One Speck

2

The blackest of black skies have only hinted at the emptiness that encompassed The Beginning. The circle that grew to a sphere. The sphere that grew to a state of mind surpassing all comprehensible shapes of matter. And just as thoughts are born, such was the creation of The Speck.  3

In himself he found the universe; both a complete reflection and utter inversion of all that ever was... was in him. The Speck never aged or grew physically but time still existed and he was aware of it. He could remember the difference between the now and the then and eventually he began to expect the later. It became truth. It was the way it was.  4

After many laters The Speck found himself estranged. Estranged from the stillness of his allotted place in the world. And so The Speck decided to move. Once. And twice a little further. Then thrice just a little bit faster. And along every which way in back-and-forth-pirouettes and upside-down-loop-de-loops. The Speck reveled in his new found excitement. He would speed his way over noteworthy distances and time himself on the way back. He would choreograph routine patterns for making ways to return to the spot from which he started. The Speck never grew tired of impressing himself.  5

"I spun this way and switched back to do it again only reverse! Did you see that?" shouted The Speck inadvertently after he finished memorizing his new dance perfectly. There was no answer. The Speck stopped and thought for a moment. Then he added, "It's really nothing. I bet I could do better." Again he waited silently and again, nothing. "Hello?" he finally muttered as his final bits of hope dredged outwardly from within him.  6

This time The Speck wondered and he really, really did wonder. He wondered about the then that had happened long ago when he had experienced his first now. He wondered how the universe as it was could have began the speck that he was. He remembered that his very first thought was that of his connection with the universe. He remembered realizing that in him was everything it was. And then he had an idea...  7

Before him appeared a slight glisten in the darkness. "Hello?" asked The Speck defying his fear with his curiosity. "I know something's there" he insisted. "Hello?" he repeated as he slowly moved forward. Slower and slower still he progressed wishing to disbelieve his doubts of finding nothing there.  8

And there it was. He felt it rumbling ever so slightly as he pressed up against it. It was calming. He smiled. But then it jerked away and a twittering giggle resounded out from its center.  9

"That tickles!" it said as the giggling subsided.  10

"You're here!" The Speck remarked triumphantly, "you're really, really right here next to me!" He was overjoyed.  11

"Where is here?" asked The Mist.  12

"Here is where we are right now" The Speck responded trying to sound informative.  13

"Oh" said The Mist, happy to be enlightened. "Who are you?" she added after letting a moment for the previous answer to sink in.  14

"I'm me and you're you."  15

"Is that all?"  16

"What else would we be?"  17

She shrugged. "I'm not sure" she said and decided in her mind that who she was was indeed most probably enough for her to be. "I guess you're right" she concluded.  18

"It's not about being right" The Speck ensured The Mist as he began rolling in circles around her.  19

"It's not?" she asked as she listened to his voice start to emanate from different directions but still beam down at her.  20

"Nope, it's about us."  21

"Really?" asked The Mist as she began to follow The Speck's voice by swiveling back and forth to get closer to where he was.  22

"What else would it be about? We're all that is here so it must be."  23

"Will we be here forever?" she suddenly wondered aloud and stopped her swiveling.  24

The Speck slowed his swirlings and came to a halt in front of The Mist. "We are here right now" he spoke softly to her, "This moment will always be ours."  25

"Forever?" she repeated.  26

"Yes."  27

And from off of The Mist there fell a piece of her. A tiny droplet. It dropped beneath them and continued traveling far away from them. The Speck took The Mist in close to him and they both chuckled at the feeling it first created, but then allowed themselves into each other and became soothed in a way that neither had ever been before.  28

"You're so little" The Mist at last interrupted.  29

"No" The Speck said with a smirk, "I am much bigger than I seem."  30

"Show me" pleaded The Mist.  31

"Shhhh" said The Speck quietly as he backed away from her. And he thought to himself. He thought once more of an idea....  32

And The Speck changed. No longer was he a mere speck of black amidst the looming darkness, but a light. He shimmered with an exuberance never before known to the universe. He stared off majestically into the world he had come to behold as his home.  33

"What's happening?" interjected a worried Mist, "Are you still there?"  34

"Turn around" he beckoned.  35

The Mist's peripheral vision discovered sight for the very first time. She turned aloft and stood in awe of his presence. Speechless and amazed she began letting off more of herself. She dripped off droplets that reflected the first true beauty she had ever known. And one by one they fell off into the distance of the universe and speckled a newly created horizon of life. And in each droplet... a new world waiting to be born, lived and experienced. A world of questions for a star-filled-sky that is never nearly quite as nearby as we'd all sometimes like to imagine.  36

"You see", said The Speck, "I'm not so little after all." And his phosphorescence wavered to the beat of his light chortling.  37

The Mist joined in with laughter of her own and they once again embraced each other, this time enjoying the added tickles and vibrations that the other instilled into them.  38

And as time marched onwards so did The Speck and The Mist. Except they saw to it that they did so in stylings of their own making. Together dancing through the cosmos. Memorizing each other... one speck... at a time. 39

                                           ~Gold~Winner40