Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Silver

You can tell me anything
But not what the future brings

Surrounded by a forest of ferns that rose high above his head (he was, it should be said, kneeling) Shuya felt like he'd been plunged into a prehistoric world. There was, however, nothing prehistoric about the Smith and Wesson leveled at the back of his head. He slowly closed his eyes and held Noriko's hand tight in his. 
- If you have anything to say to each other, now would be the time to do so. It was the voice of his friend, their friend, who'd saved their lives over and over and who was now going to take them away.
There was nothing to say. They knew and shared each others' thoughts and feelings - no reason to articulate them.
The first gunshot was so deafening that he felt the next one, seconds later, more than heard it.
He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. The ferns were a shade of green he hadn't seen before - bright and bold like he imagined emeralds would be, though he'd never seen one. Flowers now peeked through the emerald leaves, blue like the deepest blue of a summer sky, and ladybugs crawled among them, red like a shiny new corvette. Aggressive shades of orange, soothing yellows and pastel pinks meshed with classic violet and vermillion in a working, ever changing palette of vibrant colors.  Shuya could only imagine he'd entered Hayao Miyazaki's vision of heaven. 
Directly in front of Shuya a large drop of dew hung from the tip of a fern frond. The dew drop bobbed up and down slowly, pendulous. Around its edges the light diffracted into rainbow spectra, prismatic. And in its center it reflected back, prescient. Shuya looked into the mirror and saw Noriko smiling back at him. Next to her, he saw himself, head bowed, eyes tight shut. And behind them stood Shogo, his finger raised to his lips.
- Sshhhh......

Shuya slowly opened his eyes. After all those years the colors were fading.

Silver's just another gold