Once Upon A Time

~Gregory ~
“Once upon a time…” began the story Gregory had just started. For some reason this typical opening statement to many childish stories interested him. He stopped; he didn’t want to read anymore. A thought had hit him:
“Am I upon a time?”
So he put down his book and went outside. He noticed the neighbors’ three-legged cat, his house with many windows, the songbird planted in her nest, the glass and blood stain left in the road from the recent accident, the hoodlum staggering down the sidewalk, and the skyscrapers in the distance. He realized that all these things, and everything else around him, at every moment, of every day, was balancing upon a time.

~Time~
Well, Time, he was growing old and feeble. He thought to himself, “I don’t think everything can be upon me any longer… I’ve carried so much throughout my life! I should just drop it all! Nothing can be upon me anymore!”

~Stars~
The stars in the sky heard Time’s thought (They can read minds. That’s why they can grant wishes), so the rumor spread. Quickly, everyone and everything found out about the preposterous act Time was planning to do.

~ Space~
Time held everything, but Space, he had the power to bend Time (and the power to make distances longer or shorter). So Space, being associated with Time all of his existence, went to suppress him out of “dropping everything.”

~Argument~
It started as a civil conversation. Space knew that Time was getting old for they had worked and grown together. He understood why Time would want to drop his heavy load. But Space needed to talk Time out of it. He tried and tried again, but soon, their talk turned into argument. Their argument turned into fighting. Their fighting, into war.

~War~
And so, the war of Space and Time began. Space used darkness while Time used light. The dark army was made of shadows. Everyone and everything’s shadows were drafted. The light army, Time’s army, was made of fire, stars, and lightning. The war was to be the most horrific in the entire universe. The sky was to be their battleground; a display for all to see.
You can just imagine: stars being devoured by darkness, fire streaking through the sky, shadows being torn by lightning... The battles of light and dark set a blaze of confusion to the sky, but no one was winning (yet). All that Time and Space were doing was damaging each other; smashing, cracking, and breaking pieces off each other… their secrets unfastened, falling… being revealed for everyone to see.

~Secrets~
Gregory and others that had wondered out of their homes, looked up into the sky, watching, and they were all exposed to the secrets…

~Humans~
Now, humans are not the smartest creatures. They can’t see very far; they can’t think very far either, with no full understanding of anything… but, Gregory, he was pretty smart, talented, a special boy. And thank goodness! He, even though a simple human, was smart enough to looked away from the sky! Instead, he looked around at the people around him.

~Exposed~
(But don’t forget, Gregory had seen, he had learned. He held secrets about Space and Time). Now Gregory watched as the people, continued to gaze up into the sky in awe… No! They were dumb founded! And their brains were exposed the secrets too long. It was too much for their little human minds to hold so their heads exploded!
Gregory got to watch the gory disaster for the next few minutes… Very soon, all the human’s bodies were lying on the ground, decapitated or severely gaping and bloody, expelling their last ounces of red spray, leaking onto the streets…
Gregory was the only one left.

~Gregory’s Mind~
What he had learned from the secrets, was what the fastest thing in the entire world (and in all of space and time) was… and that was the speed of thought.
(But mind you, humans aren’t the smartest of creatures).
Gregory was the only human left, and all there was for him to do was think. So he did just that…

~Denouement~
So from then on there were no longer any “once upon a time’s”. All of the stories (if there was even anything to tell them) now began with “once falling off a time.” Space, sadly, had lost the war and no one and no thing could stop Time from dropping everything he carried upon him…

~Once Falling Off a Time~
Once falling off a time, there was a boy named Gregory who thought he wanted to be “someplace” safe. “Someplace safe” would have to be somewhere held in Space and Time. Without Time, Gregory couldn’t exist in “someplace” for long. Time was gone, and with him, everything he had controlled: Gregory’s memories couldn’t be held, his heart stopped beating, his blood stopped flowing, his age no longer mattered, and his moment didn’t exist. These simple functions could only happen once upon a time.
Space looked down on the child, and had sympathy so he picked the boy up out of his inscrutable state. He observed Gregory with his long, depressed face. He felt responsible for the pain and for everything that was lost. Space sighed and began to think. He realized, looking at the boy he was holding, that it was Gregory who had the last thought. It has been a selfish thought; he could have used it to end the war, or better yet, used it to convince Time not to drop everything. It was Gregory’s fault, not his, and Space’s temper rose. With festering vexation, Space threw Gregory to the back of his throat and swallowed.
~The End~