Up

She soared high through the clouds as dusk fell, the last rays of light draining away, the sky slowly turning into a dark endless canvas. She noticed books, bigger than herself, drifting about the sky freely like clouds, there were new books, old and battered books with pages torn apart, some books were latched shut, with locks, or chained while others were open books, their pages flying everywhere.

'What mysteries could these books hold', she wondered.

She sat on top of one of the opened books (like floating books was a natural thing to witness) and looked down below. To her awe she felt like she was on top of the world, and yes, she was.

So, that is how God sees us from above, she thought.

Instead of snow-capped mountains, diamond-capped mountains could be seen in a distance, and it looked beautiful, the way it shone at night like stars clustered together, reflecting light. The people looked like small ants moving about. Many of them making their way to their villages as it got dark.

When we reach a high altitude, we are curious about how the world looks from up above but we are more curious about what is at the top. Dolores after observing everything below gazed up and knew that she was going to witness something even more bizarre. Tall trees were literally hovering in the sky, shooting up into the heavens disappearing into God knows where. Their gigantic roots embedded in the clouds. Her cheeks flushed with excitement as she made up her mind to climb one. She pounced on the nearest tree like a rabbit and began her ascend. It almost felt like hours climbing, you could not even tell if she was any near to the top.

She caught a spooky man, a spooky 'faceless' man in a black suit and a straw hat looking this way. He was resting in a hammock reading a book in his treehouse which was falling apart. Because of his creepy stare...or whatever you call it, whenever a spooky faceless man has his eyeless eyes on you...nothing made sense in the world anymore, she decided to look away and climb on.

Her ears caught someone laughing hysterically, the voice echoing in the silent night, it got louder and louder, she scrutinised the whole area in search for it. Until she sighted a little girl swinging on the moon, her long silvery hair shone by the light of the moon. Red roses were blossoming all over the moon like cancer. The sight was wonderful, brightly lit moon filled with red roses. The little girl caught Dolores staring at her and she started calling out to her.

'Come join me!'

(moon girl by Romystuff)

Dolores couldn't wait to get to the top, so she started moving forward holding onto one branch at a time. The laughing subdued as she ascended but soon her ears caught a harp playing in a distance, she wouldn't be able to hear it if it wasn't for the quiet gloom. Her curiosity peaked even more.

'Maybe if I got a little higher up I will get to see who is playing'

The magical chords playing hauntingly in the distance made her deaf to the roaring of the ocean for a while, it grew louder as she began to move up. Dolores came to her senses as she climbed on and the sound of the harp mingled with the crashing waves somewhere, that was weird because there wasn't any ocean in sight, something was up there! She was intently listening to the sound of the ocean when she was taken aback, her eyes caught light a few branches away, the tree was illuminated. As she held on to the last branch and heaved herself up, her eyes couldn't adjust to all the light, to the hundreds of mesmerising bulbs dangling from every branch! The branches were twisted inwards, due to which from outside the source of the light wasn't visible, giving it a magical appearance but the interior seemed more magical when you see it. She was gripped by hysteria at this point and decided to sit there on a branch and just goggle at everything. She sat there what felt for like hours until she heard the harp again, this time approaching from above. She gazed up and saw the most bizarre and unbelievable sight. And gasped.

'oh my!'

Nope, Science don't make no sense now. It seemed her eyes could not handle any more of this and would pop out any second. The ocean which she was constantly searching for groundward was right up in the black stretched sky! It was as if the gravity changed its mind and decided to act in the opposite direction to see which was a more simpler job, the sea creatures were swimming around, dolphins diving deep, splashing about. Dolores was too engrossed in all this, gaping at the sight; she didn't hear the musician until they were in her field of vision. A derelict ship, probably the black pearl from Pirates of Caribbean was sailing through. It was dark and seemingly haunted, sailed so smoothly and quietly like it was invisible, without disturbing the sea creatures deep or even the sea waters. A skeleton, alive skeleton, was absorbed in the chords of the harp, like it was hypnotised by its own music.

It was eerie yet so fascinating at the same time. She was wrapped in one of those moments where you don't want to go back. Those moments which will not bore you even if you live it endlessly, like a loop over and over again or just pause everything and inhale in the joy, warmth whatever you're feeling with every breath you take. Her mind, her body, her soul was in the present and that is all that mattered right now. It was the best depiction of the quote that goes by 'live in the moment' or something like that. It was as if all the reality had washed away. Every impossible thing seemed possible. She was hypnotized by what she could see, hear, feel. It was like an unusual fragment of her was consuming her whole at this moment, making her feel surreal but real.

It was as if the whole world was listening to the harp playing, the girl laughing and the waves crashing, but she knew she was the only one, alone, resting against this branch while the world was fallen into a deep slumber.

As the last strokes of paint hit the canvas painstakingly, everything faded away slowly as Dolores scrutinised her painting. She put her brush down and went to bed, her ears still ringing with the noise of the ocean, harp and the girl.