The End and The Beginning

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amreading, amwriting, change, civilization, differences, division, Flash Fiction, greed, human nature, knowledge, learning, lessons, mistakes, perpetual existence, repetition, tools, truth, unchanged, unity, writingcommunity

 

Richard Ehrlich photography, from “Homage to Rothko, Malibu Series” 2012
(In collaboration with R. Mac Holbert, a series of montages composed from original Malibu sky images as an Homage to Mark Rothko)

 

I wrote this story a while ago. I submitted it without success. I think this is the right time to share it. Dismal, but true. We don’t change, do we?

 

 

The End and The Beginning

 

They said the Day of Judgement had come and the end of the world was near. Then the skies turned granite, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis devastated towns and villages for days until all the unwanted were washed away from the surface of the planet.

Waking on strange beach, I looked around and saw that everything had changed. Not a building in sight, nor any remnants of “civilization”. A vast emptiness as far as the eye could see, bordered by tree covered hills. Even the sun didn’t look familiar, an alien shade of red, casting a rosy light upon the land.

Following the sound of water gushing from an unseen source, I dragged my feet towards it until I came upon a rivulet fed by a spring. Scattered around its banks, people talked to each other while perusing me with suspicion as I approached. I bowed my head, then cupped my hands and drank water to quench my thirst.

Resting on the grass to observe the survivors, I noticed everything was different. Snow White was no longer white, but black. Rapunzel had close-cropped hair. Alice had lost her wonderland. Soldiers and pirates exchanged clothes and identities, as Sleeping Beauty walked around, eyes wide open. Lords had become peasants as peasants flaunted their elegant outfits.

“Who are you?” a young girl asked.

“No one special. I’m me.”

“How come you haven’t changed?”

“No idea. Are we on a different planet? Is this Earth or elsewhere?”

“We don’t know, yet. Nobody does. We’re gathering to decide on a plan.”

I joined the discussion about our survival and voted to move up the hills to take shelter rather than staying on the beach in case of a Tsunami. Perhaps we could find food up there and a safe haven to settle.

Scouts explored the mountains and returned with the news of a valley beyond the hills. Hunting for food with sharpened sticks, on our way, we reached the meadow at dusk. Gathered around fires lit with flint,  the head count of 500 remaining humans discussed the strategy of our survival on this strange planet.

“Back to the stone age,” one said.

“At least we have the knowledge. We can make tools, wheels, and shelters. Start farming, agriculture. Keep livestock, form a community.”

Knowledge without tools was a sad consolation, but we could always try as humans had done in the past and advanced.

Survival being our mutual cause, we worked in harmony as a leader emerged in the colony. He formed a council of advisors, and much to my surprise, included me they called Unchanged. It seemed like a privilege, but I wasn’t sure. Perhaps it meant unchangeable, inflexible, rigid. Was I so, though I tried very hard to adapt to the difficult conditions of our existence?

“A transformation,” they said. “A test for humanity to do better this time, understanding the past to build the future. At least we speak the same language and can communicate. We’re civilized without being civilized.”

I wasn’t sure about that either because I heard a wise woman and a wise man speak.

“You know what will happen at the end of this, don’t you?” she said.

He chuckled. “Politics, greed, wars, division, and devastation. The rich and the poor.”

“Progress and destruction.”

“Can’t we prevent this, having the knowledge?”

“Not unless we can stop time, but you know we can’t change human nature.”

 

I wept with the knowledge that someday this world would end, too, despite the efforts of survival and co-operation here. Perhaps, that’s why I hadn’t changed. I represented all of them, in my perpetual state of being.

