Tunnel Vision

The year 2016:

Megan Cole’s instinctive coping mechanism for shock kicked in. She screamed with all her body. The pain had been too much and now she felt none. The cause for her delirious and exhausting experience would pop out of her within the minute. This cause would be called Michael Cole.

Seven years ago Megan had a miscarriage. So, on July seventeenth 2016 the fear of losing Michael threw her into an untamed frenzy. She would not lose this baby, not for the world.

12.6 seconds later the single most enjoyed moment of Megan’s life would travel toward her at almost 343.2 meters per second in the form of sound. That sound would be the effect of little Michael first inhaling then rapidly pushing the air out again with his larynx put close together to result in a high pitched wail.

Four hundred and eighty-three kilometers in a relative upward direction a creature was dying. Beside him his companion seeped in unfathomable despair.

K James found himself fading, his consciousness detracting into a single particle. Life was leaving him. All those centuries of preparation, of coming to terms, and still he didn't want to die. Why would he? He had his beautiful K Bell. He was upsetting her now, her every thought was of him.

To an artist the scene would be beyond phenomenal. Below, the Earth, covered in clouds, oceans spread in an imperfect sphere, the significance and power of gravity displayed in the wonderful Earth. Sitting on the brim of the atmosphere were two life forms composed completely of photons; one female one male. The male’s photons were being pulled away from him by Earth’s gravity. They slowly floated away, no longer belonging to his existence. K Bell’s trepidation was out of her control. She tried to pull him back to her. But her meager amount of telekinetic energy had dwindled under the pull of the planet. Her beloved K James deteriorated across the sky and K Bell could only flounder and scream for him to come back.

Then, the 972 earth year old life form by the name of K James whose telekinetic intelligence dwelled in photons from the galaxy Andromeda, begged. His last words would send his venerated K Bell onto a path of agony and regret for the next 93 years. “Help me, please K, help, I’m so scared. Please save me! K!” He pleaded.

If only he had spent those last 11.3 seconds assuring her everything would be alright, that they were going to be okay, make her promise that she would try to be happy. If only he had taken the 1.2 seconds to say that he loved her one last time...

K Jame’s photons gathered speed as the gravity became stronger. K Bell sat paralyzed, suspended in time. K Jame’s remains settled on the rim of the atmosphere -bright as ever- mocking the magnificent being who once inhabited them. Then they were gone.

K Bell’s grief suddenly dislodged itself and gained momentum into a tumbling panic. She pursued her love’s remnants and dove into an unbelievably crowded atmosphere.
An avalanche of photons, carbon electrons, dust particles, fungi and every other element in the New York sky clogged the air. She fought through them only to find they never ended. The atmosphere jammed tight with atoms, not a single inch of space.

She sped past people’s lives: an elderly couple on an anniversary, a boy and his dog playing in a darkened street, a pair of teenagers discovering the idea of young love, a new mother clutching her beautiful brown baby boy. “Look, a shooting star, it must be a good omen, I’ve never seen one in this city” Megan cried.

This would be K Bell’s environment for the next ninety-three years. The quest to find the photons of K James would consume her and the cramped environment would dull her until she would forget why she was looking for him.

The Year 2021:

In the fifth year of searching, K Bell's perception of this earth was still developing. She knew when an arrangement of atoms in certain structures would not let her pass, she knew the night and day and habits of the planet. She also learned a few languages in the native tongues.

One particular night she decided to conduct an experiment with communication. Selecting the species of the test subject took time. Insects seemed to be a strongly populated breed, meaning they are adaptable but one look at the nerve net activity convinced her there wouldn't be much to say. Some sea mammals seemed interesting but another category seemed more fitting. The Homo sapien.

She had learned the English language from the information source called the Internet.
In her understanding of earth-human's culture a young one's words are undermined even more so than adult humans. So, to draw less attention, her test subject was naturally a five year old child whose name happened to be Michel G Cole.

K Bell started easy. Greetings and introductions.

To Michael a stranger’s voice in his head while he was pretending to sleep proved startling. He jumped and pulled his ninja-themed sheets over his face.

“My apologies human, for any inconveniences my presence causes. I am wondering if you could speak to me for scientific reasons. What are you called?” The Voice commanded.

“Are you in my head?” Michael asked. Then the horrible truth dawned on him and his little face crinkled in terror. “ You're a bug -aren't you- and you went and crawled in my ear and now you’re talking to me from inside my ear.” Michael shook his head and plunged his finger in his skull in an attempt to scoop out the bug.

