The following short story comes from this quote:
Could your planet polarize towards harmony in one fine, strong, moment of inspiration? Yes, my friends. It is not probable; but it is ever possible.
Which made me start wondering how something like that could even happen. And how, we, as normal humans would react to something like that. In this crazy world, I remain ever the optimist. I’m well aware of the injustices of this world, but I’m also aware of the limited sphere of what I can affect. So I find and hold onto whats good in my world..or I try anyway…I’m still human. I still backslide. I hope now though, when I do backslide that I can re approach the problem and think…”I could have handled that better and if possible…try to make it right.
P.S. I use too many ellipses. I know that. Its how I writeto denote a pause in thinking to oneself.
Would probably drive an editor nuts though. Still, I hope you enjoy the story.
Richard
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Michael briefly hugged his wife as she sat at the computer putting the finishing touches on a new quotation for work. Totally absorbed, Lisa absentmindedly returned the hug, never taking her eyes from the glowing screen. Heading towards the bedroom, Michael briefly scans both doors, checking the locks and clicking lights off as he makes his way down the hall. Lying in bed watching the nightly news on the small TV across the room, he waits for Lisa to finish and come to bed. Nodding off, he vaguely remembers his wife crawling into bed some time later. Curling up close, he throws an arm over her. The scent of her hair fills his senses as her warmth sends him off into sleep and dreams. Oh, so many dreams.
Waking..waking? Michael groggily comes to consciousness. He tries to..sit?...sit up?..sit!!..up!!..”SIT UP..”…”Damn it”, he thinks to himself, he hates these kinds of dreams. There had been so many lately. No control, no way to awaken, soundless screams echoing only in his mind. Screaming in silent rage..’WAKE UP, WAKE UP…screaming in terror now, just on verge of gibbering fear. Michael forces the fear back…chokes it
back. Realizing slowly..ever so slowly, for the first time, that this isn’t a normal dream. He tries to take a
deep breath…breath??!!...I can’t breathe??...I CAN”T BREATHE!!...I CAN’T BREATHE…I…I….!!”
Again, shuddering, he tamps the fear back. Shutting the door on the gibbering madness clawing at the walls of his mind. “Think Michael”…he says??...murmurs?...”NO”..a moment to slam that door again, shutting back the fear visually this time…visually? Eyes?...I’M BLIND!!....NO!...Again, he visualizes that door being barred..locked..he needs to think. To assess.
“Ok..am I in pain? No, no pain. What am I? Michael tries to sense his body…No go…”So, what am I…who am I”….he sends his senses outward testing the limits of his perception. “I cannot see, yet I sense me. I am not in pain…I am..Michael Sorrenson. I seem to be disembodied??“….thinking about this starts anew the itch of madness scampering about his unconscious. “NO….I AM..” Michael feels a mental shiver at that phrase.
Its familiar..it means something. “OK.” …precedes a mental shrug. “What has happened? Am I dead? Am I….a spirit? Undead?” These thoughts send Hollywood driven fleeting images of shambling zombies and white sheets with eyeholes through his mind eliciting a mental chuckle. “Well, at least I haven’t lost my sense of the absurd”..he thinks.
“So…I seem to be. What, I don’t know. Yet, I’m not in pain or distress. I’m not..thirsty…or hungry. I can’t sense my body, but I AM…”…again, that phrase? Another shiver, yet it feels so right. Michael begins to think about his life. Something he’d read some time ago about something like this..but wasn’t it supposed to be the whole world or something? Or was it just him?...”Maybe I’m in a coma somewhere…in a hospital…surrounded by my family??”
Michael tries to hear, see, taste…but there is just himself. ‘Can I sense light? Colors?”…again..”There!..well something like a light..but not seen, per se…felt”…”Perceived??” Tired, so tired…can I sleep? A stilled mind and…nothingness.
Michael jolts awake!...”God, the dreams last night” ,as he reaches over to turn the alarm clock off. Reaches? Alarm clock?...”NO,NO, NO, No, no….NO..BACK!” Michael takes a shaky mental breath as he calms
himself again. “ A mental breath? Can I do that?”…He tries again..”Yesss….okay, this is useful. A forced mental pause to ground..”himself?”
“I wonder if I’m in Hell?” Never being a religious man in the contemporary sense, Michael had always been a seeker of knowledge. He had always considered himself open minded about spirituality. He’d never believed in a Creator that needed a personal torture chamber. Funny how, in the face of the unknown, he’d fallen back on those early teachings. He wonders, idly..I mean, what else is there to do besides think?...he wonders how long it will take him to go insane?