 

Thank you for reading.  🙂

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Excerpt from The Child of Heaven

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a new dimension, a new planet, aliens, Book Excerpts, constellation of Libra, Fantasy, Fiction, human condition, human experience, learning, Leia, Life on Leia, passage, pink planet, sebnem e.sanders, space travel, The Child of Heaven, The Passage, the universe, transportation

 

 

 

I posted the below excerpt on a prompt #neardeathexperiences , in a writers group on Facebook because the prompt reminded me of this excerpt from The Child of Heaven, my first completed manuscript. I may or may not publish it, soon. I need your opinion. Would you like to hear what happens before and after this excerpt? Tell me, please. I value your opinion. Thank you. 😍😍

(PS. only about 500 words. Like you, I don’t like very long posts, in small print.)

 

The Passage

 

 

Leila opened her eyes to a rosy haze. Stretched out beneath a bizarre blush of dawn, she could hear the echo of gentle waves coming from nearby. Her hands touched the smooth surface that felt like fine sand. She blinked several times and looked in the direction of the rhythmic hum. A vast beach bordering a sea seemed to expand infinitely. The turquoise-coloured sea met with the cerise sky far on the horizon. She sat up and looked behind her. She could make out the soft curves of rose-tinted hills encompassing the beach in the distance. As her eyes adjusted to the surroundings, she became aware that everything within her sight was dipped in a different shade of pink.

“Ton sur ton pink,” she mumbled.

Leila rose unsteadily and felt dizzy.  Trying to regain her balance, she walked a few steps. She stopped and looked around again. Not a single living creature seemed to be in sight; not a single tree, the odd bird or even an insect.

‘Where am I?’ she thought, uneasily. ‘Am I dead and is this heaven?’

Leila walked towards the sea and dipped her hand in the water. It felt cool. She tasted her wet finger. It was salty.  The waves rolled over her feet as she walked along the edge. It felt good.  A bright ball of crimson light in the sky sent  its rays to the sea, forming sparkling, spiral beams on the water.  Everything seemed peaceful and comforting, yet she felt strange and lonely. She knew she was in a different place.   In spite of the great calm surrounding her, uneasiness took over her soul. Leila stepped out of the sea and sat on the pink sand. While trying to debate her circumstances, she could feel the surge of panic rising in her chest.

She saw a figure approaching her from the direction of the hills and awaited in uncertainty. As the figure moved closer, she could make out the stature of a very tall, slim man, clad in a tight-fitting black outfit. The bald headed man with piercing turquoise eyes, stood grandly by Leila and said, “Hi, Leila, I’m Alem, and I am here to welcome you to Leia.”

“Leia, where is Leia? How did I get here? “

“Leia is a planet in the constellation of Libra, rather far  from planet Earth.  It is also called the pink planet because we have a crimson sun.”

“You mean you abducted me here from planet Earth?”

“No, Leila, we did not abduct you. You came here on your own free will. “

“How far is it from Earth?”

“In human terms, it’s more than twenty light-years away, but we don’t measure distances in those terms. Your measurements for distance and time are of no significance to us. We have different abilities to transport ourselves in space.”

“I’m not sure I totally believe you! Why would I want to go through such an ordeal?”

“You are probably much dazed and tired, but you will remember soon. We will try to make you as comfortable as possible. Let me take you to our guest quarters where you can rest and recover from your trip. “

 

The Child of Heaven ©2012 ©Sebnem E. Sanders

Part II Life on Leia

The Passage

 

Movies

Tags

butterfly effect, casualty, dreams, empathy, grand finale, learning, lesson, life, loneliness, loss, love, movies, past, play, present, purpose

 

 

Watching movies to pass time,

Benjamin Button, Up in the Air and Babel

butterfly effect with the underlying theme of loneliness,

feeling the empathy for the love and loss,

of youth, dreams and purpose

It’s easy to analyse the past,

to death, sometimes,

but analysing the present is hard,

why we have become who we are,

without dissecting the contributing factors

How did I get here?

Can I time-travel and put it right,

or am I just a casualty of the past,

in my loneliness among the crowds?

Will I age backwards like Benjamin Button

in complete memory loss,

from diapers to diapers

in the reverse order?

Or will I continue existing Up in the Air

with free miles on my card I won’t be able to spend?

