Short Story: Beyond The Blue

Short Story: Beyond The Blue

Lucie can neither see nor hear, and inside her ears is a well of intense blue. The blue is hard and presses against her ear drums so she constantly feels filled up.

Behind her eyes there is a wall of blue. She can open her eyes as wide as she wants but all she sees is this blue, as bright and vivid as a summer sky. When she opens her mouth to talk the blue makes Lucie feel as though she's trying to sing into the wind.

Of course, no-one outside of Lucie can see the blue but they sense the boundary, the blockage. Even the most patient of helpers feels frustrated and heart-sorry for Lucie as she tries to rise above it. Inside Lucie's head, she feels as if she's constantly free falling, and not much can penetrate this spiralling uncertainty.

One thing she notices is temperature, and she enjoys the feeling of hot sun on her face, warming her cheeks. She is lying now on her stomach, on the grass, with bare feet swinging and the grass pressing against her thighs through the thin material of her dress.

She is playing with a few strands of grass through her fingertips and looking around in her in a disconcerting manner. That is, disconcerting for those who know she can't see a thing. She doesn't notice the earth beneath her start to slip and bring her knees into its warm body.

She only notices when her elbows also start to slip and she begins to grind them in to stay steady. Soon the earth feels as though it's rising up to meet her belly and then Lucie is

gone,

turning to face the sky and sinking beneath the earth, the grass covering her thin brown hair and pulling her deeper in.

Lucie is warm and cocooned beneath the earth. She is breathing slowly and deeply. Between her fingers, she runs the same strand of hair over and over again. She is unworried. Everything is still, just like always.

A thin trickle of water comes and runs into her ears and she gasps as it tickles and works its way past the blue. Soon the water is gushing in like a torrent, flowing down her throat now and trickling out the corners of her mouth.

After a short period of time, everything stops and is still again. Lucie's breath is more shallow now, her chest rising quickly with the shock of the cold water, but soothed by the warm earth above.

Then dry earth tickles at her ears and begins to crumble away. Lucie feels lighter in body and sits up slowly, the earth above her easily falling from her shoulders.

Her ears are painful and raw, clogged with dirt, but she can no longer feel the blue. Her heart is pounding through her whole body and her breath is pouring from her in waves. She stands up, suddenly sure of where she is. It doesn't matter where everyone else is but only that she knows herself now. She turns her eyes to the sky, the blue in them perfectly resonating with the beauty above her.

She walks away with strong steps into the sun, her feet pounding on the welcoming and safe earth.