled back, wishing she had some garbage to put a few more holes in it.

After falling for a few moments longer, she wished she could go back and apologize for acting like that. She hadn't meant what she had said, it had been her emotions running haywire.

"I have been a jerk..." she whispered, realizing that perhaps the cloud had needed to intervene. Admitting it lifted a huge burden off her shoulder. Even a little smile broke through.

Step three was quite the dandy. She made her way into the Mesosphere and was amazed that her entire body was engulfed in warm flames. On Earth, she would have been disintegrated in an instant, but the atmosphere of Deminity was more like a soothing bath. She decided that she felt like a shooting star, which made her wonder if anybody made a wish on them in this dimension. It was a very human-like thought, considering she generally avoided their customs. She hadn't even celebrated her birthday in at least three years,

Realizing she was dwelling on old thoughts, she turned her attention to a more pressing matter.

So far, she had made a mess of things, particularly her embarrassing behavior. If she was going to be a hero, she was going to have to start acting like one. Now that she was starting to turn the corner and could think for herself again, her first order of business was to never drink grape juice again so long as she lived. For one thing, the taste was completely ruined, which was evident when she let out a large burp. The dried grape scent disgusted her.

Another thing that troubled her was all the mishaps so far. They all had taken away from her primary mission to find the lost compass and execute the Hooded Man's plan to revive the world. He would surely be disappointed in her poor performance so far. She pledged she would do a much better job, for his sake and the sake of others, no matter what she faced in the future.

Then a scary thought overcame her. If the world was flipped upside down, then the compass was falling somewhere as well.

Don't panic. Maybe I'll be able to see it better if it is up here in the sky, she thought.

With that, she had made amends for her recent mistakes, and even kept a level head about it.

Finally she entered step four, the Thermosphere, which was the last and largest layer of the atmosphere, and she no longer looked like a falling comet. For some reason, she suddenly remembered that oxygen shouldn't be as potent this far into the atmosphere, but she wasn't entirely sure of how much oxygen there should be. She had never learned that much in high school. Besides, the cloud had told she could breath anywhere she wanted. Why would she lie? She had survived under a pool of grape juice as well, so this wasn't really any different.

"The cloud said breath, so that's just what I'll do," said Megan confidently, and breathing she did. Gulp after gulp of air entered her lungs, oxygen circled her arteries, and carbon dioxide was expelled from her body. If she had only known that there wasn't any breathable air at all, her lungs may have shut down on her.

As Megan looked down at the endless dying blue sky below her, wondering how far she had left to go, she began to wonder if there was even a bottom at all. In an attempt to pass some time as she waited for something to happen, since the compass was not yet in view, she tried to entertain herself by doing some somersaults. It was a good way to distract her brain, which was tired from the constant strain of thought.

"Weeee, this is kind of fun," she said playfully, first going front first, and then tumbling backwards in the free-falling air. This got boring after a while, so she shifted her attention to her dampened pigtails. Unfortunately, It was too hard to make them look pretty again without a mirror, so she quickly gave up and started snapping her fingers and humming a fabricated tune to herself.

La La La La,
My skin is all icky,
The juice made it so sticky.
If I only had the power,
To conjure myself a shower.

After completing her first verse, she quickly changed her mind. The last time she had desperately craved something, it had turned her into a vicious maniac. Thus she decided that if she ran into a hot shower at the end of her plummet, she would avoid it altogether.

Although her realization of her lacking hygiene was not exactly the desired finish to the four step program, at least she was thinking about it. All in all, it was a smashing success. The old Megan was reborn anew, no longer controlled by her obnoxious addiction.

At last, the fading blue sky was gradually being replaced by an empty darkness, so she assumed that she must be crossing the threshold into outer space. This wasn't a welcoming sight for her, because space was the biggest void of all (at least that had been the case when she had studied it on Earth). It only made her feel more lonely and alone.

The truth was, she wanted to have friends more desperately than she let herself believe. In her old life, people had thought her weird, so she had distanced herself from them at an early age and had started to count on her imaginary friends more. Now that she was in an actual fantasy world with real talking beings, it was upsetting her that she had made such bad impressions with her encounters so far, especially since she had always figured she would be an instant hit with them. The Hooded Man hadn't stopped for at least a cup of coffee, the vacuum had been intolerable, but she still partially blamed herself. The calculator-shark had likely been lonely and suffering from a similar addiction that she had, so coming to blows couldn't be stopped, and the cloud had to disappear from sight just to cure her.

