Randall was back on the train and had the small box in his hands again.  The surface on the box was perfect, there were no scratches or dents on it and when Randall tried to leave a finger smudge on it, it just didn’t happen.  Shaking it didn’t make any sort of noise and there wasn’t anything sloshing around.  The weirdest thing about the box was that it was neither warm nor cold to the touch.  It looked a lot like any other metal but it did some weird things and apparently it was going to open when it was at the right place.  If it were just a chunk of metal, then it wouldn’t open when he took it where he was supposed to take it.  “Where it all began” was vague and could mean nearly anything back in Sanity, especially when it came to Randall’s family.  When he thought of his family, it felt like the steel started to hum or sing.  He closed his eyes and the hum started to fill his whole body as he felt his heart beat slower and slower.  For a moment, the hum rose in pitch and he felt the pause between his heart beats stretch until it stopped and everything in the world stopped and became dark and impossibly still.
Randall found himself standing in a room that didn’t have a light in it, but there was the gentle glow of light surrounding him.  Or at least he thought it was a room.  He looked for the source of the light but didn’t find it.  He also couldn’t find any walls or a ceiling. Outside of the light it looked like the darkness extended forever in all directions.  The ground Randall stood on wasn’t dirt or grass. It wasn’t indoor flooring either. It felt solid, but whatever it was underfoot was hidden by a fog.  The fog lingered a few inches above the ground and went out several few feet in each direction.  It seemed like the fog was unaffected by movement or wind as Randall walked through it.  Randall ran for a few moment to see if he could figure out where he was, but there wasn’t anything or any change in his surrounding.  He didn’t run for long, not because he was winded be because it felt like he had been running in place.  Just as he was wishing for a place to sit, a bench caught the corner of his eye.  He knew the bench hadn’t been there before, but rather than question how it got there, he went and sat down.  It felt like it was made of bedding and not the simple wooden slates he saw now.
It felt so wonderful to just sit there and Randall was completely relaxed and no longer concerned about how he got her or ever where here was.  He was content with just being and closed his eyes.  He was at one with the world at this moment and felt at peace for the first time since he was a young boy.  When he heard the voice of his father calling his name, he figured he must be dreaming.  He knew he was tired, but he didn’t think he’d fall asleep just sitting there.  He felt warm, comfortable and wasn’t obsessing about what could happen right now.
“Randall, open your eyes.” He heard his father’s voice, “and stand up so that I can get a good look at you.”  He didn’t want to wake up, so he didn’t open his eyes and he didn’t try to respond. “You won’t wake up, this isn’t a dream.”  Randall wanted to resist, but he also wanted to believe what he was hearing, so he opened his eyes and saw his father standing in front of him. His father continued, “but this isn’t real either.  Think of it as an imagined space that exists inside of you.  Other than you, the only thing here tied to the physical world is time.  Time’s been stretched to the point that the only limit on staying here is your sanity.” A smile formed on his fathers face, “I want to tell you everything.  There’s so much I need to tell you but before I can, it’s better for us to go somewhere safe.”  He paused, “You certainly have grown in to a man.”  He looked over his shoulder, squinting at something Randall didn’t see and for just a moment a grim looking frown replaced the smile.  “Now listen carefully,“ he looked intensely at Randall, “no matter what you decide to do, you will need to go back to somewhere that I would never ask you to if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”  Randall shook his head in agreement and his fathers face looked a bit sad before he continued, “I need you to go back to the place you followed me that night when you were little.  You should have been in bed, but you followed me out of town and managed to stay quite and hidden all that way.  You know the night I’m talking about, right?”
Randall was having a hard time finding his voice, he knew what night his father was talking about.  It was the last time that Randall had been able to be out in the dark without some sort of light source.  It was the last night that Randall did something that his father told him he shouldn’t do.  It was also the night that he found out how cruel the world outside his village was.  He finally found his voice, it was hoarse and barely louder than a whisper, “Yeah dad.  It’s the night you died and it was my fault.”  Randall felt tears come from his eyes, but when he wiped them away, there was nothing.  This place felt so real, yet there were a few odd things.  Randall cleared his throat and said again clearly, “it’s hidden away in one of the nearby tunnels.  The forbidden tunnels that you would sneak off to.”  Randall wiped his eyes again and looked at his father expecting to hear how it was wrong or what he did could have been easily avoided, but his father held open his arms ready to embrace him.  Randall couldn’t help it, he began sobbing and hugged his father tightly.  His father smelled like lavender and honeysuckle and his arms around Randall felt warm, but more than anything he felt safe.
“Don’t worry Randall, there’s no way you could have know how dangerous it was.”  His voice was starting to sound like it came from everywhere. “I kept it secret from you and that was my mistake.”  His arms felt a bit lighter but the warmth of the hug felt like was spreading everywhere. “If I had been truthful, you wouldn’t have had to grow up without parents.”  Randall closed his eyes and had to focus to hear his fathers words.  “I’m still here for you.”  Those last words seemed like they echoed and Randall’s heart felt heavy, hurt and full of love all at the same time.  The world around him swirled a bit and he felt as if he were just taking a deep breath after coming up from swimming.  Again the world went dark and silent, but it didn’t bring the same sense of panic that it would usually.  He felt calm as his consciousness drifted in the dark momentarily.
The air began to hum and Randall heard a loud sound, ‘whoomp’ followed by another slightly different, ‘tuuhmp’.  It was  slow at first, but when it sped up, he could tell that it was his heart beating.  His eyes were open again and he was looking around.  Nothing had changed in the few moments that he had his eyes closed, but he felt different.  It was a feeling, he couldn’t say how he felt different, just that he world no longer felt like it was outside of his grasp.  He also felt incredibly thirsty and exhausted.  He’d head to his bunk after he got something to drink.  He had to sleep.