“Why does everything seem so boring now? Everything is annoying and frustrating, it’s all so much work.” A young girl- around twenty years old, lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, her brown eyes depleted of life. Minutes go past, her body unmoving, her mind repeating the same sentence over and over again. A knock on her bedroom door forced her out of her trance. She sat up slowly, her quiet and soft voice calling out “give me a minute.” She sat on her bed a bit longer, trying to gain the courage to stand. Another knock echoed through the room. “I know, I’m just coming!” The girl called out again. She dragged her feet to the door, eyes focused on her feet, careful on where she was stepping, avoiding the cans, paper, packets and anything that could possibly be strewn across the floor. She eventually got herself to the door, placing her hand on the handle. When she opened it, rather than being greeted by her elder brother or father or her dull and colourless hallway, she was embraced by a cool wind, a bright blue sky and a field of vibrant grass and flowers. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, not believing what she was seeing. She shut her door, believing this was a dream and made her way back to bed, hoping that if she fell asleep she would be returned to her house. 

Hours passed and the girl arose from her slumber, still feeling exhausted. She clambered back through her room, making her way to the door. She placed her hand on the door handle, hesitating, begging that she would be greeted by the dull- yet familiar hallway, however her pleading went unanswered for when she opened the door another breeze pushed through and the field stood before her. At that moment, the girl’s mind went blank, she stood there, the wind continuing to push around her and moving the paper and packets around. She flopped onto the floor, eyes widened and mouth agape. “I suppose this wasn’t a dream then.” She sat there, watching time go by, the once bright blue sky now a deep void illuminated by white specks in the sky and the comfortable breeze now cold and stabbing. Despite goosebumps rising on her skin, she couldn’t bring herself to move- she was entranced by the field of colours. 

The night passed by, the cold winds and the night sky moved on, the girl now asleep in the place she was sitting. She awoke to the sound of hooves clopping, when she opened her eyes she was greeted by a lonely horse in the middle of the field, seemingly ownerless- potentially wild. For the first time in a long long time she felt a sense of amazement, not at the sea of green or the transportation to somewhere she had never seen before- but at the sight of the lonely and majestic horse that galloped around the field so freely. She stayed by the doorway, watching it run and jump,graze and laydown. She tried to reach out to the horse, tried to move her hand towards it - however she could never gather the strength so she allowed her hand to slump back down - continuing to watch the majestic creature. 

The blue of the sky started to fade into orange and just as quickly as the horse appeared it disappeared off into the distance. Once again the girl was alone, watching the time move on. The familiar silence returned to the girl, her mind wandered into the same routine, questioning why she bothered moving from her bed, why she needed to do anything. She forced herself onto her feet, shut the door and made her way back to her bed, flopping down onto it. She closed her eyes, forcing herself into a deep sleep. 

Hours flew by and now the sun was high in the sky, forcing its way through the girl’s window. She opened her tired eyes and stared up at the ceiling, rubbing her eyes. As per usual she stayed laying in the same spot, not moving an inch. She stayed like that for a few seconds until her eyes flickered over to her door. For the first time in the longest time she had actually wanted to get out of bed, wanted to move and see what was beyond the white door. She was hesitant at first but managed to gather the courage to get out of bed and open the door. When she peered out into the open field she saw two horses, one that seemed to be the same from the day prior and the other a beautiful black and white one. She was mesmerised once again, watching the horses jump and pounce around each other. The first horse seemed to be much happier today compared to the day before. She flopped down just in front of the threshold, still inside of the room but much closer to outside than before. The two horses started to dance around each other, neighing at each other and nuzzling each other’s necks. Hours went by like this, but much like the day before, once the sun fell beyond the horizon the horses had disappeared. She stayed there slightly longer than before, feeling the cold wind hit her skin. As she was left all alone with her thoughts she had a small thought about how she hasn’t been feeling hungry since she came to this place but she chose to ignore the thought and continued to stare out into the nothingness. 

Time went by, the door creaked as the wind blew and the rubbish that laid on the floor rustled around. The girl stayed sat, watching out for the horses. She sat there silently, not thinking, not moving, not tired. She watched the grass sway and the moon progress higher and higher and lower and lower in the sky. At the first sight of the sun the horses returned, although this time there were three. The two from the day before and a new one. The new horse was much smaller than the other two, its fur was black and white like the second horse that appeared and its mane was brown much like the first horse that showed up. The horses seemed at peace and content. The small horse struggled at first to stay standing and struggled to walk but was quick to start running and prancing. Through each movement of the small horse the girl couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity, with each fall the girl wanted to rush over and help the horse and comfort it, however that was not her place, the horse had its parents there encouraging and supporting it and she was a random person the horses didn’t even know existed and so she remained, watching on with a sense of regret and disconnect. With the same pattern the horses disappeared, leaving the girl to watch on. However today she didn’t feel like sitting and waiting, instead she wanted to sleep- even if it meant forcing herself. She pushed herself onto her feet and stumbled her way to her bed, kicking and standing on the rubbish that remained on the floor. She flopped down and closed her eyes, forcing herself to ignore her thoughts and she quickly fell asleep once again. 