It was the cloud, above all, that troubled her. She regretted that she didn't have the chance to meet her in a sober state of mind. She missed a great opportunity to really gather some information and talk to someone with a knack for knowledge.

The transition into space would have been beautiful, had her friendship troubles not been on her mind. She had a magnificent view of the vibrant blue planet with the swirls of gray clouds decorating it, but it was getting farther by the second as she floated away. She didn't think it was likely that she would ever cross paths with the cloud again.

At the same time, she was also looking religiously for the compass, but it was far more difficult to see it than she had orignally hoped. Besides the vibrant planet engulfing the clarity of her vision, there were thousands of stars decorating the background, only they were all shining different colors. It was really an amazing sight, but also a hindrance when it came to finding a tiny glass ball.

"If only I was Superman, I could fly around and look for the compass. It must have fallen off the planet like I did. It could be anywhere out here."

Then, a strange and exciting thought came over Megan. What was stopping her from flying? All those times she had watched birds soaring through the air, while she endured excruciating jealousy as she was stapled to the ground. Now was her chance to break free from all the rules that had engulfed her as a human being. Her baby blues widened in anticipation, sparkling as bright as the distance stars.

"Floating out here won't do me any good, so it's time to test my hero skills. I believe I can fly, just like Superman," said Megan, and one of the distant stars twinkled in agreement.

She flattened out her body in her best Superman pose - her arms stretched out in front of her. "O.K, go..." she said, but still she moved through space on the same boring path. "Now would be a good time, Deminity," she said impatiently, but still there was no change.

"You told me this is a land of belief, Hooded Man, so why can't I do it?" she asked, and she noticed a distant star twinkling on and off as if it was trying to answer her question. "Sorry, I don't understand star language, either," she called out.

Breathing in weird places had been so easy to do, she had just trusted her instincts and the cloud's assurance. Her body had always known how to breath, however, even when she couldn't see the air, so that had been far from remarkable.

What about the lack of pain when she had been bitten by the shark? She had been sloshed up on grape juice at the time, so there had been no thinking about it then. It just simply hadn't hurt, and that had been the end of it.

Flying, though, was an entirely different story. She was completely lost. No human being had ever flown without technology, so she had no idea how to go about making her body do it.

One thing she wasn't short on, however, was effort. She looked silly as time after time she failed to fly faster than a speeding bullet, which reminded her of when she had climbed into the tree with the squirrel skills she thought she had. Even then, as she had pulled herself up into the branches, determined to be a squirrel, there had been a small part of her mind that she couldn't convince of this belief. No matter how blind she had appeared to be to her own common sense, it had never gone away.

And that part of her was mocking her again, telling her that humans don't fly, no matter what dimension they are in. It was a blow to her confidence.

She may have just floated out in outer space for eternity, but whether by chance or fate, a moon came sailing in her direction. She watched it approaching from afar, as if it had come from a distant galaxy. At first, it looked like it was going to zoom right over her, but as it got closer and closer, she became certain that it was on a collision course.

"Oh my stars," she cried, because that seemed as fitting a thing to say. There really wasn't a proper sentence that could describe it. In her lifetime, she had never even considered the possibility of a moon landing on her head. Luckily the moon was slowing down, which mystified the laws of outer space.

As it came on top of her, all she could think to do was cover her face with her arms to protect herself. She disappeared into one of the craters as it came upon her head with just her feet sticking out of it. The moonball continued to to slow down, dragging her noiselessly with it, until eventually it came to a complete stop.

The moon itself was like a piece of dust compared to something as massive as Earth's moon. It was only around twenty-five feet in diameter with only a few tiny craters of different size and depth, as if somebody had somehow shrunk the moon into a small scale. The crater she was unlucky enough to have ventured into was one of the tinier holes or the bunch, so she struggled to get her body turned around from the lack of room.

She also learned that the one negative thing about being trapped upside-down in a rocky crater was all the moon dust getting in her eyes and nose. It was all the more reason to get out of there as fast as possible, but no matter how hard she tried to push off with her hands, she couldn't get out. For some unknown reason, there was a strong enough pull from the center of the moon that was keeping her inside. If she had been on Earth's moon, she could have floated out with ease, but the gravity in this dimension had been behaving unpredictably. In the grand scheme of things, she didn't care which way gravity worked, so long as she wasn't at its mercy.