Paradise Lost- A short tale.

Paradise Lost

There he was, in a strange place, something like a lost paradise. A dim light was bashfully creeping through the evergreen dome, strong enough to reflect against the wind-shivering leaves of the perennial trees while a chorus of penetrating sunlight beams were forming a thin veil within which myriads of living beings and non-living debris mingled in an exotic dance-like swirl. He was standing there not knowing if he was dreaming and, thus, just observing or if he was really there. He felt that he only needed to think about it and he would miraculously be sitting on the tree branch next to that bird vested with a rainbow of colors and singing about the universal harmony; or next to that serpent that was trying to get across the red-brown pathway unnoticed, next to the water drop forming at the edge of a brightly green leaf and whose surface was forming a distorted image of this tiny universe.


He was there, in the middle of this intense play of matter with light when suddenly he heard the wind whispering to his ears: “Who are you and what are you doing here, did you happen to lose your way or is it that you seek truths?”


He felt flabbergasted, num and, for a moment, he stood immobile. He thought “…but there is nobody around to address my words to”. Collecting all his courage, he finally spoke: “It’s me who witnesses this miracle of life that would like to know why things are and how I would end up.”


Following these words, silence fell abruptly. He closed his eyes momentarily and when he realized what he just said, fear subjugated his soul. Everything seemed to have vanished and in their place the twilight split the horizon in two halves. Abruptly, the voice he has heard before, albeit this time more authoritative and stern, echoed in the air: “It seems that if one asks the questions then certainly he must also know the answers.”


He woke up way ahead of his alarm bell and that was his first win against this devilish machine, with an expression of query still painting his face. Nonetheless, he felt euphoric, ready to face any misery in his day ahead of him. He took his morning shower, letting the water slowly dropping, as if he has now gained a new environmental consciousness, had his morning coffee accompanied by his usual two cigarettes and fed his black cat, his only companion over the last three years. He started wearing his usual daily armor, now ready to face everyone archenemy, routine. As he was going out of his apartment complex, a pale-white construction indistinguishable from any other building around him, he unexpectedly became aware of the street silence and tidiness around him and somehow he felt uneasy. "Hmm! He said, new Mayor, new habits?" He then started pacing fast along the narrow, dark alley, as he has done every day for so long now, on his way to catch the early morning bus which stood idle, alarms blinking, waiting patiently for its regular morning customers to fill the void and fulfill its purpose in life.


The sound of squeaking tires interrupted the eerie silence, as if a horse has gone wild, the smell of burning rubber instantly has spread through the air and followed by a mute sound. He then saw a white, almost transparent light spreading in front of him and slowly erasing everything else around him. Instead, a thought has now occupied his mind that made absolute sense to him: “It does not make any sense asking all these whys when life has its own grand designs for each and every one of us.” And then, darkness covered all.

ZORAS, 2010