absurdity...
Okay, my sister asked me to write a story ending with, finally he understood, so I did. It was a very random story that meant nothing at first. But now I can see the symbolism inside. Hmm, I was thinking that maybe it's not me who can write after all, but I'm just the medium for a divine hand to write through. Anyways, I want y'all to read it and tell me if you know what it's about.
Absurdity
Nathaniel had finally hit 18. His parents had both died in a tragic zoo accident involving an elephant and sugar cane while the boy was still a babbling toddler. Ever since then, he lived off the estate left by his writer father and heiress mother with his slightly demented grandfather. His father’s father had suffered 2 strokes and a persecution by the Nazis in his time, and it was no surprise that the old man had a little trouble keeping grasp of reality. Nonetheless, he did a good job parenting the young Nathaniel.
Each morning, old man Frank would tell the handsome young Nathaniel, “seven doors down, two houses off, nine stories up.” And always, a bewildered look would cross Nathaniel’s face. Most of the time, he would just shrug it off, and go about whatever it was that he was going to do. After all, that demented old man was probably just rambling anyway, what with all his laughing to himself.
However, one morning, his grandfather was not there to spout his incomprehensible gibberish. Instead, the old man was sitting on the porch smoking a pipe. The old man seemed to have his faculties with him, most unlike other mornings. He handed a folded slip of paper to Nathaniel, stood up, and walked right out the door. He walked and walked and walked till he disappeared down the lane, towards the sea.
Nathaniel was puzzled, but not all that surprised. He went about his daily activities, and waited for his grandfather to return. One day passed, two days passed, three days. No sign of the old man. Finally, he decided the old man had probably thrown himself into the sea in a fit, and he opened the folded slip. On it were the words: seven doors down, two houses off, nine stories up. He never understood what that meant, even though he had heard it almost everyday of his life. He always assumed it was supposed to be some sort of direction to some treasure hidden by the Nazis towards the end of the war.
Nathaniel cleaned up the house of his grandfather’s personal effects, to pack away in a box, just in case he really was dead. In the process, he discovered among his grandfather’s documents a letter from his parents. Inside, there were the correspondence between his father and his grandfather, asking on advice on some matter he couldn’t see from the faded ink. It did mention the city of Paris, and the words: seven doors down, two houses off, nine stories up vaguely apparent on the crusty old letter. Curiosity stirred the blood of this young man, and he packed his belongings and set off for Paris.
In Paris, he followed the rough numbers on the letter to the seedy corners of the French city. As he walked through the rubbish strewn streets, old ladies poked their heads out the window, gave astonished looks, and quickly slammed down the shutters. Old men whispered behind his back, and young children ran as he came down the roads. All the while, he trudged on, wondering in his mind at all the weird behaviour going on around him through his entire life.
Finally he came to a small building. The door was partially open, and he walked in. An old androgenous person was sitting in a chair. He was greeted by an equally androgenous voice.
“Ah, finally. Young Nathaniel has made his way home…” The harsh voiced scraped across his ears like nails on a chalkboard. The figure stood up, and handed him a key. “Seven doors down, two houses off, nine stories up,” it said, and walked out the open door behind Nathaniel.
The stunned youth just stood rooted there for a second. He recovered quickly and dashed out the door. The figure was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, he looked at the key and decided to walk the streets. “Seven doors down, two houses off, nine stories up,” he kept repeating to himself.
Soon he came to a long warehouse with many doors. Seven doors down, he noticed there were two houses sitting across the river from the warehouse. He came to a bridge over the river, where he spotted the androgenous figure again. The harsh voice came out, “Good, good. You have made it thus far…” and it turned and walked off.
Not to be thrown off like the last time, Nathaniel ran after it, but again, it lost him. Frustrated, we walked to the two houses, which looked a lot like the warehouse he just passed back then. He came to the second one, which was only one story high. He was puzzled, like he always was. He sat down outside the door to think.
Suddenly he noticed a really tall glass building in the horizon. He ran towards it with the excitement of a bloodhound on the trail. He reached the large glass door, and put the key into the keyhole. It wouldn’t fit. He tried to smash the black glass door, but it wouldn’t give way. After half an hour of pointless fury, he walked round the back, to find an open door there. Smacking his forehead at his stupidity, he went in and ran up the staircase immediately inside.
Nine stories up, he came to a wide door made of metal. He could detect no sound from behind the door. He put the key into the keyhole and turned. He opened the door, to a thunderous applause. There were people sitting all around, clapping. In the middle of the well lit stage was his grandfather, with a big screen flashing the sign “This Is Your Life!” Standing next to him, were two very familiar faces.
Old man Frank’s voice boomed, “This is your life Nathaniel, a whole big reality show from the age of 3 to 18, every last minute of it. Your whole life was a stage play, open for the world to see. Your parents were even part of it all. Weren’t you?” The two people nodded their smiling faces.
As he screamed a primal howl, it suddenly came apparent to him how absurd his whole life had been. It hit him how the world always seemed very small, how he was always being watched, how it was always so unnatural. The scream was as unending as the thoughts that flooded his mind.
Somewhere in the real world, Neo awoke. Finally, he understood.
