I once came across a land of purity. It was pure because it remained untouched by evil converting hands. How I came to the place I cannot entirely explain. It just appeared before me as I was walking through a dense rain in the night. I felt lost. I walked to the edge of the city, passing the different colored people. I saw whites and blacks in brutal fights, Asians refusing to sell their products to Mexicans, and those of the Muslim religion were looked down upon by all. It didn’t matter to me anymore. I lost my strong feelings about the moronic ways of the racists and felt that I shouldn’t try to resolve the growing issue, for I was just one person out of a mere few. If you my listener have imaged myself into your mind already as a “white” person, I can only ask, why? I am not, and you will never know, because it doesn’t matter. I am human, and you are human, both with a story to tell. I began walking in circles simply because time didn’t matter to me anymore. Time, was on everyone’s mind at that time. Everything was scaled down the very seconds of our wretched scheduled lives.
After my unconscious circling, I was there. One would imagine that fear had struck me at the moment, but no. I just stood there, in a narrow eyes gaze. I was on a shore of a white beach. As my eyes ventured outward, I realized that wherever there was ground to walk upon, it was white sand. Scattered about were abandoned or unfound shells, and items that no longer held any use, faded of their colours. Amongst these has-beens were shoes, clocks, and watches. They looked like exoskeletons of the other corrupted world I had came from. Where the items came from I didn’t know, previous wanderers perhaps. I began to notice that everything else in the land held no colour. It was like living in a black and white photograph, picturesque and perfect as is.
There were two small moons that kept the balance, one in the north, and one in the south. In my mind I referred to the South moon as the purple moon, for it was the only thing in that pure land that held a hue of colour, a ghastly lavender glow. I was constantly being drawn towards it, like a beckoning hand towards mischief. I’d sit there gazing into its spherical being. Because of the moons the sky was always dressed I night. It was the kind of night that felt young and early, like summer time when youthful souls realize that there is much time to be spent.
After what seemed like a day, I began to grow hungry. Not only was my stomach, but my mind as well. I had to see more of the place. There was a huge forest north that looked inviting. It was all white bamboo, and I had reached it in what seemed like no time at all. The strange delirium erased all senses of time, and I felt as if I could live there forever. In the forest I felt awe. Birds of all kinds sung to one another, as giraffes and elephants grazed and deer pranced. There were tigers wading in small clear ponds, and pandas resting. Never had I imagine seeing all of these creatures together, living in harmony in one place. The anatomy of these creatures however was different then those of the animals I had seen before. Their eyes and ears were larger, most likely because of the constant night. They’re appearances like the rest of the place, were like moving pictures of black and white. I sat forever watching these animals, as hermit crabs came and went, resting in my hands. There were large numbers of them, scuttling about, cleaning the sand. You see, even before I had found that realm of purity, I thought of animals as natural, innocent beings of the world. My knowledge of them was almost like instinct, and to be with them in the bamboo forest was like a dream.
I was awakened from my deep thoughts as a lioness leaped over me. I ducked and covered my face, and heard a juicy crack. As I peered through my fingers, I noticed that the lioness had opened what looked like a giant fruit. She ate it with no worries. There were no hyenas or rabbits scavenging for her find. She was content, and friendly.
It turned out that all of the creatures were this way, living together like a braded mix of different fabrics. They all ate the strange fruit that grew in plentiful amounts. They tasted so refreshing and clean. My pallet was alive with the new flavors. The fruits made me feel rejuvenated, strong. When the skins and rinds were left behind, the hermits would make them disappear. From the fruit my senses began to sharpen, and I noticed that my skin grew pail, and my hair grew darker with every passing moment.
I spent most of my moments with the creatures of the bamboo forest. The gorillas were especially fond of me. They seemed to enjoy learning my movements, and picking through my hair. I liked them because they were very much like me, and in a way showed me how to live comfortably in such a place. I loved seeing the animals I had never seen nor even heard of in my life. There were many strange beautiful lizards, and a group of what looked like Tasmanian tigers. One night, a voice spoke to me. I was very startled at hearing my own language after almost forgetting about it. It came from a Macaw.
“Hello there, human.”
“Hello there” I replied. I didn’t speak to the bird in a high-pitched babying sort of way like most humans do with animals. I could tell that this bird was far more capable of just saying a mere few words and phrases. Its large black pupils were dilating and closing non-stop as it cocked its head, staring at me. I smiled at it, and after a while it finally spoke again.
“You are not like the others who have found their way here to our land. What do I call you?” Its voice never changed like the talking birds I was used to. Its voice was always that of a female’s.
“My name? My name is Lucas.”
“Lucas…Lucas from the light. I am Sylvana of the forest. Her presence was almost eerie. The talons of one of her feet tapped along the branch she was perched upon the way one would tap their fingers on a table while in deep thought. “How is it that you have found your way to our land?” she spoke slow and wisely.
“I don’t really know, and I don’t think I really care.” I said.
