In the middle of the cubes
Cubes. Thousands of cubes. And me in the middle of them. I look around, and everywhere I see completely identical cubes. Just different sizes. Gray. Some huge and some very small. The biggest ones are the size of an apartment building, and some are just moving boxes. On different sides. There I am standing, in the middle of it all.
The sky is covered with a light veil of clouds. There is no limit on the horizon. Only cubes. As far as the eye can see. The veil of clouds changes shape, but remains stable. The air is so still that you could imagine yourself in a vacuum. Gravity is even heavier than before. It feels like your body weighs thousands of pounds. I try to lift my leg, but it is very heavy. Heavier than ever.
In front of me is a cube. Every side of it is identical. The cube is small, maybe the size of a small music box. I squat down and reach out towards it. I grab the sides with both hands and try to lift it up. It doesn’t work. It’s as if the cube has been cast on a base. It’s cold and won’t budge. I try to push, I try to pull. The cube won’t budge.
The sky rumbles. A few rumbles, followed by a thunderous roar. Like thunder, but a thousand times louder. A giant cube appears from the middle of the cloud veil. Dark gray in tone. Its giant edges effortlessly protrude from the middle of the cloud veil. And the veil obeys. Its enormous size and substance create an immense shadow over a large area. It is the largest I have ever seen.
The cube begins to accelerate as it falls downward. It comes with force and mass. It falls perpendicularly towards me, so that I think I’m going to be under it. The surface area expands as it approaches. It approaches so fast that I can’t see any sky except the huge square base of the cube. I close my eyes.
A loud bang. The bang echoes in the void. As if lightning had struck right next to me. The ground shakes so much that it’s hard to stand. I carefully open my eyes, but I can’t see around me. Dust and mist are everywhere. The noise from the bang gradually fades into the distance, and I still try to see around me. I try to feel around with my hands until my palms hit the cold surface in front of me.
The mist and fog begin to clear. As small dust particles continue to settle down, I make out a wall in front of me. A really big wall. It’s as tall as a skyscraper, and its width is as long as its height. There’s only about a meter between me and the wall. I put both hands against the wall. It’s the biggest of all the cubes, I think. I stop and stare at the wall.
There I stand, and I wonder.” (Miettinen, 2018)