Short Story – Paradise

This short story was originally written several years ago for a book of collected shorts by various authors. Over the years I’ve gone back to it and changed it lots of times and, for me, the interpretation always seems to change. Here it is in its latest form!

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Paradise 

The first thing Cole could hear was birdsong.

At first sharp, stabbing squawks, which were followed by soft, song like chirps that swam around his head and fluttered in his ears.

He opened his eyes and squinted in the sun light.

Above him all he could see was blue. A deep rippling blue, streaky with gilded sun beams, like he was hanging upside down above the ocean. He felt the ground beneath him. Sand. He was definitely lying down. But, how could the sky look so blue?

He blinked and rubbed his eyes before pressing down on the sand beneath him and hauling himself upright.   He felt for his glasses which had somehow become placed in the breast pocket of his shirt and placed them on the edge of his nose.

The sand beneath him shifted as he adjusted his position and leant back on his palms, propping himself up to give himself the best view of what lay before him.

‘Wow’, he whispered.

The oceanic blue above him cascaded down and merged into a sea. The line between water and sky was barely visible. Clouds of pearly silver cut through the blue like scissors on silk. Birds of every colour possible and impossible soared past singing to each other as they glided above Cole’s head. In the distance, a geyser erupted in the middle of the ocean, sending a family of sunset coloured doves fluttering into the sky and dispersing like a firework. It was a whale; a great, beautiful, majestic whale which crooned to the birds as it drifted passed.

The sand he was sitting on was pure white; a sugary beach in a confectioner’s paradise. The water lapped peacefully at the sand, darkening its colour to a cloudy grey.

His glanced down at his clothes. He was wearing his favourite trousers which he reserved for occasions only, and he was sure he had never worn them to the beach before. He was also certain that the crisp, pastel shirt he was wearing was not the one he had worn to the office that morning. Somehow between getting from his office to the beach, his clothes had completely changed…

‘How…..what?’ he mumbled, running his hand through his perfectly styled hair, which he couldn’t remember styling.

‘The confusion is perfectly normal,’ said a voice behind him as a gentle hand squeezed his shoulder. ‘It gets easier.’

Cole turned in a panic and scrambled to his feet.

A woman with elegant, almost silver hair wearing a peaceful smile under her beautiful, placid eyes stood before him. She wore a pastel blue gown which shimmered as if she was clothed by a waterfall. She was framed by two large palm trees which swayed lazily in the breeze, and behind her tall, thick, emerald green grass stretched itself. A scene of picturesque beauty.

‘Don’t say anything. Take in your surroundings. Enjoy it.’ The woman cooed. Cole stared at her for a moment. She didn’t look a second over thirty, but she seemed to emit the knowledge of an eighty year old. There was something about her that commanded respect.

‘I was in my office and…’, he began but the woman raised her hand delicately to ease him.

‘You were in your office. Correct. But that was past and the past is not important yet. What matters is the present. And at present, you’re here.’ The woman said, before holding out a hand. ‘Come, I can explain.’

Cole looked at the hand in front of him. Perfectly manicured nails and soft skin. Something about her told him she could be trusted. Still, he took her hand reluctantly.

‘Am I…Did I….?’ he asked as they strolled along the sand. The question had been smouldering in his brain since the moment he’d opened his eyes. He had to ask.

‘Don’t say it. Don’t ask it. It’s not that straightforward,’ she smiled. ‘Although, I’ve been asked that question so many times and still I can’t find a suitable answer for it.’

‘Surely, I’m either one or the other.’

‘Or you could be both,’ she winked at him as they passed a large heron sitting on a nest in the undergrowth.

‘That’s impossible….’, he said, trying to suppress his frustration.  ‘Look, am I safe? What about my family? Has something happened? Are they safe?’, he stopped himself from spurting out more questions that were jumping around in his head.

‘Oh, I don’t think anyone’s really ‘safe’, Cole.’ The woman said knowingly.

‘Alright, who are you? And why are you being so cryptic?’, asked Cole, agitated at the woman’s tranquillity.

‘My name is irrelevant. Although I have gone by many names. None of which have been right, but, who am I to say? I’ve been here so long I can’t even remember my real name….’

‘Well, whoever you are, I need to get back to my office. I have work to do. I shouldn’t be messing about on some ridiculous island.’

‘Oh, this is not an island,’ she said wisely. ‘And I can’t see why you’d want to go back there. This place is far more beautiful…’

‘Yes, it is,’ he agreed, inhaling the fresh scent of the sea. ‘But still, I’m a very busy man.’

‘Have you thought perhaps that’s why you’re here? Sometimes we need fate to intervene in order for us to reflect.’

‘Reflect?’

‘On yourself. On your life. It’s easy for us to get caught up in what we think is important, but forget what actually is.’ They passed a rounded doorway set in to a tree with the words ‘Library’ painted awkwardly across the front. Cole blinked at it for a second then shook his head in disbelief.

