Kael kicked open the door, bag in his hand, pausing to allow the cool night air to breeze past his face. Spring was by far Kael’s favorite season, always so tranquil and cool. He hefted the garbage up to his waist, lifting it’s obscene weight with every step of his foot. How did they always get these things so heavy? It’s not like Kael’s sister Jacky ever had leftovers to throw away, and his mom was never home to eat period.

The street was empty, and the only sound to be heard was the sound of his bag crashing periodically back to the ground.

Lift. Drop. Lift. Drop. Repeat.

After a couple dozen yards down the driveway, he reached the trashcan and lifted the bag up to the lip of the dumpster. As Kael prepared to drop it in, he spied something shining in the depths of the metal trashcan, and scrambled to keep the bag from falling inside. Letting the bag fall back to the ground with a small shatter of glass, he peered slightly into the dark dumpster. The light seemed to be hidden beneath a small pile of paper, and as he reached his hand forward,  he hesitated.

Was he really going dumpster diving after a light?

An old memory of a cat chasing a laser point across the house made him feel even more stupid.

Kael reached down into the trash can, trying to touch as little of the sides as possible, and holding his nose tighter with every breath. As his hand brushed against rough newspaper, he looked down into the can, trying to ignore the rancid smell. The can was deeper than he expected, and he was forced to reach farther in to get at the paper.

Strange…he had just touched it but now he was on his toes to reach it.

He made one last stretch, reaching deep inside the can, and just as his hand grasped the top piece of newspaper, he felt a sudden and powerful shove from behind.

Kael fell into the trashcan…and kept falling.

Faster and faster, deeper and deeper, he fell down a hole which looked far too wide to have been under the small trash can. Yet still as small lights all along the walls of the hole flicked by like small shooting stars, he for the first time felt something normal.

Panic.

Yet panic was not his only emotion.

Exhilaration, amazement, fear, and panic all coursed through his body, freezing him in suspended stillness as he continued to fall.

He knew not how long he fell. Hours? Days? Time seemed to…feel, different there, as though his mind worked slower, or maybe it was faster?

It was only when he really began to truly worry if the hole was endless, that a light suddenly sprung into view beneath him, and Kael fell into oblivion.