Token miles for life expire within a set time,

no longer valid in this act of the play,

intermission, suspense,

and the anticipation for the grand finale,

which we’ll only know when the play ends.

Seasons

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Ad Hoc Fiction, change, continuity, cycle, despair, Flash Fiction, hope, learning, lessons, life, micro-fiction, repetition, seasons, spring

 

A micro-fiction story of maximum 150 words, I contributed to Ad Hoc Fiction,  using the word “spring”.

 

Spring arrived early. Unprepared, I shed my winter clothes. In the garden, daisies greeted me, along with poppies and dandelions. I checked the seeds of hope I’d planted in November. Little green shoots displayed their leaves and tiny buds with pride.

Like my youth, Spring passed in a flash and became Summer, my middle-age. I didn’t mind the heat, though it slowed me down. Wearing shades under the canopy, I created shadows where I could enjoy the multi-coloured blooms of the Bougainvillaea. Attractive vines that thrive in strong sunlight, and need little water. I decided to imitate them, and protect myself with thorns against unwelcome visitors. But it was too late.

When Autumn arrived, I planted my seeds again, before winter confined me indoors.  A pessimist in darkness,  I asked myself, “How many more times can I do this?”

The hyacinth bulb by window answered, “Until you learn.”

 

http://adhocfiction.com/read/#FlashEbook

 

Future Love

Tags

awareness, dreams, feelings, Flash Fiction, future, heritage, humanity's future, learning, love, poetry, robots, secret

My take on the Prompt-Love from last week’s Flash Fiction competition at Scribblers.

 

Young Girl Seated

Amedeo Modigliani

Date: 1918; Paris, France

 

Aurora stepped into the library and began to peruse the aisle market Classics. In 2118, paper books were only found in libraries. She liked to feel them, and turn the pages, instead of swiping the arrows on her digital appliance. The old worldly smell of the books fascinated her, and as she flipped through the yellowed pages, she wondered how many pairs of eyes must have read the words printed on these ancient tomes.

The title of the book said Sonnets, rhyming words that sounded like a lullaby. One word kept re-appearing, love, something she had to find out about.

The robot librarian approached her and scanned the tablet in his hand. “Aurora Ellis, your preferences show you’re into sports and inter-galactic thrillers. You must be in the wrong section. I’ll guide you to your favourites, away from these dusty antiques.”

Aurora fluttered her eyelids. “I’m doing a research on this ancient concept called poetry.” She pulled out her tablet from her backpack and showed the robot her assignment, signed by her instructor, Mr Shelby.

The robot studied the validation and replied in his monotone electronic voice. “I see. If you need any more help, I’ll be around.”

Aurora took a deep breath and silently thanked Basil, her classmate, for hacking into the school system to create a false assignment.

Love was a word from her recurring dreams that had begun to haunt her. It wasn’t a concept learned at home or taught at school. Mr Shelby talked about the poets from ancient times and how they composed an arrangement of words in a certain rhythm. Musical, with a set measure, that somehow stayed in her memory, like the lyrics of songs she heard on old recordings.

Why was love so important then, and not so, now? What was the difference between like and love? Aurora liked her friends, her parents, the books she read, and the games she played with or without her classmates. Did she like them all the same? She decided some were stronger. She liked her parents more than those of her friends’, and her friend, Alma, more than the other girls. Basil was her favourite among the boys.

She scanned the shelves and found a book titled Famous Quotations, inside which there was a section called Quotations on Love. She took the book to a table and began to read.

“Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips. – Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Bound”
“We love the things we love for what they are. —Robert Frost, Hyla Brook ”

Aurora read for a couple of hours, trying to memorize the quotes and copying the longer ones onto her tablet. When she left the library, her head was full of love. Yet, she had to experience the warmth, the spark and the feelings the ancients talked about. Someone had said, “Love is the most profound human feeling.”

