Olivier slowly opened his eyes. A sharp pain assaulted his head. Olivier was used to it. He couldn't remember the last time he slept well. With a sigh he opened his eyes fully and looked around.
It was still dark. Only a faint light shone through the window, illuminating the comfortable bed, the walls covered in a flowery wallpaper, and the small shelf.
Rubbing his temples Olivier moved his hurting back, taking a seating position. The blanket slipped a little, revealing his comfortable pyjamas. Slowly his headache subsided.
Yet suddenly Olivier froze. Windows? Bed, wallpaper, shelf? Even blanket and pyjamas? Where did all this stuff come from?! His run-down shack never had such commodities!
There was only one logical conclusion...
"This isn't my shack!"
Olivier quickly put his hands on his mouth. His lazy thoughts slowly started moving. Did he get kidnapped? What if someone heard him?
Sitting frozen in place, Olivier thought of multiple possibilities. This wouldn't be the first time he got kidnapped. Honestly, the room was quite nice. Maybe staying here for a while wasn't too bad. It beat his usual accommodations by miles.
But remembering the last time he had been kidnapped Olivier shuddered. His hand slowly sneaked upwards from his mouth, reaching the place where his left eye used to be. By now there was only scarred tissue left.
Olivier had experienced immense darkness. But his spirit hadn't been broken yet. He knew there were always people who had it worse than him. No, Olivier wouldn't surrender to fate. He had escaped his kidnappers last time and he could do so again!
Taking a deep breath Olivier carefully stood up. His bare feet were quite warm on the carpeted ground. This was good. His steps wouldn't be too loud.
Without turning on the old lamp standing on his bedside table, Olivier sneaked over to the door. He carefully went to his knees, spying through the keyhole.
Darkness!
But darkness was his friend. Light would signify the presence of other people. Could he be lucky? Perhaps he woke up earlier than his kidnappers expected?
Full of hope Olivier slowly pushed the door handle. Silent as a feather a gap was slowly opened. Olivier poked his head out, glancing left and right, not finding anything amiss.
Carefully sneaking out of his room Olivier headed for the stairs to his left. They were made of wood, appearing quite old. It might be dangerous, but Olivier had to take the risk. He carefully set his foot on the first step.
The wood quietly creaked. Olivier instantly felt his stomach sink. Suddenly a noise reached his ears and Olivier froze in place. A melody wafted through the house. It was a slow waltz, recorded at least a few decades ago, not something Olivier had heard before.
A few instruments made the start before a dreamy male voice set in, singing with much emotion:
"Ev'rything at stake, any moment they can awake.
For sanity's sake, the universe will fear and quake."
Olivier gulped, inexplicably feeling terrified. For a good minute he didn't move at all. But after not hearing anything else for so long he regained a bit of courage.
Gritting his teeth he continued, setting one foot in front of the other. Reaching the bottom of the stairs Olivier stood in front of another door. He repeated his old trick, spying through the keyhole. But this time he was less lucky as a low wall blocked his sight.
Coming this far Olivier couldn't turn around anymore. He carefully pushed open the door and peaked through the gap. He first noticed the wall which blocked his sight earlier. It was a low counter holding some cups, a sink, and some packages he didn't inspect closer.
Beyond the counter was a room filled with chairs and tables. They were all in white, following a rather vintage style. They fitted nicely with the rest of the room.
The walls were plastered with shelves, mostly empty except for some memorabilia. A sparkling chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room. Meanwhile an ancient gramophone sat in a corner, filling the room with music.
"Ah!"
A sudden movement startled Olivier. He stumbled back, shutting the door with a bang. His heart raced wildly as he pressed his body into a corner. Fear reared its ugly head. Olivier was terrified, thinking the noise could alert his kidnappers.
Perhaps it was time to act fast.
Thinking so, Olivier gritted his teeth. He stood up and opened the door completely, stepping into the other room.
A pair of green eyes with slit-like pupils stared at Olivier. If he didn't know better, he could have sworn they were filled with disdain.
