The Edge

The Silence

I felt a strange distance. It was as if reality and all encompassed in it was thrown away, leaving only me behind.

If I had eyes to open, I would. The world around me was mysterious, as I could feel a cool wind brushing through my palms—my non-existent palms.

Without any control, feeling or movement, I was left with me, myself and I.

Stuck in this strange state between life and death, a dim light became apparent. Though I still couldn't sense my eyes, I began to feel something . . . tingling. Strange shudders went down my spine, the world seeming to fall into place.

As my senses intensified, so did reality. Shudders and tingles grew to shocks and tears, forming layers of pain I could feel throughout my skin. With my body almost formed, every layer of skin and bone screamed out in agony.

I assumed feeling nothing had softened me, as no man can ever go the such an extreme, and now even the softest touch was pain. As my skin seemed to fold over my exposed, naked flesh, the touch worsened.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, everything fell still.

I looked around, searching for anything in sight—to no avail: a world of pure blackness engulfed me. And, as I tried locating myself, I could sense a cool breeze.

I couldn't describe my environment as warm or cool; it sat as something in between that simply felt numb. My skin was neither pleased nor repulsed, comforted nor concerned.

Realizing I had myself yet again, I attempted to walk. The first step was easy, as were others. My feet, feeling nothing below them, kept a familiar pattern with each step. Through jumping and stomping, I found it useless to try and break the barrier beneath me. The monotonous black above, below and around me held me high.

Closing my eyes a moment, I tried feeling something—anything. The chilly breeze grew into a wind, and it urged me in one direction.

Forward, backward, left or right—I've not a clue which direction I was traveling. There was no sun to tell me left to right, no stars for any direction. All I knew was to follow the wind, and I did so.

Time, as with everything else, appeared to fade. I had no teller of day or night, and minutes blurred into seconds without any notice.

Endless moments dragged on, and I still saw nothing. The wind blew me along, drifting me like a fallen leaf.

Then it stopped. Everything was silenced with a hush that made my ears want to bleed. Screaming out a pointless "Hello?" was my mind's go-to, and I stood there a second longer.

Cracking and fading away, I called "Hello" again. My voice was faint and quiet, sadness overcoming its mood.

Overwhelmed, I dropped to my knees. Landing on the invisible floor, I began sobbing, watching as my tears fell endlessly.

Through the nothingness they dropped, getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

As the torture dragged out, I looked up. It was no different from looking down, but I needed to call out to something. Praying out to something, I heard nothing. My face dropped again, and that's when I noticed something strange about my tears: they began to shine.

Looking back down, little water droplets slowly floated up. They stopped just an inch or two below my feet, glowing like stars in the night.

They multiplied ever so slowly, making a distinct path down the darkness. I watched each one of my tears, getting on the ground to inspect them.

I noticed they all were bubbly water droplets, and they all contained a unique glow. Thinking back through my life, a few moments where I'd cried replayed in my head; there weren't many, but I could recall a few.

I stood again, preparing myself to follow the starry tears. They made a pathway for me through the darkness, somehow making the eternal blackness that much more bright. I smiled.

Thinking through all the strange, unspeakable ways I'd gotten here, I began walking.

The water had given me horrors I'd never imagined, the creatures solely the cause; my porch was a flood that contained a world of memories, the creatures had been a dam; I couldn't understand how it all fitted together, but knew somehow it did. A strange feeling swelled inside me.

The silence grew on me as I walked. I saw the world a tad lighter—it seemed the memories were as important as the pain I'd gone through to get them.

Each thought piled on to the next, leaving with me a trainwreck of ideas and reflections.

Clearing my head, however, I journeyed on to whatever lay at the end of the path.