One Step Beyond: 1B

 

This is an Alternate Continuation of the story One Step Beyond. 

Before I realize the fullness of what just occurred, I’m engulfed in the gooey darkness of what I now realize is not water. I have the no time to consider what it might be. The inky black liquid has overtaken me, I’m completely submerged in darkness. I try to swim to the surface for a gulp of air, but it's so thick I can’t seem to force my limbs to propel me, all I can do is plummet deeper into the unknown black. I struggle, trying to fight against the tornado of sludge circling around me but it’s growing thicker and darker the further I go. I can’t see a thing, only black, I clench my eyes shut as my body becomes tense and confined. My heart thunders and the deafening hiss of the solution swirling resound in my ears. I’m running out of air, it feels like a terrifying creature is wrapping it's monstrous tentacles around my throat and body. I can’t help but remember all the days I rested above the bridge so close yet far enough away to be protected from the massive darkness below. The further I fall, the feebler I become, I don't have the strength to keep struggling, so I helplessly become its prey. As it surges, I wonder where it intends to bring me and what awaits me at the bottom, if my breath sustains me that long. I notice the liquid begin to solidify, grabbing and capturing my limbs. I feel like I’m being persevered in concrete. I imagine centuries in the future my skeleton being discovered by a curious  archaeologist or scientist and used to speculate what substance gurgles under the bridge. I'll be a time capsule of one unfortunate being who slipped under unnoticed only to be stolen away and become the powerless victim of the unseen terrors lurking beneath the bridge. I’m slowly getting strangled as my last bits of breath from above escape my lungs, even my thumping heart grows quiet, I feel my mind become foggy and I become numb. I’m slipping away into a different kind of darkness.

     In my sedated state, I barely notice something pierce the darkness, yet sure enough something is there. I can’t do anything but allow it to transport me. I’m unsure if I’m rising up back toward the bridge or being dragged downward into the unknown, the only thing I know for sure is; I am moving. unware if this will lead to safety or more danger. I have no recollection of how long this, mysterious force has been carrying me. I’m still incased in a cocoon of darkness drifting without control of anything around me. Then suddenly air is available to me, I gasp and inhale deeply as my lungs are instantly filled with sweetness and relief. Although I’m still trapped in darkness I’m filled with gratitude for the source of air. The scent tickles my memory, I know I've smelt it before but I don't recall what or where it came from. I breathe in and out savoring each precious breath. Then suddenly I feel something breezes past my face, it's gone as swiftly as it comes then disappears. Before I can comprehend what just happened, my mind goes blank.

 I feel my groggy mind start to crawl out of it's sleepy state as I slowly become conscious again. I wonder how much time has passed and how long I've been asleep. I try to move; pain runs through my body. “Oww!” I think.  I want to groan, but I'm unable to make a noise. I feel as if I’ve wrestled with a giant octopus. I’m scared to open my eyes but face my fear, prying my swollen eyelids open. Bright light greets my retina and stings my eyes. I close them again quickly confused about where I am but at least I’m not trapped the sticky blackness anymore. For now, that is enough. I lay there, everything is still. I venture to open my eyes once again briefly and close them again to protect them against the searing brightness. I continue the process until I can look around without the light piercing my eyes. The first thing I can perceive clearly is a cloudless blue sky. A soft blue so pure and peaceful stretching as far as I can see like a blue-tinted porcelain globe. I just stare at in gratefulness and awe basking in its serene essence. It's so spacious and untouched; not a bird or wisp of a cloud, not even a is sun present, yet a glow of light illuminates the blue. Silence seems to cling to the air, it's as if the breath of the smallest creature or the gentle batting of butterfly wings would seem too clamorous and disruptive for this scene. My heart seems to cease beating as well. I've never experienced quiet like this before, so still, so tranquil, with all traces of noise absent. I notice my body no longer throbs it almost seems like my scenic surroundings has a healing capability that caused my discomfort to vanish. I wonder if I’ve passed away and this is the Heaven, I heard about in church but there is no indication of angels or a Higher Power, I can only conclude I’m still alive.

I try to rise to my feet, I’m still wobbly from being still so long, I delay momentarily before I can absorb the view. A completely flat landscape lays as still as the sky above it, covered with purple blossoms. Every single flower appears to be identical; the exact same color and length all standing the same width apart like an organized army. Each one having five tiny petals and a textured middle. I slowly spin around but in every direction the scene is completely indistinguishable from that of the one opposite of it. I feel as if I can look from one end of the world to the other with just a slight turn. There is no mountains, valleys, trees, pools of water, or even grass in sight. Just an enormous, glassy, blue sky and a seemingly endless stretch of purple flowers. Even where I had just laid and regained my strength on the ground has been replaced with a replica of the flowers next to them. This place evoked no feelings other than confusion, it wasn’t icy cold or overly warm, it didn’t seem particularly good but has no evidence of being bad. I wonder if have fallen into this place or been pulled upward into it. No   apparent dangers present, yet the unknown seems unnerving. I try to speak but again, the silence is overpowering and can’t seem to find my voice. The loudest thing is my wandering thoughts but even they seem hushed by the untouched landscape.

 I stand there and blankly staring at everything. I recall a time I got scolded in school after I'd been caught daydreaming and my teacher's shrill voice echoing around the room as she shrieked “Esther where has your mind gone? What is the answer to question twenty-seven?” She turned around scribbling on the whiteboard mumbling, “that girl is always in her own little world.” School seems so distant now as did any normalcy, I wonder what my family thought when I didn’t return home. I think of my teacher's words again, “in her own little world,” that seemed to be exactly where I was located. I was the only living being in sight and it appeared I stood legitimately in my own little world which seemed strange but one of my wild fantasies come true.      

 With this crazy realization, I suddenly become energized and burst into a sprint through the flowers. I fly through them at full speed, they don't seem to to crush beneath my weight as I breeze past but instead they bounce back into their former position. I maintain a steady gait until I feel I can't anymore, I collapse in a bed of soft petals and stems breathing in their sweet aroma. I stand back up and realize I seem to be exactly where I started. I had run so far yet in every direction it looks the same as before. I flop back down feeling frustrated and trapped. That’s when I see it, a few feet away,  with buttery looking petals glistening in the light, a lemon-yellow flower standing tall and proud, different  from all the rest. I bolt over to it and instinctively pluck it from the ground. At that moment everything changes.