3 - Mind Palace!

“… Where am I?”

I found myself saying these words more often than I should. This time however, I had my wits about me.

I was in a quaint, circular room. The walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of books, each made from smoothed wood with intricately carved patterns adorn with gold trimming. A cozy fireplace bathed the room in a warm orange tone, flickering with the crackling of flames interrupting the otherwise silent interior.

A desk, two long couches and a couple of chairs were scattered about the center, placed upon a massive, circular carpet. It was a cozy fit, cluttered with comforts like cushions and snacks.

“This is… my room.”

It’s the place I escaped to in my imagination.

I had little to do while bedridden. In the later years of my life, I couldn’t reliably hold books in my hands, nor did I have the strength to focus on audiobooks. My mind however, still went strong despite my ailing body. In my imaginations, I was able to construct anything I wanted to, be wherever I wanted to be.

I imagined this room as my own comfort zone, and here I am now, in the flesh.

I placed a hand upon the desk and felt the certain, cool touch of wood. Inexplicably, my eyes began to water, my lips began to tremble. Little droplets fell from my eyes onto the wooden surface, staining it ever so slightly.

As I watched the tears slowly evaporate away, I felt a strange sensation in my chest. It felt as if I’d been away on a long journey, and had finally returned home.

It felt like a dream.

“Nyeeaaaa…”

I pulled my cheeks as hard as I could.

“Oww.”

You don’t feel pain inside a dream.

I certainly felt pain there. But this feels so… unreal. This room is my own creation; a figment of my imagination. But if this is reality, then…

I took a deep breath, shutting my eyes and hoping.

“Hooty?” I called out softly.

I turned around and opened my eyes.

Where there’d been nothing before, now stood a tall, silver stand not unlike a coat rack. Perched atop was a rather rotund owl, its eyes opened ever so slightly as it shivered, ruffling its own brown feathers.

“Hooty!”

I clutched the fluffy round owl with both hands, cradling it against my chest. Even in my imaginative excursions, I’d felt lonely journeying alone. This owl was the companion I came up with to join me on my adventures.

“Hoo?!” Hooty cried out in protest, flustered at the sudden act of affection.

“Hooty, do you know who I am? It’s me! I’m the one who made you! You’re a… a figment of my imagination, but real! But not really… It’s real outside and not in here but- maybe it is? I dunno…”

“HOOT!”

“Yeek!”

I jumped at Hooty’s rather loud wail of protest as he broke free from my grasp, clumsily fluttering his short wings to return to his perch.

“Hoohoo.”

“You’re saying you know who I am? You’ve been waiting for me?”

“Hoo…”

“Wow, I can’t believe I can actually understand what you’re saying.”

“Hoohoot!”

“Of course I can, since I’m the one who created you… is what you said?”

“Hoot.”

“This is amazing.”

Reflexively, my hands reached out to pet Hooty’s head.

“Hooty, I know this is my room, but… do you know where exactly we are right now?”

“Hooooot.”

“Inside my own mind…?

“Hohoo.”

“Because it’s what I wished for- oh!”

I wish I can just read all the books in my mind- I wish I can live in my own mind-

Monkey paw God! Their literal interpretation of my desires must have manifested in the ability to delve into my own mind.

“But that doesn’t explain why you’re here, Hooty. You’re not a book.”

“Hoohoot.”

“Hmmhmm… You're right, this is just like my imaginative excursions; in here I can conjure whatever I can think up... I wonder what the limitations are. Quite a departure from reading books; were my desires so vague God simply misunderstood? How typical.”

How typical indeed, but this meant there must be other things I can do in this room—in my mind that no one could fathom.

“Hoot.”

“In other words, you could say this is my… ‘mind palace’?”

“Hoo…”

Hooty’s face scrunched up at my words.

“You got something to say, Hooty?”

“Hoot! Hoot!”

Hooty flailed about as I poked and tickled him, then picked him up again in my arms.

“Let’s take a look around, Hooty. Hmm? You’ve been here your entire existence so you know everything there is to know? Aww, come on Hooty. Accompany me, won’t you?”

Curious to know what the hundreds of books were about, I picked one randomly off the shelf and opened it as Hooty perched himself on my shoulder, peering at the contents as I flipped through page after page of densely packed text.