The eyes belonged to a cat with shiny black fur. She swayed her tail, turned her body once, and took a nap on top of the counter.
Olivier shook his head. Ignoring the cat he began to run, heading straight for the biggest door leading out of the room. He pulled it open and... finally found a way out! But it wasn't what he had imagined.
Olivier couldn't even react. His brain couldn't fathom what was happening. His mind shut down as his eyes stared ahead in disbelief. If it weren't for the sea of stars above, Olivier couldn't even identify the scene he saw as 'outside'.
Outside the room was a land of brown earth. The horizon was unusually close. He could even vaguely make out the bending of the ground, showing how small of a rock he was on.
Was he drifting on an asteroid through space? How could this happen? Did anyone bring him here? Or was he completely alone? Olivier wasn't sure which situation he would prefer.
His thoughts raising Olivier looked around rigidly. His eyes fell on the few strange trees growing in the surroundings. Their bark was a rusty brown, their trunks twisted. On their few branches grew no leaves, only strange reddish balls. At first, they appeared like fruits but upon a closer look it was more like... meat?!
Olivier shuddered, his stomach revolting. If he had eaten more, he might have vomited on the spot.
Suddenly one of the trees, stared at by Olivier, shook lightly. One of the meat balls fell to the ground with a thud. But it didn't remain there. Under Olivier's disbelieving eyes the meat ball bounced and jumped into the air. It spun around, swiftly bouncing in Olivier's direction.
Olivier was too overwhelmed. He couldn't even comprehend what was happening, say nothing of reacting to the situation. Everything was just too absurd.
But the meat ball didn't care at all. It bounced towards Olivier, forcefully smashing into his chest. Yet the expected scene didn't occur. As soon as the meat ball touched Olivier it was somehow repelled, flying backwards.
The meat ball landed on the ground, but it didn't seem to be reconciled. Without hesitation it moved towards Olivier again.
Slowly getting over his shock Olivier stared at the meat ball about to slam into his chest again. He gritted his teeth, letting out a loud shout filled with disorderly emotions:
"Get away from me!"
Olivier swatted the meat ball like a fly. As soon as fist and meat made contact, an unexpected scene occurred. The meat ball exploded on the spot, spraying bits and pieces everywhere.
Olivier had no time to be disgusted. He suddenly felt a warm current invade his body, nourishing every cell before settling in his heart.
Immediately a strange sensation came from Olivier's missing eye. It began to itch terribly but instead of feeling pain Olivier was delighted. He could instinctively feel how that his eye was recovering!
Olivier only questioned the situation for a moment. His gaze fell on the trees outside. Without hesitation he rushed out of the house and towards the closest tree. The plant seemingly felt threatened and began to shake. The meatballs growing on its branches fell off. Bouncing once they quickly began to attack Olivier.
The latter swatted left and right. With every touch a meat ball exploded, and another warm current ran through his body.
"Haha, healing! It's healing! Give me more!"
Exhilarated, Olivier moved fast. When the first tree had no more of its peculiar fruits left, Olivier rushed to the second. And the third, the fifth...
At some point his field of view doubled but Olivier didn't even notice it. He was already addicted to the feeling. He got further away from the house, chasing the trees.
After a while he was already standing in front of number seven. A single meat ball dropped from the tree and bounced towards Olivier. Raising his fist, he punched out heavily. Yet the situation suddenly changed.
As meat and fist collided it wasn't the meat that gave in. A terrible power travelled through Olivier's fist.
"AHHH!"
A terrified cry came from Olivier's mouth. It even overshadowed the sound of his bones cracking. Staring at his arm he saw blood running down, dripping onto the ground and sinking into the brown earth.
Olivier's breathing turned irregular. His brain couldn't keep up. But the meat ball didn't share his doubts. After landing back on the ground it only shock and jumped again. With full strength it squarely slammed into Olivier's chest.
Olivier was thrown backward feeling as if he had been hit by a car. Opening his mouth, blood flowed out in dangerous amounts.