After falling for the old woman's marketing trick I went back home. Even though it intrigued me a lot I told myself that even if what she said was false at least the sphere was beautiful so why not.
Once I reached the entrance, as usual I took off my shoes and left them there. Most of the time my parents worked until very late in the evening and my brother was at university, so there were moments when he too could come home late.
In other words I found myself alone surrounded by white walls and a cold tiled floor, alone in a room empty of human presence where the only companions were the furniture and the monotonous decorations of the living room.
In my boredom I went upstairs to take a shower and change. It was truly pleasant to shower after a hard day. The cold water running down my body slowly woke me up to the point where I felt invincible for a moment.
Once that little moment of relaxation was over I went into my bedroom which was right next door. What separated my room from the hallway was a small polished wooden door.
Inside everything was ordinary. A bed with dark gray sheets and a red blanket with simple patterns. A bedside table nearby held my notebooks and books, some were novels while most were just bulky school manuals. My backpack rested on the chair made of the same material as the table, polished oak wood.
With all the weight of my body I lay down on my bed. Now instead of the white and navy blue school uniform I had been wearing I was dressed in a black sports t‑shirt and black jogging pants with dark blue stripes.
Even though it seemed strange I could not shake off the thought of what this object was. The way it captured my attention was indescribable, as if an invisible force pushed me never to part with it.
I could not stop staring at it with both incomprehension and fascination.
Why? Why did this simple luminous sphere on my bedside table fill my mind?
All the time I spent pondering the reasons the day was coming to an end. This was confirmed by the orange light filtering through the barely covered window.
And under the veil of sunset an incredible spectacle unfolded before my eyes.
The small sphere captured all the sunlight that had barely entered the room. It absorbed absolutely all natural light to offer something even more breathtaking. Indeed once all natural light was absorbed it projected a starry veil throughout the room.
Whether stars, galaxies, black holes or supernovas I could see absolutely everything the universe had to offer. The craziest part was that everything seemed to evolve. Stars expanded, galaxies formed, suns were born and even meteors collided.
Everything absolutely everything seemed to evolve. It was as if the evolution of the universe was unfolding before my eyes. In my astonishment I collapsed to the floor hitting my head against the table and knocking the sphere down. Luckily I caught it just in time.
But deep inside I was still completely lost. Everything seemed far too real. I examined the object more carefully to understand by what mechanism this could be possible but after long minutes I found nothing interesting. It was still uniform, nothing suggested any mechanism at all.
So I decided to go back to see the old woman who had given it to me. I hurried downstairs, quickly put on my sports shoes to be more comfortable, slipped the sphere into my pocket and set off to find her again.
As the veil of night slowly began to cover the sky I started running to arrive before she closed.
While I ran my eyelids grew heavy and I staggered more and more. Despite all my efforts to stay awake I could not. After so much effort I fell like a sack of potatoes but at the last moment I caught myself, limiting the damage of the fall. Yet even after such a shock sleep would not go away. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier. But before completely fainting I took the sphere in my hand and with my eyes almost completely closed I noticed a white light coming from my hand. Then everything turned black.
I had fallen asleep, or at least that is what I thought.