When Nothing Fell In Love With Everything

• Amie Kilburn, Grade 11, Maitland Grossman High School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

Hello. It’s a pleasure to become your acquaintance. Isn’t it? Well, you wouldn’t have a clue, since I haven’t introduced myself. I’m nothing. No, I’m not a depressed teenager seeking the attention of my peers. I, am nothing. I am the balance for which settles to divide the moon and the stars, the sea and the sky, the light and the dark. I am everything one needs to feel complete. I am greater than every God. And I am the void where good goes to die, a quiet resting place, a chaotic silence. And this, my friend, is the story of how I came to love…
***
I’m not a fan of the linear depiction of time. It seems to be an excuse for the way things move forward, without the slightest quake of hesitation. But I know that not to be true. Time is just a word, with a meaning. Such as myself. Yet there is more to time. It moves in all directions, with purpose and justification. I however keep to myself and prefer to spend my time gazing upon the universe in admiration, at the answers it wishes not to share.
Nevertheless, there I was; bored with the petty problems the world dwelled on, the terror that would come and go. It was filling me up. Exhausting. Exasperating. Tiresome. I’d had enough. I needed to feel something real and wonderful and special. So, in that instant I descended into my own being, delving into the hollow richness beneath, farther than the eye would everdream to see. And I what I found, was truly extraordinary.
***
A single flower. A tulip perhaps? A rose? Yes, a rose. Suspended in the air, floating carelessly in a part of me I never knew existed, although I live on infinitely. It was a peculiar sighting, for me anyway. I found myself succumb to numbness as I closed in on the delicate little portion of life I’d created. Stalking closer, something was struck with an excruciating ‘Boom Boom’ and I was thrown to the side. Regaining my balance, I sensed an ancient presence. The flower stared me down. It had been here for a very long time. And now it was awake.
I had unlocked the unknown, good or bad I didn’t know, although I felt I should’ve. Again as I approached the flower I grew wary of the consequences. Boom Boom. And again. Boom Boom.
But this time, seeing the petals draping over the sides of the flower, I understood. I really did. It was here for a reason. And what I had to do now was clear. This concealed part of myself didn’t want to be known, it needed to be embraced. I beamed. And when I took a step closer, blinding light shot up into the air, along with the flower. Virtuous symphonies harmonised, birds sung, colours unimaginable surrounded and wrapped me up in blanket. For the first time I was filled with nothing but pure delight… and love.
And that I realised, was everything.