"I remember the exact same thing. All those sounds youdescribe. Everything. Did you try to open your eyes or move, and it feltlike trying to move thro...ugh molasses?"I nodded, growing more fearful, yet angry at the same time, finding thisalmost debilitating fear a painful sign of weakness. I was a grown man,I shouldn't have been scared of some noises. "Yeah, something likethat."Ashley said, "You know it's OK to be scared of this, Ryan. Somethingunbelievable has happened to us. You've got to admit. Patra Albertin continued, “I will now let Matra Glandira explain the nature of the trial and announce the results.” He ceded his place at the front of the stage to Matra Glandira.“Each of the four triallists was allocated a direction at random,” said Matra Glandira. “Thyrhonda got South, Sharilla got East, Phyllendra got West, and Eloyin got North. The task I set was both very simple and yet very difficult. They had to leave the village following their assigned directions and spend all day in. She even put her hand over her opened mouth."I don't allow that usually, but I didn't know what to say. I am not a toilet, I tried. But he just looked into my eyes and interrupted me by saying that he thought pissing in my mouth would be nicer than going to the toilet."So I went on my knees again and opened my mouth. He stood up and started pissing in my mouth. He told me to drink it all up. As much as I could. So I did, but it was too much, and he pissed all over my face on purpose. My eyes,. The snow was melting in my hair, sending trickles of icewater down the back of my neck.I stepped forward. Knocked.After a minute I heard someone inside the hall, saw a shadow move behind the glass. And then the door was open, and my mother was hugging me tight.“Joshua.”I was home.Everything in the house seemed the wrong size, as if I had grown while I was away, or the world had diminished.But dinner was everything I remembered. The goings-on in the village were the same stories, woven in a.