«At this point, unable to control the overwhelming
sense of urgency that made her gravitate towards that specific location, she
decided to embrace this sudden rush of renewed energy, rebelling against her
usual composed manners and predictability.»
«Like she expected, just right in front of her, the
horizon gradually enlarged and the landscape flattened, as she left behind the
tall concrete buildings and other effective indicators of the illusory human
domain over nature and entered the sacred realm of one of the most magical
territories.»
By Raquel R. in Short Story number 10
«A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.»
Short Story number 10: Inspired by the song «Let me fall in love» by Markéta
Irglová from the albumAnar.
As the car approached the coastline, reminiscences of her childhood days
started taking over her thoughts. An irrational bubbly expectation tickled her
stomach, while her eyes anxiously examined the horizon in search for the absolute
signs that indicated that her destination was near. Like she expected, just right
in front of her, the horizon gradually enlarged and the landscape flattened, as
she left behind the tall concrete buildings and other effective indicators of
the illusory human domain over nature and entered the sacred realm of one of
the most magical territories.
Finally, after a long winding road and occasional reasonably violent bumps
caused by the badly paved road, ultimately magnified by the poor mechanical
state of the old car she was driving, like an unexpected random act of kindness,
the evergreen tall pine trees, aligned by the right side of the road, offered
her a glimpse of what she had eagerly been looking for. Among the pine tree’s
straight brown trunks, she could perceive, far on the horizon, the astounding
infiltrations of one of the most profound blue tones she had ever seen,
anticipating what was waiting for her, just around the corner.
At this point, unable to control the overwhelming sense of urgency that made
her gravitate towards that specific location, she decided to embrace this
sudden rush of renewed energy, rebelling against her usual composed manners and
predictability. So, she opened the car windows all the way down, welcoming the gust
of cold wind and the chaos it brought with it, misaligning every string of her
hair. Although only a few miles separated her from her destination, the
anxiety she was feeling inside did not tone down. In fact, it seemed that it
grew stronger in the inverse proportion of the distance still keeping her apart
from her goal.
Suddenly, there it was. First, just a glimpse of it. Then, as a prelude
before the final revelation of the magnificent element, the daylight slightly
changed its intensity by becoming brighter, and after a set of sand dunes, the
open ocean was finally right in front of her.
In wintertime, choosing a strategic spot to park the car, which allowed
a perfect view of the ocean, was never a problem. The isolation of that place
was total, yet it was strangely comforting. As she turned off the car’s engine,
the silence immediately filled every vacant space in her heart and mind. There,
she remained for a while, just watching the tiny drops of the salty moist falling
on the car’s windshield and within a few minutes, her now depurated sense of
hearing, started to grow accustomed to the surrounding silence until the
ocean’s roar became perfectly recognizable. She had an instant of hesitation
before opening the car’s door, so that she could linger, for a few more
seconds, in the final frontier, where wishes are just about to be fulfilled and
therefore prolong the bliss of positive expectations.
As she stepped out of the car, she immediately breathed in the distinct humid
and cool ocean’s breeze, the perfect carrier of one of the most irreplaceable
and unique odors, commonly referred to as the ocean’s smell. Although she had seen
many oceans and seas throughout the world, only in this specific location, was
that smell so perfect and evocative of the primal feelings that we all hold
inside.
She looked around and headed towards the wood path leading to the beach.
As she stepped on it she could feel and hear the scratching sound of the sand
under her feet. At a distance, a flock of seagulls errantly circled in the air
and its occasional squawking calls indicated that she was not the only one out there.
Then, as the wood path abruptly ended, she chose to continue her walk in the
sand. But first, like someone preparing to execute some kind of religious
ritual, she removed her shoes. The first contact of her bare feet with the cold
sand, after months of being carefully sterilized and more or less protected
inside proper footwear, was absolutely liberating. So, it was only after pacing
back and forth in the soft and dry sand for a couple of times, did she resume
her walk and approached the hard wet sand.
