A Labyrinthine Voyage

For the past 10 years, Celise and her husband Daryl have been living in the post-apocalyptic city of Bellingham, Washington. The weather today was fairly typical of late spring in this region. It was rainy, a bit cold and terribly windy, much to Celise's dismay.

Celise gently clutches onto her beloved Tahitian pearl necklace gifted to her on her 16th birthday by her late father, Admiral Johnson T. Cullingsworth.

Seeing these pearls today, just on the cusp of her 43rd birthday, reminds her of the childhood she spent in the islands of the south pacific, with occasional excursions to various territories in Asia, as well as Europe and Africa. It was a wondrous experience having access to all of the gifts that the maritime lifestyle has to offer while she grew into adulthood.

A little more than eleven years ago, and just two years to the date after Daryl and Celise’s wedding, tragedy struck home as it claimed the life of Johnson T. Cullingsworth. Seven men were aboard the ship that fateful night, and only one man made it out alive. After spending three months in a medically induced coma, Lewis Arnold, a close friend of Johnson, set forth onto his long road to recovery. At that particular time, Celise and Daryl were living in Hawaii, while deciding whether or not they wanted to remain vulnerable as islanders, or move to the mainland for increased security.

Once released from the hospital, Lewis made the trip from Fiji to Honolulu to share his condolences with Celise and her mother Margaret. While visiting, Lewis couldn’t help but mention that there was a strange presence in the air he had noticed not long before the ship capsized. He explained it to be something like an eerie, unexpected calmness, like the eye of a hurricane, however no such weather had occurred. The ship was well equipped with radar, among other weather predicting tools, so the cause of the shipwreck still remains a mystery at this time.

Lewis was determined to visit each family of the deceased. He felt it was his duty, and he even felt a bit guilty being the only one left alive. He knew he couldn’t bring his Naval brethren back to life, but he could at least explain the experience of the wreck from the best of his recollection. Seeing the somber look in Margaret's eyes filled him with a sorrow deeper than the caves he had once explored near the ocean floor. He knew how much Margaret had loved Johnson, and it broke his heart knowing how lonesome she would be without her beloved husband. Lewis and Margaret had a history that went back much longer than all of the years Celise had been alive. They had met on their first day of college, before Lewis dropped out in favor of the Naval Academy. Lewis wrote to Margaret every week while training and having his first adventures out at sea. It wasn’t long before Lewis met Johnson. The two sailors quickly became friends. Lewis invited Margaret to be his date to the first Ball hosted by the Navy. Dressed to the nines, Margaret and Lewis arrived at the Ball. Then from across the room, Margaret’s eyes met those sterling blue’s of Johnson’s, and that was the beginning of the end for Lewis' envisioned romance with Margaret. Lewis was completely heartbroken, but since he and Margaret were not officially dating, he felt as though he should be happy for his two friends finding each other on a beautiful night such as this. So, he resolved to stifle his pain and would go on to support his two friends well into their many years of holy matrimony.

During Lewis' visit, the three would speak of Johnson, about how he was an incredibly intelligent man who quickly moved up through the Naval ranks, eventually acquiring the prestigious title of Admiral. Celise could still recall the day they celebrated her father's grand achievement. She was just ten years old. Their family was currently stationed in Antananarivo, Madagascar. They took a weekend trip to Johannesburg, South Africa where there were plenty of restaurants and shops. One shop in particular stood out in Celise’s memory. It was a very small jewelry shop owned by a kindly old woman by the name of Ni. Celise was mesmerized by all of the unique baubles in the store. This would be the first time Celise would see real diamonds adorning expertly crafted metal rings, necklaces, and earrings. Celise pleaded with her father for just a small piece of jewelry containing at least one of those precious, luxurious diamonds, but alas, the answer was no. She would continue to ask for diamonds for the next several years, but of course her requests were to no avail.

When her sixteenth birthday arrived, Johnson took his daughter into a Tahitian jewelry shop adjacent to where they were living at the time. Although the shop had no diamonds amongst its wares, Celise immediately became infatuated with the most gorgeous pearl necklace she had ever laid her eyes upon. Johnson obliged without concern for the price as he reasoned it was his daughter’s special day. Unbeknownst to them, not even sixteen more years would go by, and Johnson would meet his untimely, horrific demise.

Margaret left Lewis and Celise to talk while she went to the kitchen to put on some more tea. Her grief and distress had been waring her conscience thin. She felt guilty for having not visited Lewis in the hospital. The Navy had demonstrated a proper memorial for the fallen servicemen while Lewis was recovering. His locale made it difficult for anyone to check up on him in person. Lewis had lost his wife to radiation poisoning just five years prior to this tragic shipwreck, after an "accidental" detonation of a small arsenal of nuclear weapons off the coast of North Korea. The blast killed millions, if not immediately, then by prolonged illness. The most damage was sustained by eastern Asia, many islands and countries were completely decimated as far south as Papua New Guinea. Lewis and Grace were stationed in Vanuatu at the time, but Lewis was on an excursion in the Bahamas when the nefarious blast occurred, leaving Grace to bear the most agonizing consequences of virulent warfare on her own. The world's landscape had changed in an instant. The nations that survived had to adjust to their new environments, all drastically altered by the chemicals disseminated by the nukes. Grace was one of several thousands who suffered from debilitating sickness before passing away in the months after the explosion. Food became scarce as vast amounts of vegetation vanished from the poison in the air. Some plants would still grow, but no flowers would bloom. Civilian life became almost obsolete, as the military could not provide enough rations through it's own resources via privately owned green houses and apiaries.

