NOIR. 2. Sleeping Children Are Still Flying

This is a series concering the Blue Sky Black Death's music album NOIR.
It ties in with the happiest moments of my life as it was there to witness them.
I would like to help you see the images I see whenever I hear the songs.
Some of them feel very real, some of them are more abstract.

 "The Glow"

‘Where are we?’ asked Sarah amidst confusion. ‘What is this place?’

‘It looks safe. At least for now.’ replied Katherine with a false note of certainty in her voice. 

‘How can you tell? What does safe even mean anymore?’ Sarah questioned both her friend and herself not expecting neither a true nor a satisfying answer.

Both women began to look around, searching for clues in regards to their current location. Their messy hair, dirt covered faces and ragged clothes gave away a glimpse of their situation: they haven’t been home for quite some time. Moreover, they haven’t seen civilization in weeks. They’ve been out of touch with reality and their lives. They’ve had no rest. Their disheveled looks were telling a distressing story of desperate search for answers and a way back. 

‘I don’t know what to think anymore,’ said Sarah with a sense of resignation in her voice. ‘When will this end? What is the point? I don’t know if I can carry on for much longer.’

‘We have to hold on. We can’t give up. Do you want to just lie down and die?’ countered Katherine, the visibly stronger one of the two.

‘No… but we’ve been jumping between places and… realities… for too long.’ replied Sarah.

‘How long is too long? You speak like this has already happened to someone and there’s a point of reference out there somewhere. We're here now so we have to try and cope somehow.’ said Katherine, trying to reason with frightened Sarah. After the few weeks they’ve spent together she knew it was the best way to make Sarah calm down, if only for a moment.

‘I’m just saying… What if it never stops? Do we live off of scraps we can find and face uncertain future every time we jump?’ Sarah further voiced her concerns. 

‘For now we have to. I know it’s not easy. Do you think it’s easy for me? I’m telling myself things I never would have believed a couple of weeks ago. And I believe there is an end to this. Be patient. Let’s not lose our minds just yet.’ said Katherine as she tried to sound as convincing as she could, both for her and Sarah's sake.

The night was fast approaching. Chilly air surrounded the women, suddenly bringing even more doubt to their worried and tired minds. The sky began to fill itself with ever darkening blue color, quickly displaying its true nature: blackness. A few stars here and there were breaking the perfect black harmony of the sky. They seemed to be disinterested and brought no solace to the weary eyes of the stranded women.

‘We have to find shelter. Let’s head out to this grove.’ Katherine proposed after she noticed a set of strange white trees in the nearby valley. It was the only distinguishable place among the endless sea of land. In normal circumstances she would have stayed far away from such mysterious and eerie looking place but now she thought they need any cover they can get. After all, these weren’t ordinary circumstances.

‘What if we’re being punished?’ asked Sarah on the way to the grove, slowly getting more and more anxious. 

‘Punished for what?’ replied Katherine ‘I don’t think we deserve any more punishment than anyone else does.’

‘What if it happens to everyone? What if at some point we all have to go through this hell? Our own personal hell?’ Sarah was not one to drop the topic quickly.

‘I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure,’ said Katherine, carefully trying to find the right words. ‘We’re all capable of terrible things. Do you believe if we somehow avoid consequences of our actions the universe will eventually make us catch up with what we’ve done and face judgment?’ asked Katherine firmly. Sarah did not reply. She decided to think about it in silence. It's what they both did most of the time during their exile. Think. 

As they reached and entered the grove they felt a bit safer even though there was no particular reason to do so. Safer than ever before in the past few weeks, as they’ve both acknowledged to each other without saying any words. They headed into the center of the grove, as if some unseen force was pushing them there. The women stayed close to one another, treading slowly and carefully. They were feeling an immense fear of being left alone; stranded. For weeks they had to rely only on themselves. If they lost that, they thought, it's hard to imagine what would have happened. Certainly nothing good. As they proceeded ever deeper into the grove, passing through white trees they’ve never seen before, they noticed something in front of them. Sarah grabbed Katherine’s hand and they slowly made their way to the center of the grove. 

They arrived at a pool of pristine water, above which there was a tremendous glow which casted bright light upon both women and everything around them, resonating with certain restrained warmth and... kindness? In the middle of the oval shaped glow Sarah and Katherine noticed a slight shade of darkness, a dim patch, as if it was a padlock keeping the unseen door firmly sealed.

‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ said Sarah in awe. ‘I think it’s… beautiful.’

‘It is… I have no idea what it is. But it feels different to anything we’ve seen so far.’ admitted Katherine, while examining the glow carefully.

‘It emanates warmth and…’ Sarah gathered her thoughts. ‘In a way it feels like something I recognize. Something from before our “journey”.’

‘All I know is I want to be here, I want to stay close to it. I feel safe here.’ said Katherine, this time without any hints of uncertainty in her voice. Women sat on the inviting grass and wondered what is so special and familiar about this eerie phenomenon in front of them.

‘You asked me earlier if I think we all have to go through our own personal hell at some point,’ said Katherine to now calm and collected Sarah. ‘Maybe. But this is not hell. It feels more like a purgatory.’

‘I think so too. We’ve been through a lot and it made me understand some things about myself,’ replied Sarah with unfamiliar to Katherine certainty in her voice. ‘I know I’ve done bad things in my life. I know I’m guilty of lies and neglect and deception. I hurt people who I care about and who care about me.’ 

‘There’s plenty of things I’m not proud of either,’ agreed Katherine. ‘If this has been a way of making me recognize my shortcomings I can’t argue with that,’ she continued: ‘We barely slept, barely ate, and barely kept our minds straight. But here we are. In front of this… shining light. Whatever it is.’ The amazement on her face whenever she looked upon the hovering beam of light was evident. 

‘I know what you are saying. And I don’t think we would have made it here if we haven’t had each other. I know I was the weaker one of us two and you kept me going. Thank you, Katherine.’ said Sarah, with all sincerity in her voice and look.

‘Don’t thank me. I needed you here as much as you needed me. I wish there was a way for us to fix our mistakes in our past lives. To do what’s right by people we love. No excuses.’ replied Katherine.

‘I fear it’s too late. I fear we wasted our lives and we deserve nothing.’ said Sarah with tone of regret in her voice.

‘Oh how I wish…’ Katherine started to say but was interrupted by something entirely unexpected.

Suddenly the glow became stronger and brighter. The darkness has unexplainably abandoned it without a flicker of emotion. No anger or disappointment. It was more of a relief as if it was saying ‘finally’. Sarah and Katherine had no idea what it meant and they observed the captivating event with uncertainty and confusion. The glow slowly began to emanate a humming noise, gently pulsating and taking its time to revel in its own harmonious arrangement. Women looked at each other and stepped closer with both hope and curiosity overtaking their minds. 

And then it struck them. They were presented with a set of distorted images inside the glow. The images of… their lives. The people they loved and cared about. Katherine saw her mother and Sarah saw her husband and children. As the glow grew larger and larger, expanding way above the grove of white trees they suddenly understood it all. They knew what they had to do. Lessons were learned. A second chance… For the last time they looked at each other and nodded to one another in recognition of their friendship and connection, with glimpses of optimism and hope in their eyes. Without hesitation they stepped through the glow...

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Other entries in the series