Paradise

• Fergus Sinnott, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2017

I fell into a darkened state of mind, a hopeless rhapsody of blue moons and black sunshine. The sky was a necropolis of diamond headstones, glinting in and out of existence. These demons in my head feud over who gets to speak my words, who gets to move the knife across my wrist like the psychotic violinist in a grand and gargantuan philharmonic orchestra. I saw fire and smoke and I bathed in unclean swimming pools. I heard the howl of the wolves in the distance and was carried by the owl of my own to places so terrifying, I dare not speak of them. I watched my shadow fade as the night was born from the bowels of the Devil himself. I questioned the violence in my soul and watched as the children were saturated by boxes of flashing lights and I saw my withered corpse slowly have the life stolen from it, the life snuffed out like a candle with a single breath of the Grim Reaper. And then my death and my life culminated to meet in one final moment of purgatory.

And then I was in paradise.