Down the Rabbit Hole

He stood in front of the platform in the dark chamber, calm and expectant. Above him was a hole big enough to climb through, light dripping down before him. Before him sat a six armed creature, motionless now. Pipes in each of their six slender hands, all lit with thick smoke filled the space. Behind the beast was a darkness unlike any he could have imagined. It seemed to swallow up the light and threaten to come after him as well. He took an inquisitive step forward.
"Why are -you- here?" The creature roared, its voice genderless. A great massive body seated upon a throne of orange and red, blue and purple pillows, trembled as it came to life. The sound echoed all around him. "It is not your turn."
"Where is this place?" The boy asked in response. "Who are you?"
"It is not your turn." An arm swung to raise its pipe to the monster's lips. "I would not expect a child to be ready to make such choices."
"I'm not a child." He whispered, more to himself than the creature who laughed at this. He gaped up in surprise at the sound. So rich, so full of life.
"You're fearless, I'll give you that." There was more movement of the arms as it leaned forward to look at him. "And you've got a hunger to understand the world around you that is uncommon these days."
The boy remained stoic, his mind turning with questions. Was this place purgatory?
"You could call it that...purgatory."
"Is what's above us then, heaven?"
"No. That is the place of light, where things are in the open and you can decide whether to take it or leave it. No right or wrong answers, just knowledge." There was a hint of something not being said. "The place of darkness, behind me," an arm gestured, "is where you look for it yourself, no choice in what you take, and it all affects you, sometimes for the worst."
Emotion, is that it? The boy wondered. That's the difference.
"Most don't make that choice until they are older. Where life is about something much different than originally expected..."
"Is that why I'm here?" The boy thought hopefully. "Because I'm ready?"
"No." The guardian moved away. "You're here, because you have no where else to be. You made a choice a long time ago, to cut yourself off from certain things, like friends and letting yourself relax and now you're a little lost at what you are supposed to be, what you are supposed to want. You cannot tread in amongst those of the light because you carry too much emotion, and you cannot stay with those in the darkness, because you don't know enough to play along."
These words were starting to hit home for him, but he hid it. "Then where should I be? I can't continue this indecision anymore."
"That," the creature grinned through the smoke. "Is your decision. If you pick the light you can continue to learn at the pace you are at. It is all handed to you and you can decide whether or not what you learn hurts or helps you. Pick the darkness, and you must carve the path yourself, pushing past what you believed to be your limits."
"Is there a third option?"
"You can stay here with me in the in between, and fill my pipes. Choice is yours really."
I'm not old enough to make that choice, but I can't stay here...not here.

He took a step.
He closed his eyes.
And hoped to Sartre,
he didn't die.