5 MIN READ: SHADES OF BLUE (A Short Story)

The sun was gone. The night had taken over. In the stillness of the valley, he sat on a rock by the banks of the Southern river.

She was lying on a wooden raft… very weak and almost breathless, but still radiating beauty and elegance. For a long time, she waited for him.

He moved closer to her. He had many questions and they all came at once.

He opened the conversation. She obliged.

He asked why the sands were made of earth. Separate from the sea it holds.

“So you can still walk on your own ground, pave your own path, explore my world with your own two feet, plant and grow your garden, ride your carriage and build your castle.”

He asked why the wind floats in the air.

“To let you know that I am near, and to let you feel my presence even when you are with the heat of the sun, basking in her glory, letting her kiss her and touch your skin or make you blush. Even with all that , I am quite certain my fresh breeze will give you more pleasure.”

He asked why clouds were found in the sky.

“To hide you from the sun’s glare when she has a fit and when she tries to hold on with her fatal grasp. The clouds are there to protect you. So you don’t burn. So you can breathe.

He asked why the tides were sometimes high and sometimes, low.

“When the tides are high they can lift you from the shore and take you to the far end of the ocean. A place that no one has ever seen. Some call it Paradise. Some call it my Heart.”

He asked why there were stars in the night sky.

“So they can keep your eyes off the raging sea. And dazzle you like diamonds would.”

He asked why she needed to take him to Paradise.

“To let you see who I truly am. Only my Paradise can do that.”

He asked why the moon came out only at night.

“So you will know that I am there when the world turned dark.”

He asked why the sea always had the moon’s reflection.

“The moon is my face and when my face meets the ocean, you can kiss it, and I can do the same for you.”

He asked why she wanted to meet him at night.

“So you can see my True Light. For it only lights up in the darkest places. It is the light that glows. The light that never burns.”

He asked why they can only make love in the waters.

“So I can let you float and dance in it too. So you can drink from me and heal. My waters can quench your every thirst.”

He asked why dawn came after night.

“So you will know that I still have hope. Hope in me and you. Hope in my present and future. Because you will not last in my waters. You will either drown in your own worries, or sail away in the city of vanity, or leave your wasted parts with me. You will always need to leave me.”

He asked why it rained.

“So you will know when I long for you. So you will know when I weep for the days I would never see come to life again. I will let my tears cleanse the earth, so you will know that my love for you is pure.”

He asked why there were rainbows.

“The seven colors represent the seven rays of humanity. The seven continents. So you will be reminded that you are not only white or black. You are yellow and red. You are a mix of the many colors of the rainbow. So you will know that I will recognize you in every color. So you will know that only when your colors become one will you understand the beauty of my Soul.”

He asked why the rainbow came only after the rain.

“People come together as one only after the rain.”

He asked why the ocean had turned into many shades of blue.

This time, her tone had changed. She looked at him with sadder eyes and took a very long pause before she answered.

“So you will see that I hurt too and my hurt goes deep. The many shades of blue are the many sorrows I cradled. The darker shades are the wounds I took after you sailed further away from me. When you left me with your wasted parts…poisoned by black wine you believed was made of gold.”

He stopped for a moment, after hearing all this in his mind he wondered why it all sounded so familiar.

But she knew HIStory quite well. She never forgot. Although she was deeply saddened by the loss of a memory, she answered every question of his faithfully. He must remember everything, she said to herself.

He had one last question. The most important question that led him to search for her.

He asked why the animals have left the earth, save for a few, but the few left dying as he spoke.

He asked why many like him have fled to the caves, why the ground shook, why the waters enveloped the earth and had turned into ice, why the evergreens have disappeared and why the world was slowly losing life, and its light.

“So you will know when it is time to search for me. True enough, you had found me.” She said.

He was beginning to remember now, piece by piece. He wondered why his soul did not search any earlier.

“Many times I had called you when I started to weaken: she recalled. “When the sun pierced through my skin and burned my Paradise.When I could no longer breathe from the smoke. When the fish started to die from the black wine. Many times I called and each time I was left with no answer.”

And it all suddenly dawned on him. He began to remember the day her sky had kept him safe from the sun. How the wind blew in his direction as the scorching heat of the sun burned him. How he was lifted by the waves of the ocean, how he braved rough seas. How the stars really looked like pretty diamonds while he journeyed to Paradise — to her Heart.

And he began to remember her lovely face, her light that glowed so beautifully in a sea of darkness.

He remembered the dance, the touch, the kisses. He remembered her love and how it healed his ailing soul.

And he remembered too, the day he was restless and sailed away in search of gold and wine. He remembered what he did to get his hands on it, and how he didn’t care for what the consequences were.

He looked at her with a surge of emotions rising from his chest. At her deathbed he knew now how much she needed him too. How could he have forgotten this? But what’s done is done, and the past is teaching him a painful lesson.

He stood on a frozen river bank and lit the last candle in prayer for a dying Soul. And, as if someone had whispered in his ear what to say next he began to speak this time with a stronger voice.

“It’s not too late. It is not yet the end…”

With a tone of defeat she said “I must surrender now, and let Nature take its course.”

“But I AM a part of Nature! I can help change its course.”

He soon realized how much she had meant to him. He loved her. He needed her as much as she needed him and he wanted nothing more but to make her feel this love again.

If I can remember everything, I will not lose her.

Suddenly, tears emerged from her eyes. Warm tears that flowed down her brittle skin, her pale body, touching his cold feet and permeating the frozen ground he stood on. Her tears did not stop flowing, melting the icy trail it touched. The candle he lit will be dying soon.

She truly was the world to him. She was all he ever needed.

“Why are you weeping this way? Please tell me.” He said with a shaking voice, marked with desperation.

“I am not weeping my love….”

She said, with a faint sparkle in her eye.

“….. I am healing.”

©JunoCristi