* The short story "Eternity" was originally published in White & Blue's literary folio Kuwaderno 10. The theme for K10 is the seven colors of the rainbow, each accorded their own meanings (such as love, pride, peace, etc.). Exhausted after one of our K10 layout overnights, the concept just popped into my mind before I drifted asleep. When I woke up in the evening (since we came home in the morning), the seed of the story would not stop bugging me and so I sat and worked on it until the wee hours of the morning.
We counted and recounted,
and we agreed on seven. In fact, we counted everything – the stars as they
twinkle in the night sky, the Hershey’s chocolate I eat when my sweet tooth
kicks in, the days before you go away, and the time before peace allows us to be
together again.
But, we relented that we cannot quite put a number on eternity,
and so instead we vowed to conquer it, to own eternity. You and I,
hand-in-hand, watching every sunrise and every sunset with the promise of our
love.
Now, as heaven’s tears caress my face, I look up at the
sky. The sun is peeking from the clouds, its rays playfully teasing the rain. I
saw our rainbow, beautiful and magnificent as always, yet somehow, something is
lacking.
Was it the red – the fierce emotion engulfing us when we
first met, which later cooled to the searing, long-lasting bond between our
hearts? Orange – when finally, finally I have found what is sorely missing from
my life, once a life without purpose, without direction? Yellow – the laughter,
the joy, as we both raised a toast to life and drank from happiness’ cup, from
which I never really learned to sip until you showed me how?
Or was it the green – when you
cheered as I gingerly stretched my delicate wings and learned to fly, always
there, always kissing my tears away when I fall, and encouraging me to try
harder, saying that I too can soar as gracefully as those eagles in the sky?
Blue – the peace and the tranquility I thought I would never find, yet through
my frustrated fears and the unbearable pain, you managed to break the walls of
my prison, clasp my hands, and pull me into the light, healing the memories,
soothing my soul? Indigo – when you let me sob on your shoulders, comforting
me, and telling me that life always goes on, that life will give me reasons to
smile again?
Or perhaps violet – the time when you made me realize that I
cannot play God, teaching me humility and how to kneel to the most powerful yet
most forgiving of us all?
Yet, the rainbow on the sky looks exactly like the ones
you and I had admired before, the seven colors still beautiful, still
magnificent, still replete with meaning, still the symbol of hope and new
beginnings. But, the eighth color, which gave me the most cheer and which
showed me the splendor of the seven others, was gone.
Eternity
is too long without you, darling…
Labels: Creative Works