Lewis missed his wife terribly, but he was all too familiar with the volatile reality that is life. Lewis was a man of valor and strength yet, he was now without a leg to stand on. Compared to the gruesome fates to which many of his loved ones had succumbed, he felt grateful for his regained life, and his ability to provide support for his friends even if the wheelchair made traveling more difficult.

Margaret much appreciated Lewis' visit, and it was so nice to catch up with him in person after all the years that had gone by with only a phone call here and there. Lewis was even kind enough to bring a small gift for Celise as he knew it was the eve of her 32nd birthday. Celise graciously opened the small box, and inside was a dazzling pair of sterling silver earings adorned by tiny, crystalline diamonds. Diamonds, like she had always wanted. They must have cost a small fortune, she thought, considering most foreign trade had come to a halt in the last five years since the damning blast. Lewis wasn't an Admiral like her father had been, but Celise reasoned he could've still used his military prestige to make an international trade exception. It was a very generous gift indeed. Celise would go on to wear these incredible earrings everyday from there on out. This visit from Lewis would be the last they would see or hear from him in the years to come. Simple phone calls had become very spotty and unreliable due to the bombs' impact on the world's power grid and cellular infrastructure. It became assumed that he went merrily on his way to visit the other families without any issues, but Celise and her mother Margaret would never again gain knowledge of Lewis Arnold's whereabouts. Celise and Daryl would soon move to Bellingham,WA., bringing Margaret along with them.

Teary eyed from the trip down memory lane, Celise gazes at her reflection in the mirror. The last fifteen or so years in this post-apocalyptic world have been rough, but Daryl's job with the government has provided for them fairly well, and Margaret was taken care of through Johnson's Will. The world economy had essentially collapsed long ago, as if there was all that much to be desired these days anyway. Survival became the name of the game, and Celise was just grateful neither she nor Daryl sustained any illness from the chemical calamity. Staring into the smooth pane of reflective glass, Celise has just one query: what exactly is the meaning of life?

Suddenly there's a knock at the door. Celise is startled out of the daze she’s been in. She places the pearls back into their compartment in the vanity. It’s upon unusual occasion that the postman will rap at the door like that, but still Celise heads to the foyer to see what the matter could be. She opens the door to see that a small package has been placed on the welcome mat. It’s addressed to Celise Cullingsworth, which she finds odd, as Cullingsworth is her maiden name, and she’s been married for thirteen years now.

Curiously, she searches for a return address, but the identity of the sender cannot be found. She considers awaiting Daryl's arrival home, before opening package, but temptation soon takes over and she searches for a knife. With a swift swipe of a sharp blade, the contents of the mysterious parcel are revealed. There is a letter written on papyrus rolled in the fashion of an old scroll complete with a bow crafted from a banana leaf. Below it is a smaller box that says: read the letter first. So she unrolls the scroll and discovers what appears to be a poem, as abstract and cryptic as it may seem, it reads:

The world is going to end!

And then it will start anew.

Perhaps all of the blue things will be green,

And all of the green things will be blue.

The red pales to pink

and goldish-purple is a hue.

Orange will always shine,

since it shares a name with Mother Nature’s fruit.

It bears flowers of peppery-indigo-white

deeply seeded at the root.

This might all sound like gibberish,

so outlandish and quite obscene,

But someday I’d like to see a world no sin has ever seen.

Hello! I forgot about yellow,

but perhaps the sun will be aquamarine.

Someday I’d like to touch the clouds and be amongst everything I’ve dreamed.

Someday I’d like to hear the birds, ones who never feel need to take flight,

just rest in their nest and sing songs of love

while gazing upon the earth’s oceans up above.

Yes, the sky will come down and crash into the earth,

this is all in necessity for a dark new days birth.

Darkness

It will come to be lauded, aptly so and indiscreetly well applauded.

Illuminated like beacons were the warnings of deceit

shrouded by smiles, so recognizably uncouth

love has wept, as in this game

the devil did cheat,

but the soul is now at rest,

welcoming true lovers to its fleet.

Shazam, Goddamn

Out comes the truth,

We’ll no longer attack with envy

the desires of our youth.

Instead we’ll embrace,

Come together, shining brightly as the sun.

We’ll shine on just like the stars

with which we are one.

Diamonds are bright, but not right,

as they leave blood on our hands,

Like for the broken mirror of vanity,

one’s responsibility stands.

If you can’t bring to light what you’ve done in the dark,

these words might move or shake you

As they are deviantly stark.

As the pendulum rhythmically swings,

We’re on track to meet the mark.

Oh, never mind,

These are just speculative convictions,

Slightly prophetical predictions

Of a positive chromodynamic quark.

Reasonably perplexed, Celise ponders for a moment about the letter she just read.

She then carefully unties the ribbon on the small box and opens it to find a heart-shaped, diamond encrusted locket.

Its prismatic beauty is unlike anything she’s seen before.

She struggles to get it to open, but when it finally unlatches, she discovers no picture inside, like one would expect, but just an engraving of the number 48.

48?