“Not to care is not to learn, and if we had not learned anything, where would we be today?” she stumped me or a while. I then began to think about the answer to her previous question. After a while I said,
“I left work before it was time to leave. I went walking until I came to the edge of the city. I then began to walk in circles in the outskirts.”
Sylvana then asked me, “Why do you think you ended up here? Do not be afraid to answer this, there have been more before you.”
“I gave up, I didn’t care about all the problems anymore. Where I come from is so different from here. The hate crimes, the schedules, and our recourses are disappearing. I wanted to get away, but I did not want to die. I just wanted to give up.” I felt a bit stupid for having tolled Sylvana the just of my reasons for how I may have found the invisible portal to this land, without full explanation, but she seemed to have understood.
“Come along, there are others such as yourself to meet. Fallow…to the north”
Soon enough we came to a clearing. There were little huts made of bamboo, with gardens of fruit plants and flowers. There were only five homes, and there were only five people, and a baby. It pointed at me and made small noises. I quickly ducked behind a large stone and peered through the long grass. Sylvana whispered to me in her hallow voice, “What is the matter Lucas?”
“Those people, what is wrong with them?”
“What do you mean?” She asked as she ate small berries from a nearby bush.
“Why are they all like that?” I asked, my eyes still fixed on the people, working in their yards.
“They’ve been here for so long, that they’ve adapted. Look, they all communicate like the gorillas. You see, they all came from different parts of your world. The gorillas taught them their ways of speaking to one another. Oh and they’re skin, it must be the fruit. They are perfectly fine Lucas, you need not worry.” Her voice always seemed to drift off into a long tunnel.
The skins of the people were blotched, like they had some sort of disease. They were all bulky in the arms, and their eyes were all circle shaped, the right eyes looked like they were blind. They had canines, probably for eating some of the harder fleshier fruits. Then, there was a loud caw. It was Sylvana, who was in front of the rock I was hiding behind. The people started to move towards us, smiling and waving at us. I stood, wide eyed. The largest man who had a long scar on his arm shook my hand, and when the rest saw that I was of no threat, shook my hand as well. I was then invited into the largest hut for a meal.
I observed the strange people as they talked with their bodies, making a few grunts every now and then, telling me how they felt with the expressions of their faces. Their way of communicating wasn’t difficult to pick up, and I soon began to speak with them. Apparently two of them were mates, and were very proud of their young son, who was playing with a snake on the floor. None of them could remember how they ended up there, and hushed me whenever I tried to tell them of how I came to be there. I thought it would be a common knowledge between all of us that we could discuss, but they clearly were not interested. Sylvana who was eating at the table as well tolled me that it was time to leave. I waved goodbye and was on my way.
“That was very interesting, but how come none of them were able to remember how they came here, and why did they stop me from telling them how I came here?
Sylvana thought for a moment then said, “It is because they wanted to forget, and didn’t want to be reminded of the world all of you came from.” She said wisely.
I understood and kept quiet until we were back into the heart of the forest.
“I need your help Lucas.” Sylvana said out of nowhere. Her white face was like ghosts. She was so strange to me in the sense that she was always
“I want to be different. As you can see, everything here is very similar. There is no color here. I want to be unique, and beautiful. I want to be the prettiest thing existing in this land.” She said all of this, while looking to the south. She reminded me of human females of the other world. They always wanted to be the better looking, and were seldom happy with what they were born with. Fir a bird though, I couldn’t fully understand why she would want such a thing, but didn’t see the harm in a bird wanting to be more beautiful so I asked her how I would be able to help her.
“You and Lucas must travel to the south. There are special plants there with fruit that I cannot carry alone. Will you help me?”
“Sure” I said. It was just fruit, nothing dangerous.
On our long way to the south, I was again fixated on the purple moon. It continued to row larger and larger as we neared. There were less and less hermit crabs, and soon there were none. Then, we arrived at a heap of vines.
On these vines were large yellow, red, and blue fruit. I noticed that the flowers that grew around us were slightly colored, as well as the empty shells, but nothing was as vibrant as the fruits. They looked so rich with their colors in the black and white world, and I too began to crave for their flesh. Sylvana began to speak excitedly.
“Me mustn’t eat the flesh of the fruit just yet. If we will be colorful, but as we head north the colors will fade. We must bring the fruit with us back north, and then eat them. You and I will share one of each of the three colors. Only then, will I be more beautiful then the rest.”
“What do you want to be so different for? I mean, you’re already different you know.”
Sylvana replied in a stern voice, “Because I must, and you don’t want to end up looking like the humans you met earlier do you? Together, you and I could spread color to all.”
I thought for a while and didn’t really seem to mind, but I guess I wanted to be a little different as well. I was beginning to miss color, and thought that all the creatures would love to be colorful as well. I began to choose the best fruit to take with us.
“Excellent Lucas, those are perfect. Let us go. Resist the temptation of the fruit until we come to edge of the forest.” I nodded and we went fallowed.
Sylvana was sitting on my shoulder, telling me about how wonderful the land would be in color.
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