Chapter 3
"Another Side"
[Earth—New York City]
February 15th, 2030
In a park in New York City, on Riverside Park on the Upper West Side. A calm and tranquility feeling can be felt, from afar, the buildings emitting light that was so beautiful. Cars on the Hudson Highway passed by in the dark of night, their headlights shining through the road.
The cold air can pierce one's body, while the downpour makes it worse. The empty park that was wreathed by trees, unexpectedly, a vibration could be felt—the river near the Hudson Highway was trembling. A few people came out from their vehicles, dazed by what was going on.
In the center of Riverside Park, the grounds slowly soared with a loud rumble sound. Everyone started to panic, some of them even shocked and froze in place. The ramble sound became louder and louder, followed by the soaring grounds on Riverside Park that more frequently.
It soared and then fell, soared once again and fell. The ground was shaking, with people running uncontrollably—the survival instinct of a fart, truly. Before it collapsed entirely, carving a giant hole in the center of the park, with a loud sound that resounded.
Everyone was concerned about their own lives, before they heard a crack from the highway. Instantly, they became more terrified. With a loud sound, the highway cracked and collapsed with a loud noise. The tragedy had taken someone's life, maybe one of them was squashed by the debris—the others perhaps drowned.
A few minutes later, police cars arrived at the venue. A cry, a despair melody, a scream, a loud agony can be heard. The police officers can only grieve by the tragedy that happened.
The authorities tried to investigate the giant hole, with a few police officers trying to clear the place to prevent more casualties. The investigating party carefully tried to secure the hole, and information about the strange disaster quickly spread around the citizens. A few helicopters arrived to rescue the injured victims, while others helicopters were from the news stations.
An investigator noticed an oddity while looking at the hole, under the umbrella while he was holding it. He quickly told his colleague about the anomaly.
"William… look at this," Wilson said in a serious tone.
"What? Is there anything strange?" William replied with a confused face.
with a baffled face, his colleague was also surprised by the aberration. William raised his eyebrows, while carefully observing the oddity.
"What the…"
Wilson then slowly crouched and looking at the hole, with a curiosity, Wilson stretched his hand into the hole with a sharp-stare.
"The raindrops… it doesn't fall into the hole, as if a translucent-barrier prevents it.
"And my hand?... I can feel the strange feeling, the lower arm is wet and the hand isn't.
"How could it be?"
While two of them were confused, the lead-investigator informed them that the investigation was stopped and will be continued later. The duo then went back to their vehicles, while having a strange feeling.
February 16th, 2030
After the chilling night, the police and the investigator party came back at the venue once again. The siren of the police vehicles echoed once more, attracting attention to the citizens who lived near the site.
A few news reporters came to the site in order to broadcast the odd disaster that happened last night. One of the reporters was named Charlotte Evelyn, from the Hello World news media, one of the famed news stations.
"Hello and welcome to the Hello World news! My name is Robert Dwanson. Today we got news from the Upper West Side in New York City, United States of America. It is warm news, although the environment is cold."
The man said in the news studio, before he crossed all his fingers and put his hands on the long-backward-table.
Robert then turned his body with his chair to the big screen behind him—the screen showed a globe and a few white lines that traversed around the globe, before Robert adding…
"Reporting from the scene, Charlotte, can you tell us about what was happening?"
Charlotte Evelyn, who was on the site, then replied with a serious tone. The furious wind blew her yellow-colored raincoat, while she was grasping her umbrella in her left hand, also with a wireless-microphone in her right hand.
"Hello I'm Charlotte Evelyn, and I'm here to report an event… Last night, New York City was struck with a heartbreaking-tragedy… an earthquake suddenly happened, and the grounds near the Hudson Highway entirely collapsed, and carved a giant hole that is still being investigated.
"The event occurred on February 15th, 2030, in the middle of freezing night. The investigating party has stopped their investigation because the rain that blurred their visions before was continued this morning, though it's still raining."
Robert then asked Charlotte if there were any casualties, and how big the hole.
"Okay, Charlotte. Can you tell us if anyone has lost their lives? And how big was the hole?"