She ran to Basil’s house, and once inside his room, she quoted: “You are my North, my South, my East and West, my working week and my Sunday rest.” ¹

“What, are you mad?” Basil said, rolling his eyes.

“I’m quoting from W.H. Auden.”

“You’ve been reading too much poetry. Get real!”

“I am real. I love you, Basil,” she said and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Basil pulled back and blushed. She could see the spark in his eyes and feel the warmth that spread throughout the room. Aurora giggled and rushed home.

Her mother met her at the door. “Where have you been, Aurora? You’re late.”

“I was at the Library, Mum. Reading.” Aurora wrapped her arms around her and whispered in her ear. “I love you, Mummy.” Her mother patted her back, lifted her chin, and looked into her eyes. Teardrops landed on Aurora’s face.

“I knew you’d find it, ” she said. “It’s our secret.”

Aurora experimented the power of love on her best friend, her pets, and on her father the following day. The results were the same. Sparks in their eyes, warmth and comfort. They shared her secret. She remembered a quote from The Little Prince. The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart. ²

No wonder the Leaders were trying to turn humans into robots. They were afraid of the power of love, but they didn’t know humans carried it in their hearts since the beginning of time, regardless of restrictions, and shared it only with the ones they loved. Shakespeare was right.

Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark… ³

Aurora dreamt of love at night and the quotes that would guide her throughout her life. The secret she would pass on to the next generations for the most profound feeling humans are capable of experiencing.

 

References:
¹ The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
² W.H. Auden, “Stop All the Clocks”
³ Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare

Happy New Year!

Tags

damaged, endurance, experience, Flash Poesy, flaws, human, imperfections, learning, mediocre, strengths, vulnerability, weaknesses, wishes

 

Wishes

I wish I were taller

wish I were stronger

but I’m not

sometimes I lack the strength

mediocre, vulnerable, and weak

I rise from the shards of my psyche

damaged, cracked and chipped along the edges

but not defeated, yet-

only human,

with my imperfections.

Soothing Waters

Tags

awareness, fireballs, learning, pain, seapeople, soothing, sorrow, the sea, water

 

The leaves of the tall eucalyptus trees lining the narrow lane sang an unfamiliar song in the warm breeze. Murmurs, mutterings of ghosts from another life, in a quaint language I had not heard before, yet understood.

“Come,” they said, “just follow the road.”

So I did, though it was twilight, but fear didn’t cross my mind. Where the eucalyptus trees ended, a horse carriage waited. The driver beckoned me with a smile. I rode the cab that took me down the path between the orange groves all the way to the edge of the sea.

I thanked him and stepped down. The full moon illuminated the beach and the waters of the bay. To the right, colourful beams of life from the slow town danced upon the water, to the left a haphazard array of dim lights twinkled like fireflies on the ancient sites.

There was music without music. I sat facing the full moon, my eyes drifting between the shores.

Then I saw Marvin, walking to the shore from the sea.

 

“How did you know I was here?” I asked.

“We have ways of understanding,” he said.

“Did you come to see me?”

“Yes, and to extinguish the fires.”

“What fires? There are no fires here.”

“Fires are everywhere, we help people deal with the pain.”

“You mean…”

“You know what I mean…”

“Where do they go?”

“There are many places, it depends on who they are.”

“I came back to find you and you were gone.”

“We cannot stay in the same place for longer than we have to.”

“So will you be gone again now?”

“I must, but this is so that you know I exist.”

“I know you do, but I couldn’t prove it.”

“Proof in the third dimensional existence is difficult. Awareness is unable to produce such physical evidence.”

“Will there be more fireballs? More sorrow?”

“I’m afraid so. Until they learn.”

Marvin stroked my hair and kissed me. Then he rose, and bowed his head, a farewell smile lingering on his face before he disappeared into the sea.

In the emptiness, I watched the moon’s reflection on the bay and pondered.

Still so much water to extinguish the pain of fire, despite the many more fireballs to come.