The Prompt - Wonder

I'm returning to my scary story for this post and trying to get poor Tom out of the terrible dilemma he finds himself in. Read on to see what happens next ...

WONDER

As soon as the word was out of Tom's mouth there was a flash of pure white light that made him screw his eyes tightly shut. All he could see was a searing white light and the capillaries on the inside of his eyelids. After standing in the dark for so long the sudden light had caused real pain to Tom. He pressed his hands over his eyes to protect them and waited for them to adjust to the light.

Slowly he felt the pain subside and ventured to open his eyes very slightly. Everything was washed out by a clean white light, stronger and brighter than any light he'd ever seen. Very little was visible around him and he had to squint as the light was still too powerful for him to bear.  Tom could see vague shapes around him but couldn't work out what they were. They were both tall and short, wide and narrow and some seemed to be floating in mid air. Nothing was familiar and nothing seemed to correspond to his lounge which he had entered all that time ago.

How long had it been since he'd followed an annoying sound into his lounge and all this nonsense had started? Time was a fluid thing now; he might have been in this room for five minutes, five hours or five days. Tom had no way of telling. 

The light stayed constant and Tom was struggling to keep his eyes open against its glare. There was no obvious source of the light, it seemed to be coming from all around him. When he'd taken the kids to the beach and forgotten his sunglasses Tom had shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun with his hand. This was less than ideal but he managed to spare his eyes from sunlight and was able to function. Now he had no respite from the light. He put his hand up to his eyebrows in the same way that he would on the beach but the strong light shone up and across his face. He tried cupping his hands around his eyes but the light poured in from the front. The only way to avoid it was to close his eyes. Tom was reluctant to do this having spent so long in the dark but the strength of the light was making his eyes and his head ache. So he closed his eyes and waited.

As he stood with his eyes shut Tom was aware that he was swaying slightly. From somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered a road trip to America when he'd been pulled over by the police and having to do a sobriety test. The policeman had made him stand with his eyes closed, counting. He assumed that if he fell over they'd decide he was drunk and he'd have been whisked off to jail. What would happen to him if he fell over here he had no idea. Was there even a ground below him to fall on to? Despite feeling something solid beneath his feet Tom was starting to doubt even the evidence of his own senses.

The slightest breeze ruffled Tom's hair, as if someone far away had slammed a door shut. Tom stiffened. Something was about to happen and Tom felt both anticipation and fear.

A huge voice boomed out. So powerful that Tom felt the words at the same time as he heard them.

" Welcome to The Wonder. Here is a place where your dreams can come true, where you can fulfil all your deepest desires, where you can become anything you want to become. This is the truth of The Wonder."

There was a long pause and Tom wondered if he was expected to respond when the voice boomed out again.

" However, in The Wonder your greatest fears also reside, your darkest corners may become manifest and you sins will find you out. You have been chosen. You may enter The Wonder and experience all it has to offer, for good or ill."

Tom's mind was spinning. What was this? He had no idea how to respond to this, this...whatever it was. The pause lengthened and Tom was frightened to speak. Something about the voice scared him. It seemed to command such power that he was scared to say anything in case it was the wrong response. Then Tom felt the voice again almost before he heard it.

"This is your only chance to enter The Wonder. You will not be chosen again. If you choose to enter The Wonder you will do so at once. There will be no delay and you may never leave once you have entered. If you choose not to enter The Wonder you will be returned to the time and place before with no memory of what has happened to you. You will never be offered entrance to The Wonder again and you will know nothing of its existence. The time is now. Choose wisely and choose now."

Tom opened his mouth and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He had so many things he wanted to ask but this didn't seem to be an option. He stood at an important moment and he had no idea what he was going to do.