The Joining

I woke up, my body curled uncomfortably in a small, circular room. I was too disoriented to be alarmed. Where am I? I sat up and leaned against the curved wall, something about this seemed unreal, about what? I don’t know, the air maybe? I looked at my hands for reassurance that I was solid and not some phantom, some ghost ready to slip through the strange material of the wall and vanish completely. My hands were covered in dirt, above the wrist and all the way down past my elbows. My feet were barefoot and equally dirty.

Suddenly, I was alarmed. I had no memory of how I had come to be here or why I was so dirty. The grime wouldn’t rub off, I couldn’t recall the color of the skin underneath either. I could be black, Hispanic, or just white with a tan, I didn’t know. I cursed with frustration. I didn’t even know my own name.

I became aware of a noise overhead. It was a low, deep hissing sound. I looked up and saw that the ceiling was bright and colorful and.. moving? The hiss was coming forth from a torch-like contraption set in the center. How strange, I thought as I found the strength to stand. My eyes widened with surprise, maybe even astonishment, when I found that I could look out right over the walls of the room. In fact, it wasn’t even a room at all. Relief was the next sensation that came to mind, the first terrifying explanation that I thought of was that I had been buried alive, which would’ve explained the dirt. But that was the furthest thing from the truth. I was in the basket of a hot air balloon, hundreds of feet above the ground instead of below it. With more relief, I found that I could remember my name. James. It never sounded more welcoming to me than it did right now.

I was feeling good at the moment, looking out over a city, hazy in the afternoon (or was it morning?) sunlight. Surely, someone would look up and see this balloon, call someone else, and they would come up and save me. The torch was out of reach, I was suspended abnormally low from what I could tell, having never been on a balloon before. Even if I could reach it, I had no idea how to work it. And I dare not touch the sandbags, I didn’t want to get any higher.

I was level with some of the tallest skyscrapers, one was looming up ahead of me now. Frantically, I waved my arms and screamed, trying to enlist the help of whoever was inside. I saw a man in his office, sitting at his desk and talking on his phone, facing right at me. I screamed as loudly as my lungs would allow. He looked up, my heart skipped a beat, his brow furrowed with confusion, I beckoned with urgency, he looked back down at his desk, and I had a horrible realization. The balloon was not casting a reflection on the glass of the skyscraper.

That relief that I felt instantly melted away into horror. If I was invisible, if for some magical reason nobody in this whole city could see me, I was doomed.

“You are doomed,” behind me, a deep voice spoke. I froze for a moment, the wide-eyed despair imprinted on my face. The deep voice laughed. I turned to see a penguin perched on the edge of a basket. The despair on my face changed into amazement as I watched the bird’s beak move and say, “No one on this planet can behold you or this vessel. That would compromise your journey.”

“My journey…?”

“You have been chosen by my benefactors to be the next one of your kind partaking in this adventure. Congratulations, you are about to be enlightened,” the penguin said.

I stared into its black, beady eyes. It stared back, those eyes unblinking. “What are you? And who are your… benefactors?” I finally asked, a couple of moments into the staring contest.

The penguin began grooming its reddish crest with its beak. For some reason, I was mesmerized. “You know I can’t tell you that,” it said, looking back up at me. “But, you can call me James.”

“But.. That’s my name.” I complained.

“Are you sure?” I heard a snapping noise, the balloon rose gently into the air.

I moved towards the penguin and peered over the edge. A sandbag was falling towards the street below. “What did you do??”

“Four days,” the penguin said. “You shall ride the vessel for four days. You shall bear witness to things that only those who came before have seen. If you gain acceptance… well, you’ll see.” With that, James the penguin flapped his wings and flew away. I watched his black form grow smaller until it disappeared in the city haze and the rising heat thermals, leaving me lost in thought.

“But… penguins can’t fly.”