Author Note:
I felt like writing something, so I did. Just a passing notion.
Enjoy.
Imagine for a moment, a world different from ours.
Go on, try. Try to imagine something new, something exciting. Try to imagine something fanatical, something moving. Sit still, and try to create a place you could enjoy…
Can you see it?
I can.
For some reason, my worlds always start with the same colour. Aqua… It comes in different shapes and forms, but it's always the same. Sometimes it's the clash of two great rivers, colliding with such force that they throw a storm of mist into the air. Sometimes it's the steel of a sword, the sturdy hilt waiting to be grasped. And sometimes, it's the colour of somebody's hair, wavering in the breeze.
My imagination seems to warp around the shade… It's like I've become tethered to it, as the only constant in life. Aqua. Repeated over and over and over again. Every thought, every notion, they all begin with the same colour. I'm not sure if I should be frightened, or assured. I can't decide if it's chasing me, or if it's comforting me…
But it is how my worlds begin.
Next comes the monochromes, the dark patches where mystery resides. It takes up residence within everything, from the very corners of a children's story, to the vast expanses of a matured mind. The more unsteady your world is, the more dark patches it will have. Because within those dark patches, your antagonist rises, and your lead character is forged.
What type of evil has pushed him this way and that? What hardships has she faced to make her who she is? What must they go through to reach their goal? Those are your monochromes.
Of course a monochrome isn't just black, it's also white. We must always consider that…
Where to next? Why, the plot of course. You have the notion, you have your characters, now you just need to show them off as best you can!
The plot is always a puzzle, an ever expanding connect-the-dots picture where the final product will always be a secret. I'll give you a hint… Dot number one is the first thing you imagined. Dot number two is your first splotch of monochrome. And dot number three will create triangle, pointing you off in some random direction. Follow it.
Now you know how we create our worlds. Although, you've always really known. We can sit here and talk for days, crafting cunning similes in an effort to explain what goes through our heads. But in the end, we're no closer than where we began…
Imagining a fantasy, to step away from reality.
Maybe my thoughts are one-sided, maybe I'm alone… But I've always felt as if I didn't belong. It's not as if I'm short on friends, or feel left out… It's just, have you ever felt that you were born in the wrong place? At the wrong time? Have you ever felt like maybe, maybe something went wrong, and you ended up here, instead of there? Some of you will understand me, I hope…
But where is "there"? The truth is I have no idea, and I probably never will. Still, I take comfort in the small detail that I've been allowed. The one thing that I'm certain of. I'm sure we all have one. That one feeling, or object, or sight, or sound, that one phrase, or thought, or spark, or shimmer, that one thing, that is always at the corner of our minds, pouring into our everyday lives whether we like it or not. It reminds us that even if our solitude can never be remedied, there's still a world out there somewhere, one for each of us… one where we belong.
Mine starts with aqua.