Flip, flip, flip, ruffle.

I closed the book once I’ve had my fill, and silently placed it back onto the shelf.

“… I CAN’T READ ANY OF THESE!” I cried out in despair.

The words were in some kind of strange text, likely the native language of this world. But even if I was once literate, I still wouldn’t be able to read anything, because-

“Ah, god! Why didn’t you check if my memories were intact when you dumped my Earth ones in there?!”

“Hoohooo.”

“What was that, Hooty?! These books are… All recorded knowledge of humanity on Earth?! That’s not something I asked for- no, wait.”

I can take my time reading everything-

Technically, ‘everything’ could be misconstrued as all of humanity’s knowledge… it’s stretching it, but that's the only explanation I could think of.

Hooty smirked as best an owl was able to.

“And I can’t read any of it?!”

“HOOT!!”

“Stop laughing! Gyaah!! To give me the treasure trove of a lifetime, all out of my reach-”

No, hold on.

“Hooty… you weren’t in this room when I first arrived, were you?”

Hooty shook his head.

“I basically willed you into existence, yes?”

“Hoot.”

“In here, I’m basically god of my own mind, is what you’re saying…”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, similar to when I summoned Hooty. If I did it the same way, maybe I can manipulate things in this room to follow my will?

“H-Hoot?!”

Hooty’s confused hooting excited me as I eagerly opened my eyes. The same book I failed to read a single letter of was now floating in the air in front of my eyes.

I sat down on the ground, smiling to myself as Hooty glanced back and forth from my face to the book as it flipped itself to the first page.

“Chapter. One. The beginning. Of. Civilization. As we know. It.”

“Say wha-”

“Although there is. No. recorded history of. The big BaNgGgggGGG-”

“What the heck is this voice?!”

My will for the book to read itself out loud like an audiobook resulted in a synthetic voice reciting the text in the most uncanny of cadences.

“Stop, stop! Umm, let’s see… change the voice to something a bit more tolerable… maybe throw in a little bit of this-”

“Chapter one—The beginning of civilization as we know it.”

“Alright! I fixed it, Hooty!”

“Hoo…”

I ignored Hooty’s look of exasperation as I made myself comfortable on the carpet, listening intently as the monotone voice once again recited the book from the very beginning.

“Although there is no recorded history of the Big Bang’s existence, scientists base their findings-”

“Yes, yes! The language barrier won’t stop me, not here in my domain!”

“-Thirteen billion and eight hundred million years ago-”

“… Uh-huh…”

“-alongside the Big Bang Theory, there have also been multiple others such as the Big Crunch-”

“zzzZZZzzz…”

“… Hoot.”

“zzzzzz…”

“Hoot!”

“ZZZZZZ!”

“HOOOOOOOT!!”

“Wha-?!”

I jolted upright, blinking several times while the audiobook continued to ramble on about things I couldn’t care less about.

“Ow- quite pecking at me, Hooty!”

“Hoot.”

“I fell asleep? But I’d only been listening for less than a minute…”

Why’s my attention span so limited? I know I’m still a child but… there are limits to how bad my- oh.

Realization dawned on me.

“SAY IT AIN’T SOOO!! Ah, god! Did you reincarnate me into a dumbass?!” I exclaimed with both arms outstretched towards the ceiling too high for me to reach. “No, no… I’m not dumb, clearly. I still have the same mind as back on Earth… it must because of my new body; I have the attention span of a kid.”

“Hoo! Hoohoo!”

“Stop laughing at me! Ugh, I didn’t create you to be such a meanie…”

I can’t read, I have trouble paying attention… there must be some method for me to learn things, for my brain to digest information-

“Oh, that’s simple.”

I snapped my fingers.

“Hoot?!”

Hooty gasped, startled by the holographic screen manifested into existence by my will.

“Of course, video format! The bulk of humanity’s knowledge enough to fuel several lifetimes—all in a single location! Click click.”

With sheer force of will, I keyed in the link to a well-known website; the most well-known in the digital sea of information… And pressed ‘enter’ with my finger.

“Come sit on my lap, Hooty. Let me introduce you to the world of ‘Nuutube’.”