On Making Shadows Humble

A short story that I wrote off the top of my head in early May, 2016. It was inspired by several emotions and events that were happening at the time, as well as my own views of life.

I've too often followed the tug of emotions from the subconscious. The keen senses of men

give way to that almost subtle gravitation towards a separate desire. Hearts are self-aware

entities that only seem to conflict with the rest of the soul. Yet, we never question its

intentions, for the heart knows best.

Neon lights and the opaque vapor haze that had settled over the bar presented me with a

serenity that I was longing for. Long months had led to this moment. In the end, I was just

another gentleman at the table. Deep in thought, as always, I gazed through the smother and

through the silhouettes of others in the fluorescence. In my mind's eye, there was no sight,

only thought. Each nerve fiber signaled synchronously with the rhythm of the ambient

melodies emitting from speakers around the room.

In many ways, the universe is like the body. Independent clusters of existence coalesce to

make a simpler form when viewed from a more abstract perspective. Homeostasis is just a

more complex form of equilibrium. So should the complexity stop there? My opinion is that

our interactions give the universe a brief period of equilibrium during its never-ending

expansion of entropy and chaos. Our emotions are the bonds that guide us towards those

interactions. Fundamentally, that is the driving force at this intricate tier of being.

The glow and hum of my cellphone brought me out of my trance-like daze. A message simply

read: "I am here." It was time.

I left the hypnotizing medium of the lounge for the diverse sounds of the street. To me, it was

equally welcoming. The skyline erected from the ground never ceased to be a breathtaking

sight. Brake lights, neon flashes, window glows, and even the moon's reflection on the damp

asphalt shouted to me. It was all so chaotically beautiful.

And so I trudged onward for my destination. I trekked until the busy bodies of the sidewalk

dissipated into the obscurity looming over the flashes and blinks of the metropolis. I ambled

past the empty park benches and vacant vehicles until I reached the streets where no buses

travel. I traveled this distance because I knew that for her to find me, I needed to be lost.

On a more abstract level during what we'd call that moment, the cosmos rippled.

I let the current guide me the rest of the way, as I had become truly lost. And there she was.

My gaze first met the outline, followed by the waning crescent of her face, illuminated by

the radiance of the small, flickering street light as she turned to face me. Eager eyes like

those made me purely vulnerable. Each advancing step became increasingly demanding of

effort. Every sensation in my body pulled in her direction, yet away from the susceptibility.

Weren't we merely molecules after all?

She covered the rest of the empty space until none remained between us. For my own eternity,

all sounds ceased as our eyes gazed into one anothers' souls.

"You came." she smiled and leaned closer.

Every muscle tensed at once with the embrace. I traversed reality twice over without a

window of perception. My simple mind cannot find a way to describe time to a being whose

existence is not restrained by its limitations. I do not know if it lasted for a nanosecond or an

eon. But for a marked indention in the straight pathway of our time, we became whole.

Every sensation, every worry, every desire became a mutual, shared consciousness that

radiated with euphoria. The universe had reunited itself. And yet again, amidst the

expanding chaos of existence, we found our equilibrium.

Those little pockets of life are what create order in the omnisphere. That is the universe

responding to all independent existences below it. Emotions guide us towards those

attractions because, considering their own independence, they are aware of the bonds that

follow.

Author's Note

Picture used is from this link: http://img06.deviantart.net/aaf6/i/2008/019/9/c/empty_street_by_alfiryn.jpg

Credit to Alfiryn for the picture, which greatly inspired the setting of this story. A link to Alfiryn's page on DeviantArt: http://alfiryn.deviantart.com/