“No human, your assumption is incorrect.” K Bell was amused, ‘are you in my head’ was most likely not his name. Therefore, he was posing a completely new question. “My physical form is constructed of photons or light. I am behind your night light as not to startle you with my appearance. I communicate to you through telepathic means. Now if you please, your name.”

“ My name is Michael Cole and I am five and three-fourths, how old are you?” Michael stuck his fat baby fingers into a five and was concentrating on bending his index finger into a 3/4ths.

The question shocked K Bell. In this part of the planet speaking about age was scorned. Also she didn’t know her age. “My age is unknown to me. How are you?” She pushed on with the experiment.

“My tummy hurts and I want to see you how small you are.” Michael said

K Bell saw no harm in showing her physical image. She rose away from the company of the night light to give contrast for the boy’s eyes.

“Wow, can I touch you?” Michael’s visage shone with wonder.

“You may try but I would only slip through your fingers with no pressure or physical simulation.” K explained.

K Bell went on with the list of standard casual subjects: what are your hobbies, are you married, and the rest.

Finally, Michael got bored and sleepy. “Tell me a story.” he whined. So, K Bell told her life’s story -summarized of course. She told of her birth from the star Almach 358 light years away and of her travels with K James, and when she had finished she saw how Michael was showing signs of distress.

“Why are you here?” Michael asked.

The question scared K Bell and she bid him goodnight then took to the sky, escaping out of the open window.

“This world is so cluttered” K Bell thought, pushing through the jumble of gas molecules.
She spent thirteen years searching the whole landmass of the Americas; from Canada to South America. She scrutinized every photon she came upon; the pain still stung at her innards. If she were asked to put a physical description to her feelings she would have only laughed harshly. She found the thought of belittling her pain into physical meaning amusing. Her pain acted as a poison, working from inside, damaging the brain. An irrepressible illness.

She spent twenty-seven years mapping from Morocco to the Indonesian area.

Her perspective of the earth changed slowly. Instead of cramped and overwhelming the air’s molecules simplified and grew less important. Now K Bell saw an opaque sky and ignored all but photons.

The forty-eight years spent searching the ocean was brutal. Despondency of the situation crept into her mind. The poison had done its work, erupted blood cells, damaged nerves, dissolved muscles, shutdown organs and propelled senses toward insanity. She was lost and lonely when she crept into the hospital, on the night of Michael Cole’s death.

The year 2109:

Michael G Cole relaxed into the unfamiliar hospital pillows, enjoying his last few hours of life. His grandchildren had just visited and his gratitude for them reflected in the tears now sliding down his face.

“ Why are you expressing sorrow?” A small familiar voice asked in his head.

“Oh, K Bell!” He jumped just as he had 88 years ago, “You know very well what my thoughts are.”

“Yes” K Bell agreed. The moments passed as if they were plentiful for the now old man. “Tell me a story.” K Bell said; so, Michael told her a story.

The story told of his childhood imaginary friend K Bell the talking bit of star, of his voyages as a young buck, of his meeting the most wonderful woman in the world, of their first child. He recalled the funeral of the most wonderful woman in the world. Then he told her his thoughts on death.

The sadness of leaving, the pain it caused him to see his family cry, to see them hurting from the thought of his absence. He expressed the fear of uncertainty. “ I must be brave, K Bell, I must be brave for them, I…” Then he started to cry because it was frightening and when humans are frightened they cry to release the emotion in a non-destructive way. Finally, he dried his face and smiled “It’s okay, I am brave.”

His brow crinkled and his lips pressed together in a sort of puzzled way. “Why are you here?” No answer came. “I have a place on this earth, I am happy. You are delusional, looking for something that will not give you benefit or closure. You have the means to go home to find your kin; you're not dead yet. So answer me this -you higher life form- why are you here?”

K Bell had no answer for this. Michael had lived a whole lifetime in the span of time she spent hunting a ghost.

“Good bye Michael G Cole.”

“Good-bye K Bell.”

With her mind relieved of its burden she shot at 299,792,458 meters per second. She crashed through the inhabited sky and burst out of the atmosphere. “Help me, please,K, help. I’m so scared. Please save me! K!” The words echoed from the memory, but the words no longer hurt her. The familiar feeling of loving K James filled her and took its place in her heart. She embraced the vacuum around her and flew free. She danced in the space, rejuvenated and definitely not dead.