In front of her, the waves rolled in and out leaving behind incomparable
embroidery patterns made of pure white foam. Surrounded by all this white
transparent reality, all she wanted was to be able to take a piece of it with
her, wherever she went. Yet, every time she tried to touch it or hold it in her
hands, it disappeared between her fingers, leaving her with nothing. Oddly, it
was the ephemeral aspect of that reality that made that moment even more
significant and the only way to eternalize it was to fully embrace it and live
it. She knew that the present moment is the sole guardian and holder of life’s
essence and those blind to that fact or reluctant to accept it, would never
fully experience it.
As always, when she was there, she lost track of time. Every step she
took revealed her something new. Looking further ahead, she was able to identify
small stacks of seaweed that had been randomly deposited by the high tide. At
her feet, countless pebbles of all sizes, shapes and textures paved the sand.
Not resisting the temptation to find the perfect one, she inevitably ended up
with her pockets full of these irresistible tokens. Despite her hands and feet
were frozen cold, she felt more alive than ever, for she welcomed and honored
all these ocean’s offerings with her ability to awe, when at their presence,
and to cherish them like small treasures.
Time passed by quickly. The tide was slowly rising again and the sun was
setting. The sounds and smells were now more intense than ever. Behind her, the
ocean mist descended upon that place transforming the coastal vegetation into a
distant blur. Soon the darkness would
take over the beach.
It was time to leave. She closed
her eyes and let herself be rocked by the sounds of the gentle lapping ocean
waves. Her breathing and heartbeat became one with that sound and magically everything
seemed to make sense again.
She opened her eyes to the immensity in front of her and felt small before
it, yet as whole as she had ever been.
«That night, they chose to stop the motion that had
been pushing them further away from each other and commit themselves to slowly
restore the bond they still shared but did not seem to remember anymore.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«It’s enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at
this moment.»
«Their eyes met, and for the first time in years they
were actually not indifferent to each other’s presence.
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«There is such a thing
as looking through a person's eyes into the heart, and learning more of the
height, and breadth, and depth of another's soul in one hour than it might take
you a lifetime to discover, if he or she were not disposed to reveal it, or if
you had not the sense to understand it.»
«The synchronization and spontaneity of that gesture
brought back to both unsuspicious feelings that had been laying beneath years
of misunderstandings, regrets and deceptions.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like
force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.»
«It was one of those unpredictable moments, when a
simple gesture or an unexpected attitude from someone we know, or we think we
know, can suddenly change, in a few seconds, years of pre-defined opinions or
even feelings that we used to experience about that person.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«There is a road from the eye to the heart that does
not go through the intellect.»
«The perplexity of that moment, caught her off guard
and immediately touched a chord inside her, waking her up from the emotional
lethargy she had been in.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«There are moments in life, when the heart is so full
of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops
some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like
water, can never be gathered together.»
«And, by the time she reached the dinner table, she
already knew that something had changed in the way he used to look at her. It
almost seemed as if he was looking at her for the first time.»
By Raquel R. in Short Story number 9
«The power of a glance has been so much abused in love
stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that
two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it
is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.»
«Nevertheless, it has been a long time since he last
engaged in the conscious action of taking charge of his senses and command them
to get rid of all the filters that gradually undermine every attempt to grasp
objectivity, distorting the reality, preventing us from fully apprehend what is
right in front of us, and focus solely on her.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience
what you really are.»
«Therefore, taking the time to pay close attention to
the small details of someone’s actions, generally leads to a better understanding
of the person as a whole, bringing us one step closer to capture their true
essence.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«Perhaps there is a language which is not made of
words and everything in the world understands it. Perhaps there is a soul
hidden in everything and it can always speak, without even making a sound, to
another soul.»
«Throughout the years they have been together he
cultivated the habit of observing her moves and reactions, particularly when
she was not aware of being the focus of his attention. He believed that one’s
true self easily emerges when in complete solitude or at a safe distance from
the possibility of being scrutinized by others.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«There is immeasurably more left inside than what
comes out in words.»
«They were both staring into the void and it was
perceptible that each was lost in their own thoughts, rambling around the
outskirts of their own private world.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«Loneliness does not come
from having no people around one, but from being unable to communicate the
things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which
others find inadmissible.»
«They both executed the movements with pristine
precision, as if they were actors in a play, and everything had to be according
to the script, leaving no margin for improvisation.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«There is always some madness in love. But there is
also always some reason in madness.»
