The Day The Earth Stood Still.

It all began the day I proposed to my fiancé and asked her for her hand in marriage. It was a beautiful spring morning out and love was in the atmosphere, I could still smell the fresh flowers and grass in my yard from the rain coming down the night before soaking up our garden, I left the windows open the entire night so our apartment had a fresh garden smell to it. The Sun had a nice bright shine and now that I think on it, I've never seen the sun shine so bright before, The birds were chirping frantically almost as if they were shouting to get one's attention, as the sun rays beam through my bedroom window and I lay in bed listening to the sweet melodic sound of my fiancés voice as she recites her favorite love songs in the shower, I'm nervous, and my heart is beating faster than normal not only because it’s the day I've chosen to propose to her but also because I didn’t have enough to get an actual ring to propose with all I had was this beautiful heart shaped locket that was Givin to me by my grandfather years before he passed. He told me as a child to be very mindful to who I gave it to when I got ready to marry, he would always say that the locket had the power the make the entire earth stand still upon giving it to Somone you truly love, I always loved the myth of the locket so much so that I grew up believing it had this special power to it and since it was passed down through generations in my family, I thought it'll be the perfect alternative to propose with. The locket was gold in color and heart-shaped it had diamonds around the heart and engraved on the outside were the words forever, it was an extremely old necklace it had been in my family for 3 generations but the condition of it was mint! My grandfather got it cleaned and shined often there was a key that opened up the heart and, on the inside, it read “our love will last us into the next world” my grandfather always told me that once I give it to a woman that, that day the entire earth will stand still. As a child I always interpreted that figuratively never truly knowing that my grandfather meant literally. As I hear the water from the shower decline and my fiancés singing come to a halt I quickly sprang out of bed and went to the drawer to retrieve the locket it was shining brighter than ever because I had just got it shined the day before. “Honey!!!??” my fiancé calls from the bathroom “Hope you are awake and getting ready for work I ironed your uniform last night!” Nope! I replied back joyfully “I'm still in bed I actually took today off” I said with a grin, as she heard this she stormed into the bedroom with a confused look on her face, as long as we been engaged together, she has never witnessed me take a day off from work. With worry being the first thing on my fiancés mind she asked if I was feeling ok, I responded as if I was feeling better than ever and told her that id taken the entire day off to do something special with her. At that moment her smile got as bright as the sun that was still beaming through our bedroom curtains. She asked “and what may that be!?” As I stood up tall from the bed, I kissed her on the forehead gently and pulled her close and whispered in her ear “Today I have chosen to propose to you, “Today I have chosen forever with you. My fiancés face became blush red upon hearing this and the smile was so big it erupted into tears I could tell she was more than happy to hear my intentions...as her smile erupted and the tears fell, I got down on one knee and presented to her the heart shaped locket, explaining to her why I did not have the ring but the locket instead only made her more joyful and emotional the tears were falling directly on my face as kneel down looking up at her beautiful brown eyes the glare from the sun coming through the curtains gave them a hazel look, and as I asked “will you marry me?!” almost simultaneously she replied yes! This was the start of a day that would lead me and my fiancé into a new world with one another little did we know. As I got up from my proposal, I fashioned the heart shaped locket around my fiancés neck and gave her the key to open it the birds outside were chirping the loudest I had ever heard them chirp and the sun that was peeking through our curtains felt like it was getting brighter by the minute her heart was beating so fast I could feel it as I stand behind her fashioning the neckless, she was intrigued by the crystal-clear diamonds that surrounded the heart and even more intrigued by the word engraved on the heart “forever”. Before she opened the locket, I recited to her the same sayings that my grandfather would recite to me “once you open this locket our love would be brought into a new world and the earth would stand still” little did I know the power these words had. As soon as my fiancé opened the locket almost simultaneously the chirpings from the birds stopped and a huge dark cloud covered the sun blocking the rays from entering the bedroom instantly we began to feel a rumble through out the apartment the rumble got more violent and intense and before we could even realize it, we were holding one another tightly realizing we had been experiencing an earthquake! As everything came tumbling down, We took refuge underneath the bed to stay safe from falling debris my fiancé went from a joyful state to a fearful state in a split second all I can remember was the look on her face as the apartment rumbled