Watches from within birch trees

Dimensions are an interesting subject. There are 3 -or is it 4?- dimensions that makeup existence. The first one is length, the second width, and the last depth with the fourth maybe/probably being time. A first-dimensional object would probably look somewhat like a straight line stretching on for infinity or more specifically, points on a line. A second-dimensional object is something we see every day such as a rectangle or rhombus. Adding width to length gives things order and boundaries but is also still somewhat limiting. For example, the first Super Mario game would be a perfect example of 2d space. The only directions you can go are up, down, forward, and backward. If you asked Mario to go around the green pipes instead of jumping over them, he would have no idea what you're talking about. The concept of 'going around' the obstacles doesn't exist.

You might be thinking, 'that's neat and all but why are you telling me this?' Well, the answer is that I am insane. I'm not talking/not thinking to anyone but myself so I must be. Although, a better answer is that I am currently existing in a 2d reality and felt the need to ponder my own existence. How is that possible? I don't know. Growing up here was hard for me because as I grew older foreign facts, knowledge, experiences started popping up in my head. Memories. Apparently, in my previous life, I was a person living in a 3dimensional reality on a planet called earth. I guess that explained why I was so different as a child compared to the others, even if the memories were only surface level (I don't remember personal details of my previous life, only general facts, and experiences). Music, dancing, clothes, storytelling, and all manner of other concepts didn't exist here. When I tried introducing these concepts to my new parents I was punished and warned to never do that in front of others as in this world being irregular, being different, was a sin.

Speaking of the second dimension, the people here are all geometric shapes. I still remember when I first came here like it was yesterday.

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Everything felt strange. My body felt heavy like I had a ton strapped to my back. It felt like my being was being pressed down flat on a smooth surface. I opened my eyes and blinked. I blinked once more and realized I only had one eye. I looked around the area and was immediately disoriented. My perception felt weird and wrong in a way like I was missing the bigger picture. It felt really jarring.

It seems my exhaustion was temporary as I soon recovered. Thin, black, noodle-like appendages extended from my body and came into my perception. I looked down and felt my body in curiosity. It felt warm yet smooth with small creases segmenting my - is it skin? It felt more like warm plastic and it also had a brick-like pattern as a result of the creases. I reached up to feel my face but all I felt was a really big eyelid, no mouth nose, or ears.

I heard a collection of bizarre noises and sounds arranged in an erratic and seemingly random order. My eye turned to look in the direction of the noises. A large brown triangle met my gaze.

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That brown triangle was apparently one of my parents, my dad. He didn't really do much, he seemed to be observing me. Behind him, Another triangle emerged, a pale yellow. My mom. From there, my life continued on as a newborn and baby, lazing around all day with my mom carrying me everywhere and drinking a bland milk-like substance from a bottle. The sexes here aren't quite obvious, normally the voice would be a good indicator but you can't know for sure unless you see their genitals. Our anatomy was also very funny. Our singular eyes transformed into mouths when we wanted to eat, leaving us blind in the process. We must not have very many natural predators if we evolved like that.

Overall, Life was good if not a little boring. When I was old enough and I could understand and speak the language, I was sent off to school. My education was pretty basic with only rudimentary math, reading, and spelling. I was able to get a few obligatory anatomy lessons as well.

The limited education didn't really matter in the end as my memories came back more and more the older I got. Despite us living in the second dimension, time did still exist even though we didn't measure it too closely. The most specific measurement of time here would be a day. I'm not sure how they came up with days either as there was no sun or even color. The only things with color were living creatures. I, for example, was a bright yellow equilateral triangle, a step up in class compared to an isosceles.

Class. That was a big deal in Flatland, the name of the world. Our society adhered to a strict hierarchy. It was basically this, the more sides you had and if they were in equal proportion, the higher were you on the social hierarchy. If your sides and angles were off, the government gave you time to get surgery and treatment to fix it but if you couldn't fix it, you were subjected to Euthanasia. It was seen as mercy here. Mercy my back angle. Even if the 'treatment' and surgery worked, the shape in question would live a short life of pain and misery. The Circles, it seems, don't want stupid and ugly imperfections to mess up their perfect world. Speaking of Circles, they were seen as the perfect shape. Apparently, they have so many sides in such a perfect alignment that it was impossible to see them. Personally, I think it's bogus. There is no actual proof that what they say is true, everyone just takes their word for it. To me, it seemed more like circles only had one continuous side that went around and connected to itself.

If we were to go by this, it meant that circles were an inferior shape to triangles. When I brought this point up to my parents, they were horrified. I got an especially good beating out of that. They were frantically checking the windows and doors to make sure no one heard what I said. My mom pulled me deeper into the house by my wrist, while my dad was checking the windows.

"Look, William, It's not that we want to hit you or punish you, not at all," My mom said, "The Circles have eyes and ears everywhere, you can't go around saying stuff like that. Our family is already being observed due to all the irregular activities you tried doing before. Will, you have to stop," She pleaded.

"But I-," I tried arguing. She gave me another look. I sighed in resignation. "Ok, mom. I won't do it anymore." If I wasn't annoyed by all the unfair and cruel laws enforced by our Big Brother esque government controlled by The Circles, I sure was now. That was all it was, annoyance. For now at least.

While the laws were cruel, unfair, and oppressive they didn't really affect me too much. I was content to live out my life in peace. Inheriting my dad's job and business of carpentry, and getting a wife/husband assigned to me to pass on my lineage. I had both an insertion piece and an insertion slot so if I wanted to I could be a mother or a father. Others could have only a piece, a slot, five slots, or three pieces it varied quite a lot that's why voices are not a very reliable indicator of gender, they are more like indicators of personality.

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After that whole fiasco, life continued onward. I became a lot more reserved and less outgoing than before, choosing to let my ideas stay ideas, at least publicly. I didn't want to trouble my family by doing something stupid. As mentioned before I was learning carpentry under the tutelage of my dad. I was learning the names and appearances of different building materials when my mom walked into the room.

She seemed incredibly happy about something.

She ushered my dad inside their room. I waited outside, confused. After a few minutes, they both came outside looking ecstatic.

"William dear, there's good news!" My mom exclaimed, "You're going to be getting a sibling!"

"Really!?" I was surprised. Flatlanders didn't have a very high libido and most would probably only mate once in their life. Having two kids is very uncommon although not too rare.

"That's awesome! What's their name?" I asked.

"We're not too sure yet, we'll tell you when we are," My dad said. I agreed and went to my room very excited. Having a sibling would be fun. I could share my ideas like making instruments, snazzy clothes, or telling them stories that were popular on earth. Speaking of instruments, I am secretly working on making a piano. I have already found strings and keys I could use to make it but the problem is space. I have a working blueprint but I am having trouble condensing it. Lack of depth sucks.

Speaking of things that suck. Remember when I said no one listens to or practices music? Well, the thing is that people here do in fact possess musicality, meaning they can appreciate music. Well, then why does no one listen to music!? This is so frustrating! I sigh and give up on the piano for now. I simply don't have enough space to make it in my small room. I instead work on making a guitar instead as it much smaller.

Maybe it's the Circles suppressing music? If that's true this world is more dystopian than I thought.