«To any casual observer, they seemed to be two
strangers with no other connection, except the fact, that the laws of physics
determined that they shared the same space and time and accidentally crossed
each other’s path. They were sitting side by side, but apart from sharing the
same table, nothing else revealed the real bond between those two souls.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 9
«She’s sitting right in front of me, but at the same
time she’s a million miles away.»
Short
Story number 9: Inspired by
the song «Low Rising» by The Swell Season from the albumStrict Joy.
To any casual observer, they seemed to be two
strangers with no other connection, except the fact, that the laws of physics
determined that they shared the same space and time and accidentally crossed
each other’s path. They were sitting side by side, but apart from sharing the
same table, nothing else revealed the real bond between those two souls. The
loud noise of the crowded restaurant did not appear to bother the couple having
dinner. They both executed the movements with pristine precision, as if they
were actors in a play, and everything had to be according to the script,
leaving no margin for improvisation. In a place, where socializing was the
keystone, and everyone, at one point or another, engaged in random conversations,
they were clearly swimming against the current, as they were not talking to
each other. They were both staring into the void and it was perceptible that
each was lost in their own thoughts, rambling around the outskirts of their own
private world.
Though they appeared to be mere strangers, they were,
in fact, connected by years of close intimacy.
When they both finally finished their meal, their eyes
met, in a silent attempt to predict the next move. After muttering something,
she left the table to go freshen up and his eyes followed her.
Throughout the years they have been together he
cultivated the habit of observing her moves and reactions, particularly when
she was not aware of being the focus of his attention. He believed that one’s
true self easily emerges when in complete solitude or at a safe distance from
the possibility of being scrutinized by others. Therefore, taking the time to
pay close attention to the small details of someone’s actions, generally leads
to a better understanding of the person as a whole, bringing us one step closer
to capture their true essence. Nevertheless, it has been a long time since he
last engaged in the conscious action of taking charge of his senses and command
them to get rid of all the filters that gradually undermine every attempt to
grasp objectivity, distorting the reality, preventing us from fully apprehend
what is right in front of us, and focus solely on her.
That self-imposed clarity of thought allowed him to
recognize that she still kept the same graciosity that first fascinated him.
She moved with the elegance of a queen, yet her eyes reflected an earnest and straightforward
simplicity.
While returning from the restroom, she caught a
glimpse of his face amongst the faceless crowd. She could see that he was
clearly staring at her. And, by the time she reached the dinner table, she
already knew that something had changed in the way he used to look at her. It
almost seemed as if he was looking at her for the first time. The perplexity of
that moment, caught her off guard and immediately touched a chord inside her,
waking her up from the emotional lethargy she had been in. It was one of those
unpredictable moments, when a simple gesture or an unexpected attitude from
someone we know, or we think we know, can suddenly change, in a few seconds,
years of pre-defined opinions or even feelings that we used to experience about
that person.
He stood up from the chair. As he went on to pay the
dinner’s bill, her eyes followed him. She still admired his confident manners
and the strength of his stare. He always had this ability to read her soul and
disarm her insecurities. It was inexplicable to her how the distance between
them could have grown to the point of almost transforming them into two
strangers.
He returned to the dinner table and they prepared
themselves to leave the restaurant. As they stood before the entrance door,
they simultaneously reached for the door knob. The synchronization and
spontaneity of that gesture brought back to both unsuspicious feelings that had
been laying beneath years of misunderstandings, regrets and deceptions. Their
eyes met, and for the first time in years they were actually not indifferent to
each other’s presence. At that precise moment, although without any kind of
formal and rational recognition from the parts involved, a silent pact was
made. That night, they chose to stop the motion that had been pushing them
further away from each other and commit themselves to slowly restore the bond
they still shared but did not seem to remember anymore.
«7. At the end of the day, look up at the starry sky, visualize a trail
amongst the stars and try to figure out where summer is taking me the next day.»
By Raquel R. in My Perfect Summer Day
« And so with the
sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things
grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning
over again with the summer.»
«6. Spend most of my time outdoors and experience the joys of a close
contact with nature.»
By Raquel R. in My Perfect Summer Day
«I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days -
three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years
could ever contain.»
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