The Secret World of Maya Alexander

Chapter 51

Morning collided gently with the night sky, as though embracing a friend. Maya watched quite awe-stuck but unquestioning, whilst night and day would swing and sway just like they were dancing to a song with no rhythm nor reason and no need for either. It was as if with the blink of her eye Maya had the power to cast the world in shadow and light. For the moment she felt like exploring, and so she turned her head to the seven suns that were now shining in the sky, and she smiled at them one by one as if to say good morning. Of course the suns did not smile nor speak but they beamed with an intensified exuberance which told her she had been heard and offered her seven good mornings in reply.

The waves were calm and welcoming as Maya wandered across the shore. They ran in greeting, eager to welcome her, swallowing her feet and sinking them into the sandbed, then gathering around her ankles with a playful tickle. She knelt, and noticed for the first time, the hem of a white cotton gown, its hem dipped into the water.

There were no questions in those first few moments, no awareness of how long each scene lasted. Just the renaissance of an awe and wonder which was so often kept contained in life. Though Maya had allowed herself to sense it more than most. She had always sensed it in moments when she used to glance upon a skyline or hillside or mountain top and been taken aback by the graciousness of the mighty beauty before her. A beauty, which seemed to reach out to her with invisible arms and whisper a feeling, which she had never been able to find the words for. Perhaps if she had been able to think back during those first few moments inside her new world, she might have thought of words like awe and wonder, or smaller words like connected and okay. Yet in those first few hours, days, weeks or however long it was, her mind did not look back into itself upon the path which had led her there.

Instead, she smiled at the light cotton gown and took a moment to sense its almost weightlessness next to her skin before dipping her hands in the sea water and noticing its warmth. She splashed its sweet caress against her skin. Her face, then her arms. The spray felt like a thousand kisses greeting someone who had just returned home. Maya felt her whole body awaken at the water's embrace. She felt an energy run through her body and saw her legs begin to gently splash through the welcoming waves, carrying her lightly into the ocean. Her lips let out a cry of laughter. Joy. Maybe that was the word. But it seemed simpler than that.

Dancing with her reflection as it bent and stretched amongst the waves, Maya felt at peace with the distorted vision of self cast across the oscillating ocean. More than that, there was a sense of the ocean being in complete harmony with the figure newly adorned on its canvas. It adored her shape, no matter which way she twisted or curved. The sharp edges and smooth lines were all welcome as the waters whispered a compassionate rumble which vibrated through its vision.

The seven suns stretched out their warmth, shining upon the spirited antics of the girl and the sea. They watched as she chased the waves and leapt high; as she conquered them. And they glowed as they saw her retreat; the playful ripples grasping at her legs, pulling her into the ocean and waiting patiently to begin all over again, as she took a moment's pause to roll and frolic in the sands.

No one stopped to stare at her playfulness. The suns in the sky watched on like proud parents who had eagerly anticipated this gift of life and hope. An innocent, who could do no wrong in the light of their eyes.

Maya felt a nip in her chest as her lungs ached from her vigour. It was a pinch which made her feel alive. She sat for a moment on the sands, her legs outstretched so that with each wave the waters would reach up and poke her, as though they were playing a game of tag and were eager to resume their game. Breathing in the sweet and moist saltiness of the sea air, her airways opened and her breathing became deep and long and slow. Sucking the air in from her stomach, pushing it out again. Like the waves sucking the ocean back into its belly then exhaling it out beyond itself. An endless cycle which connected every crease of the world and blurred the lines of where each part began and ceased.

A low warbling sound summoned Maya's attention away from the wild and peaceful sea. She turned to find a plump little bird, with soft blue plumage and a rose beige belly, had perched itself beside her on the sandy floor and begun to chatter in short demonstrative notes each interspersed with a glance in her direction and a doting whistling sound. Maya smiled back at the bird. He looked content beside her and chattered back as though receiving her smile as an invitation for a conversation. Rolling on to her tummy so her head was at the bird's eye level, Maya shifted so that the bird became the centre of her gaze.

'What are you telling me little bluebird?' She asked with a soft smile and a little hint of laughter.

The pocket sized pastel creature looked back and responded with short bursts of chatter, but this time instead of ending with a long whistle, a captivating ditty came from his short pointy mouth.

'Delighted to see you Maya. Good to see you smile!'
'Don't forget this is all of you! It has been a while!'

A warm yet perfect tear fell from Maya's eye as the bird ended his serenade. She did not feel silly or foolish. She felt touched. And she did not lift her hand to wipe the tear away, but enjoyed its warm feeling trickling down her cheek like a paintbrush tracing the shape of all that was perfect and imperfect about her. Her beauty.

'Thank you.' Whispered the young woman to herself and to her comrade.

'My pleasure! Your pleasure! Our pleasure!' Whistled the dulcet sounds of the bird before seeming to leap and kiss her cheek with a pin prick or a pinch, and then taking flight into the sky.

Maya watched her companion soar up towards the burning miracles lighting the land before darting east-ward and beyond the towering rocks. Powder puffs of white clouds embraced the bluebird as they inhaled his shape into their core and breathed out a stream of pure white feathers.

The brilliant white wings of hundreds of doves soared from cloud to mountaintop to ocean plane, as their creator humbly watched on from beneath them on a bed of a quintillion sand grains.

They flew faster than the waves to reach her and hovered right before her eyes. Their wings whistled and their chests throbbed a dulcet harmony of coos from their throats, which rose and fell in time with the ocean beneath them. Like a pulse. The throb of a heart pushing life into every part of its land.

With eyes stinging from holding them wide to take in the fullness of her vision, Maya could not hold her stare any longer. Her eyes blinked. It was less than a moment. A room of white filled her eyes. Then as they opened again, she watched the birds scatter across the sky in every direction. Forests. Beaches. Mountains. Rivers. Sand-dunes. Caves. Valleys. Venturing and exploring. Each winged friend offering a path she knew she was welcome to follow.

Happily Ever After

Seven suns soared
But cast no shadow
Where the light stopped
Still

Oscillating oceans opened
Yet left sands unshifted
Where the waves caressed
Freewill

Bluebird blissfully belonged
Though had no need to land
Where the sky, earth and sea painted
Home

Dulcet doves deliver
Without a message from the master
Where everything and anything is beauty
Forever-after