Charlotte then answered with a grieved face, "Seven to thirteen persons have died in the tragedy, and the hole's size is still being measured but it was estimated to be the size of a small lake.
"And one of the investigators has informed all the reporters from other media including us: that the hole was just an earthquake-made, and they also grieved for the loss."
Robert then replied before turning his body back at the audience, and closed the news.
"Thank you, Charlotte. While the hole was being investigated, this event shocked many citizens and gradually spread.
"Well then, we'll close this today's news with a prayer to the families who have lost their important-person might be steady. Thus, today's news comes to an end."
…
A few people were trying to measure the hole's depth using a rock, a laser-device, and mathematics.
Someone named Adam and Henry were measuring the hole's depth, and both of them were commanded by the lead-investigator. From their walkie talkies, they were ordered to check if there was any methane gas in the hole.
Adam then grabbed a rock and threw it into the hole, while Henry tried to calculate how deep was the hole and to note information. With a surprised face, Adam turned his gaze to Henry, before saying.
"The rock is gone, Henry. Maybe I'll try to use the laser-device…"
Adam carefully aimed the laser at the hole, yet the light which came from the laser as if was swallowed by the hole. The abnormality surprised him even more, he tried to aim once again but the results were all the same.
"The light disappeared, note that…"
Adam also doesn't smell any gas leak, the hole was a mysterious thing ever discovered by Humans—the giant hole appeared to have no end.
"No methane gas, this hole is completely odd…"
Adam said with a confused face, followed by Henry who noted the information. While the duo was being puzzled by the hole, a policeman named Alex curiously walked rashly to the hole to pry information. Alex crossed through the police line, before accidentally slipped off because of the wet soil and eventually fell into the hole.
As his scream echoed, a few people's gaze suddenly locked to the source of the sound. Everyone was startled, even Adam and Henry who were still in there. As the people panicked, someone advocated to throw a rope and help Alex but the thing is… the hole's depth was endless.
…
Alex, who drifted in the sea of cosmos, tried to open both of his eyes. He felt himself falling downward, like Adrian who was transmigrated this way. Until he saw a faint light from afar, from below. Until…
He entered a vertical-cosmic-corridor just like Adrian, his falling pace became faster and faster. He even couldn't breathe properly, his heartbeat rattled so fast. He puffed in despair, as his survival instinct tried to fight against the falling direction.
At the end of the meandering-cosmic-corridor, Alex saw a bright light that pierced his eyes. A moment before his body was fully consumed by the light, his eyes blinded by the radiance.
Alex with a stiff feeling and was exhausted, slowly opened his eyes. At first, his vision was kinda blurry, before he fully regained his sight.
Alex… in a daze, was marvelled when seeing a vast and beautiful world that was different from Earth. A forest from afar, a bird soared, and the wind that stung his face.
Fascinated by the scene, Alex tried to hold his tears and couldn't believe what he saw. The world was perfect, he felt like in a fantasy world like in those books.
"I-it's so beautiful!..."
He said while trembling, he then stood up and looked behind. Among the green grass, there was a water pool that was so clean. While he was stunned by the world, a rang suddenly echoed from his pants-pocket. Surprised by the loud noise, which disturbed him, he immediately answered the call.
He then answered the call quietly, "Hello?"
"Alex! are you alright!?" his colleague asked in worry.
"I'm alright, John. Don't worry about me like that, I don't get hurt either," Alex answered calmly.
"Thankfully!" John responded.
"John… you will not believe this, there is another world! Here, look at this!"
Alex uttered excitedly, before he switched the voicecall to videocall. At first, John entirely didn't believe him until Alex showed the proof.
"What the hell!?" he shouted loudly, followed by the investigators who also saw it. They didn't believe what they saw, but the truth was in front of them.
One of the investigators tried to call the headquarters, while the others were fascinated by the world Alex had shown through the phone.
"Alex, stay there, and don't go anywhere. We'll rescue you, and bring you back," John requested seriously.
While the special forces were on the way, Alex tried to stay there for a while, before being rescued.
After all, Humans had traced the existence of another world. A pure world, perhaps?