with a violent rumble as we held on to one another underneath the bed, something very strange and odd was happening with the locket as we were experiencing the quake, too overwhelmed with fear my fiancé didn't take notice but I did “look”!! I shouted with a frantic voice! She looked down at her neck and the locket was giving off an illuminous green beam of light the brightest of lights I ever seen! My fiancé and I were stuck in awe witnessing the light, as the light got brighter from the locket the earth quake got stronger and stronger so strong to the point that my fiancé and I closed our eyes out of fear of seeing the destruction that would follow, as we closed our eyes and felt the earth rocking like a rocking chair the beam of light coming from the locket was so bright that it can still be seen even with our eyes closed eventually the earthquake came to a halt and at that moment it felt like the earth stood still. Total Silence. So quiet and still you could hear an ant grazing across the ground and when we opened our eyes the locket that I had fashioned around my fiancés neck was gone! She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and no signs of fear or distress was on her face it was as if nothing had ever happened! Her first words that fell from her lips were “forever is a very long time” and she kissed me gently on the lips and placed her hands gently together with mine and said joyfully “let us come from underneath the bed and see what awaits us” I was still feeling frantic and confused, confused mostly because the presence of peace my fiancé was showing after the most frightening thing that ever had happened to us had just taken place. Her eyes were so comforting and beautiful that all those feelings soon faded away and I grabbed her hand tightly and said “I’ll lead the way’ As we came from underneath the bed the scent of fresh flowers and grass that rushed my nostrils was so pure that gave me an immense spiritual high on my first breath, I looked to my side only to see my fiancé with her eyes closed inhaling also in through the nose and out through the mouth. The air was so fresh and crisp we never experienced anything like it, there were and endless number of trees of all sorts with vegetation to feed a village on each and every tree, as we looked to the east, we seen rivers of all sort some were water rivers, milk river, honey rivers all flowing abundantly, as if they had no end. We saw children with green silk garments scooping honey from the river with big gold wine glasses. As we stood watching they immediately noticed us and with a great big from ear to ear smile the children start jumping for joy and point west to a throne like home on top of a hill they said “you go there and enjoy the things forever has to offer” So I grabbed my wife closely and we walked through the garden. The sky was a deep darker blue the sun was shining but it was neither hot or cold, and strangely so the stars and the moon could also be seen because of the deep blue ocean like sky. The moon seemed so much closer the stars were significantly lower and the clouds were as if you can jump and grab them right out of the sky! As we approached the throne like home there were the two same boys there at the entrance, they spoke no words just smiled from ear to ear their teeth were as white as pearls at the bottom of the ocean and their eyes were big and bright. They handed me and my wife silk green garments and bracelets of gold, the path way leading to the home was paved in what seem to be 100 percent pure gold. As we walked the golden path the most beautiful butterflies, I have ever laid eyes on passed us by in swarms of different colors leaving behind a sweet scent as they drifted by, the tallest trees that went straight into the clouds were seen coming from behind the home and waterfalls were gushing from both sides it was truly paradise, what was ironic about the whole walk down the golden path was that we came to realize we couldn’t speak. But the feeling of peace we were under we didn't want to speak all we could do was smile and be in awe at what our eyes were witnessing. As we approached the home and entered there were lofty cushions, couches, plant life, golden bars, and bricks just laid out as if they have never been touched there was a table that stretched from one end to the other and nothing but the freshest fruits were seen a lot of the fruits were new and we have never seen them before. There was a woman eating thereof. She was a fully dressed woman in a beautiful green and golden garment and as me and my wife came closer, we began to see the same green luminous light that the heart shape locket was showing during the earthquake glowing from her chest the glow blinded us from the view of her face but as we moved closer it slowly faded away. And behold the woman that was before us was made in the same image and likeness as my wife. She was wearing the heart shaped locket I had given my wife before the earthquake They stood staring at one another in awe admiring the beauty and likeness they shared as being exactly Identical it was almost like giving Cinderella a mirror. Then they both slowly turned towards me and smiled so bright it almost brought tears to my eyes they walked closer one holding on to my right hand and the other holding my left they looked me in the eyes and said “You have made it to the day after the earth stood still, indeed for ever is a long time”

-Jamal Shabazz