The loop started as always. The girl woke up, stayed in bed for a bit, got out of bed and straggled her way to the door- pulling it open and flopping down. Today there were once again three horses, however the second horse was missing and a new baby horse took her place. The two older horses, the first and third one, seemed… sad, they weren’t jumping around or prancing. They occasionally grazed and watched over the younger horse, but they seemed disconnected from each other. The girl’s face fell into a frown the longer she sat at the door watching them. This situation seemed familiar somehow, she struggled through that day, struggled watching the horses be so miserable, watching the youngest of the horses mostly being ignored and left alone. That day was the first day that a horse, the third horse, seemed to look directly at the girl, but before she realised this the girl had already turned her back, closing the door behind her. She moved over to the bed and repeated the cycle. 

The girl woke up to the sun shining through her curtains. She stared up at the ceiling, staying there for far longer than she had since finding herself in this strange dimension. Her eyes flickered towards the doors but flickered straight back at the ceiling. She remained in her room for hours, just laying there not moving even a finger, but soon a knocking sound rippled through the air. The girl tried to ignore it but it kept on and on and on, soon enough she had enough of the noise and moved her way to the door, swinging it open. Once the door opened she was met with a cold and sharp wind hitting her face, the field once green and filled with grass, the horses prancing around happy, now colourless and the field now mostly barren. The horses are now barely moving, the first and fourth horse standing close together whereas the third horse was laying down slightly farther away. Once again something resonated with the girl when she saw the third horse, she stared at the horse, despite its lack of animation. She soon forgot about the knock. The day went past again, the girl stayed sat for hours, however something different happened, the third horse made eye contact with the girl. At first the girl thought the horse was looking through her, like she was invisible but it quickly became clear that it was staring at her, giving the girl what seemed to be a nod in acknowledgment, turning away quickly after. The girl hesitated for a moment, tried to reach out, but once again couldn’t find the strength to. Instead she stood up, closed the door and moved back to the bed. The routine continued on. 

Another day another morning, the girl reluctantly got out of bed, not wanting to hear the repetitive knocking that occurred the day prior. She moved to the door, placing her hand on the handle, pulling it open. She took her usual position, waiting for the horses to show up. Just as she sat down the horses appeared. Once again there were three, the same three as the day before, just older. They remained stagnant, stayed in the same places as before, unmoving and unflinching. As usual none of the horses looked over at the girl, not even the third horse. She quickly shuffled back to her bed, not as entranced as the days before. The pattern repeated again. 

Like clockwork the same routine occurs again. She opened the door, sat down and looked out for the horses. This day the grass seemed to be growing back, the colourless scenery started to show some colour again, and the first and fourth horse seemed to be happier than before, but the third horse was still motionless, in the same place, isolated and alone. This scene felt similar to the girl, however she couldn’t put her finger on it, all she knew was that it was making her feel exhausted. She couldn’t stay there for much longer so she repeated the same movements as always, standing up and moving to her bed. 

Now fed up with the repetitive days the girl remained in her bed, not moving even a finger. Her eyes remained glued to the ceiling and her back stuck to the mattress. She no longer cared about looking outside, after all no matter how often she opened the doors only the fields and horses would appear and everything would repeat, so she resolved to remain in her bed and do nothing… or at least that’s what she was planning before the incessant knocks started. For hours someone or something would knock on the door, lightly at first but as the hours passed it began to get more frantic and desperate. It would stop for a moment and then start again and after the fourth hour the girl gave in. She stormed over to the door, opened it up and once again saw the field and horses. This time though there was colour, the horses looked older and a new adult horse took the place of the second horse that had disappeared. The first and fourth horses were running around as they did before, however the third horse was isolated, sat in its usual place. The other horses would occasionally try to get the third horse to move and join with them but it was stubborn, staying in place. The girl was frustrated watching the scene, more so than before, she was frustrated and angry. She made her retreat back to her bed. 

The girl slept the night away. This day the girl awoke to continuous pounding on the door, it was non stop and persistent. She laid there trying to ignore it and go back to sleep but she couldn’t ignore the constant banging. She pushed her cover off of her and made her way through the room towards the noise. She placed her hands on the handle, hesitating before pulling it open. Outside she saw the horses and grass as usual, this time the horses seemed older. The first, fourth and fifth horses were galloping around, enjoying each other's company and the third horse, as usual was laying, farther away from the rest, the grass around the horse was colourless and dying. Another difference compared to the day before was that the horses that used to try and encourage and support the third horse now completely ignored it, almost as if it didn’t exist or as if it was a nuisance. The girl had enough of witnessing these scenes and tried to get out of the room in hopes of finding a way to escape, however an invisible wall blocked her from leaving, forcing her to stay in that room. At this point the girl had given up, she didn’t feel like going back to bed and sleeping away the night, after all the same thing would repeat - a never-ending loop and relentless knocking if she didn’t leave her bed, so she made the decision to just stay sat there, all day all night, watch the sun set and rise and watch the horses appear and disappear.