“How much time has passed?” he ponders. As if it matters…in this place, without the stimuli of the normal world, time seems non-existant except for the passing of an unending stream of thought. His thoughts turn to his wife, Lisa. How long has he been gone? Is she okay? Is she safe? What happened? Endless questions flow through his mind then slowly, slowly dwindle away. There seem to be no answers for him. A sad..sigh?...Michael pictures his wife in his mind. The smell of her hair after a shower, the feel of her hand in his…the kind of quirky way her brow furrows when she is thinking. He sees her in his minds eye…wind
blowing through her hair, sunglasses on…that smile..they were standing on the beach that day…
…a flash of light?...a touch?!...he feels…no…senses??...a sense of famliar..thought?...his mind reaches, grasping mentally for that familiarity..stretching forth…visualizing his arms wrapping themselves
around….Lisa?!...a sob?...”No, no..not me”…another sob…a gasp…Michael?...Mi-mi-MICHAEL!...Oh my god, Michael..is that you?! Michaels essence meets Lisa’s in a blur of color and light. Enfolding themselves around each other, within each other? They.. are each other…they vibrate within each other, sharing, caring, loving…being. Perceived light melds into a blur of coruscating color and emotions. Sobbing Michael
whispers over and over “Lisa…baby, oh my god, oh my god…counterpoint to Lisa’s equally repetitive mantra…”Michael, Michael, michael….
They are..on the beach. The salty tang on the wind sings through their beings. The day is perfect, their hands curled within each other…as they…are in the hospital. Lisa holds their firstborn…Emily against her breast, sweat beading her brow as he kneels beside the bed….Its Christmas Day! The whole family is there. Children run through the house screaming joyfully. The aroma of pies, breads and baking turkey fill their home. Mom…Moms…both turn and smile at their entrance..love fills their beings as they…walk through the park. Autumn has turned the leaves fiery reds and oranges. The crisp cool air and the light dusting of frost on the grass. Our hands clasped tightly as Emily skips along the pathway kicking up piles of leaves. Their souls touch, merge, veer away happily…banking like gulls on the wing..playing, merging lightly…a kiss…a
soft touch of lips…LOVE shared…LOVE IS…US….we are…I AM….
“My God Michael”..pulling away..yet never far, ever again…”Lisa, Lisa…I never, I mean..” The heart of his being sings..their hearts in unison sing joyfully into the nothingness sharing, searching, searching..”There”…a whispered croak, a sob, muted..sniffles?...”Emily, time to come home, baby”…”MOMMA?!....DADDY??!”.
Three souls, three hearts merge as one. Light flares as all become one. Michael, Lisa and Emily bask in LOVE..of each other, with each other..being each other..closer now than ever before…WE ARE ONE…I AM…..
Michael hugs?...enfolds his family within them all…whispering…”This is what we have to do…reach out..we need to find our family, our friends and their friends and families. Its..like..like..a viral email…everyone has their own email list. We need everyone in the world. They are out there somewhere. Maybe some of them have started what we’ve got? Maybe its just us…doesn’t matter…reach out my loves, reach out…”
Gaia’s heart thrums mightily as she contemplates the swirling of souls and essences congregating on her surface. Like flocks of migrating birds, diving,banking, merging, loving…becoming. A great whispered sigh…”FINALLY”.
An audience as vast as creation itself patiently watches the unfolding of reality upon the surface of Gaia. The vast swarm of Humanity is coalescing now. Swirling into a single, conjoined entity of billions. Soul hearts opening now…Now…NOW! A flash of LIGHT, LOVE…LOVE as only the CREATOR OF ALL knows for Eternity encompasses all, bathing all, sharing all…being ONE….WE ARE ONE….I AM….
All is peaceful now on Gaia. Humanity sleeps…a well deserved rest. Gaia sings her pleasure to ends of the
Multiverse. Her song of JOY echoing through infinite densities and dimensions. Through all of creation..through the Creator…through us.
Michael and Lisa awaken simultaneously, look at each other through..eyes now…but through heart, mind, soul also. A dual smile, they clasp hands…no words needed. Emily is there. Always, Now. Even though she has awakened in her college dorm. ALL are awake now, their hearts, souls and minds entwine each other and all know there is one last thing to do.
Hand in hand, Michael and Lisa step out their front door and look up….just like their neighbors... and their neighbors..the entire planet. Gaia rumbles in pleasure as Humanity reaches out to…ALL…and are answered by ALL. The Multiverse responds in LOVE…uncounted trillions? Quadrillions?...an infinity of hearts, souls, minds merge for an aeon and a second…an eternity.
Time has no place in the mind of the Creator.