‘Look, enough of the riddles, where am I?’, he sighed.

‘You’re not where you might think. But not entirely far from the truth. This place takes the shape of what you most need. Some people see a thriving city, or a comfy bedroom. Others see a stage with a crowded audience, whilst others see a cosy nook in a coffee shop. It has no real form. It’s just….here.’

‘But how did I get….here?’, Cole said, stooping as an African grey parrot swooped over his head.

‘Ha! You think I know the answer to that?’

‘Well you’re smug about something,’ he said daringly, but she wasn’t offended. She just smiled.

‘You’re confusing being smug with being content. You’re so frustrated because you don’t have the answers, but have you ever considered accepting that you don’t have the answers? There is a happiness to be found in embracing ignorance. I know very little about this place where I live, but I do know that it is beautiful and that I am happy here, and that is all I need.’

They stopped walking. They had arrived at a collection of rock pools under a palm tree. She sat on a raised rock and gracefully beckoned Cole to join her. He did.

‘Take a look. I think this will make you feel better,’ she said dipping her hand into the water. The pool rippled and lost its clearness. A tiny building appeared on the surface of the water. It was bookended by two large oak trees which had shed their orange leaves, and now protected piles of golden mess. Above the building, an ornate bell rang with joy.

‘Impossible,’ Cole gasped. ‘That’s my university….’

‘Was your university. These are the pools of your past.’

Cole squinted and knelt forward on the rocks to get a closer look. In the doorway of the tiny school, a gaggle of students came bursting out, their black cloaks billowing behind them. They cheered, punched the air and shook each other in celebration before joining together to toss their hats at the sky.

‘Graduation Day,’ muttered Cole, still in awe at the sight before him.

The pool rippled again and the school and its pupils melted away.

Cole adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat as the recognisable image of his garden appeared in the pool. The water trembled and a pink and yellow patch work castle appeared to almost bounce out of the pool. It shook and wobbled like a jelly and a group of tiny children raced around it, shouting and singing at one another. Cole chuckled to himself and watched as his miniature doppelganger sat on a bench next to the castle, chuckling next to a miniature Sarah.

‘Natalie’s sixth birthday,’ he whispered fondly, scouring the group of squealing children for his daughter’s pigtails.

‘You have wonderful memories of your wife and children.’ The woman patted his shoulder gently, before gracefully climbing to her feet and walking away. As she did this, the bouncy castle seemed to deflate and collapse upon itself, sinking in to the water and pulling the rest of the scene with it.

Cole watched as the water clouded over into an inky black. Streaks of white flashed across the water’s surface and every muscle in Cole’s body tightened as memories of the thunderstorm stepped out from the shadows of his mind. The clouds on the water parted and an upturned car floated on the top of the water, wheels spinning in the rain. Cole gasped and reached out helplessly as the tiny car disappeared beneath the pool, which shivered and cleared once more, restoring to its crystal blue colour.

Unable to speak, Cole stared at the pool, willing it to show him a happier scene. The woman next to him rose gracefully and began to walk away.

‘I want to see more,’ Cole called after her.

‘You’ve seen enough. We haven’t got all day,’ she put a finger to her lips and corrected herself, unable to stifle a giggle. ‘Actually, we do. Time doesn’t matter here. You have a decision to make.’

The woman remained completely blasé as she padded delicately across the sand, which lit a fire of anger in Cole’s heart. He scrambled to his feet and followed her, kicking up sand viciously as he did so.

‘Why did you have to show me that?’ he said breathlessly as they reached the water’s edge.

‘You sure do ask a lot of questions,’ the woman sighed, looking out over the cobalt ocean.

Cole could hold back the tears no more, and sharp prickles burned his eyes and the back of his throat. The memories began to get sharper in his mind, and understanding settled upon him.

‘I have to decide? Here or….there? Home….’, he gasped, swallowing hard.

‘That’s right.’ She said, smiling pleasantly as a bird circled her head and landed on her shoulder like a paper aeroplane. ‘So, what will it be?’

Cole took a step back and gasped, astounded by the ultimatum he had been given. Behind the woman, the whale jumped from the water majestically and landed with a heavy splash, sending flocks of birds exploding into the sky.

‘This place is so wonderful…..’ He said as the bird on the woman’s shoulder joined the others above. He lowered his head and studied his shoes as a knot tightened in his throat.

Cole dragged his palms over his face and let out a long sigh. In his stomach, he could feel a bubble of panic inflating like a balloon. He made his choice.

The woman stared back at him for a moment, her glassy eyes scanning him, like she was reading his mind. Then, a delighted grin spread across her face. ‘Good Luck.’

Cole began to feel tired and felt his knees lower his body to the ground. He lay down on his back, sand tickling his ears and water dampening his trousers. In the distance, the whale moaned once more, and the spray from the ocean cooled his face as the beautiful blue sky began to cloud over. He closed his eyes and in his mind the memories of his family bloomed.

Birds. The last Cole could hear was birdsong.