Collective Thought

Collective Thought

by Hannah Cunningham

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Time in space moves differently than time in this earthly realm. Everything is somehow quicker, while also being much slower. So perhaps no one can hear themselves scream, but they will forever hear the echo of all screams that moved in a way leaving them unable to exist at the singular cross section of space and time considered in the initial phrase.

The echoes muddle together, creating a gentle hum that defines the very universe.

The echoes are made up of all existing thought. They move and vibrate and each thought becomes so excitable it is held in a ball while it cycles between the creation and burning of gases.

If you’ve ever looked up at the stars, or through a telescope, you’ve seen the swirling clouds of light and color that make up the night sky. This starry landscape is the amalgam of life itself. The wonder that is collective thought.

As she looked into his eyes, she started to fall. Fall for him, but also fall forward. She was drawn in. The closer to his eyes she got, the larger they seemed, until suddenly she was floating in them, among the swirling masses of color in his golden iris.

She reached out her hand and felt the light and soft, almost fabric like, slivers of human essence floating all around her. She approached the darkness, as the space around her continued to grow and the colors became less concrete, the shimmer within coming closer and closer until it sparkled, eventually taking on their own shape as stars. As she approached the edge of the pupil, she saw the dark depth of space. She felt no need to scream, but knew if she did it would not be audible, yet a low, calming hum was coming from the clouds of stars around her. As she floated slowly through darkness, and away from the stars, she felt at peace. Despite heading toward the black hole at the back of the eye, she was not scared. The journey, although happening in only milliseconds, felt like years to the girl, who didn’t mind the break from life on Earth.

As she slipped through the black hole, she was suddenly back in her body, leaning forward into a kiss.

He held the base of her head and pulled her in, and she knew him fully, after seeing the stars in his eyes.

That night as she lay in bed, her mind racing, she struggled to fall asleep. After much tossing and turning, she tried laying completely still, meditating as she attempted to let her thoughts pass through her mind and float away.

Finally, the thought bubbles began to float up and away, and she was plunged into pitch darkness.

Sitting, still meditating, she experienced a realm with no sides, no top, no bottom, no air, no thing at all, excluding herself. She couldn’t tell what state she was in, if she really existed at all. She was now standing. Suddenly, she could see bubbles approaching. As they reached her they started to aggressively pound against a type of force field or shield that was now around her, at the height of a very tall building. More bubbles came, and their messages rumbled together into a muddled noise that eventually reached the girl.

She realized these were more thoughts coming to disturb her sleep, so she once again began to meditate. As she sat cross legged there was now comfy grass, and the pitch black began to lighten. The angry bubbles slowly moved further and further away, until they became distant lights. The night sky lit up around the girl, as she sat meditating in a starlit field in her mind, her body resting soundly. Occasionally, a shooting star would pass and the message would reach her, but she let the thought pass as quickly as the shooting star.

Everything was going to be okay.