We are so much more...

At first we thought the black liquid coming from the ground was oil, yet it had a different smell. It was the same texture as oil with a sweet airy scent and carried a prismatic rainbow sheen when in sunlight. We gathered the liquid in a jar and sent it off to be tested. We were sure we had struck it rich and we began writing down all the ways we would spend our millions. Our first choice was to move from our old farmhouse home to the Fiji Islands to live in a fabulous beach side home on stilts near the ocean. Our second choice was a modest log home on the side of a mountain in eastern Tennessee.

Two days later, we learned about the test results of the black liquid in the strangest of ways. A SWAT team descended upon our property aiming their weapons at our house. A team f men and women swooped in carrying equipment and wearing the white protective gear of the CDC. They informed us that were were under quarantine and demanded to know if there was any more of the black liquid in the house. My father had to show them where we found the oil and a fence was erected with in hours around the perimeter of our farm. We were told if we attempted to leave the house before they moved us we would be shot immediately. As others worked to monitor our blood and set up a containment system the leader informed us that they believed the black liquid was a contagion that could wipe out humanity entirely. They were there to use us to hopefully come up with a cure before the contagion got out of control.

A steel container was air lifted in and set in our front yard. Armed CDC personnel escorted us to the container and locked us in. The container was furnished with a stocked kitchen our clothing, a restroom, furniture, places to sleep, food, and a state of the art air and water filtration systems. We could watch TV but had no other connection to the outside world. We played games, put together puzzles, read books and drew but after a week w began to become restless. This was not fun like a vacation and I hated not being able to go outside. The only pain we felt was the pain of separation from the outside world. It seemed like it had been years since I saw the sunrise or sunset. I looked over at my mother and she seemed to be shimmering in the light, I wondered if I was beginning to lose my mind. Then I looked at my own hand, it was shimmering too! Slowly we became clear, see through. I walked to the door to test my sanity knowing it had been locked for weeks I wanted to prove to myself that I was losing my mind. I reached for the doorknob and my hand went through the container door. I called my parents over and showed them. There was no pain, and no hate for our captors as we walked through that door one by one into the sunlight.

It wasn't a contagion, or a disease, it was the blessing of truly being free. Now nothing holds us back and we are as we are meant to be. May others join us.

Perhaps...

Perhaps it was a dream, she thought lightly. Every thing was so perfect. This man she was with.. Maybe if she pinched herself she would wake up, but she didn't ever want to wake up. She wanted to stay in this world where the entire world was at peace. There were no wars, no hunger, and no hate. So much love and so perfect!

She sat on a bench watching the early morning sun rising over the green valley while song birds cheerfully were chirping  and flitting from tree to tree. She glanced over at the young man sitting on the bench beside her. She had met him a few months ago and knew that she loved him deeply. He was everything she wanted in a partner. They had met for breakfast on this morning before he went to work.

She smiled and when he looked over at her, he took her hand and softly asked, "Will you marry me darling?"

She smiled again for she loved his accent which was so different from hers and she responded, "Yes, my love."

Her whole life with him suddenly flashed before her eyes, their wedding, their children, their grandchildren, their whole lives with every happiness she would ever feel. She blinked and she was standing at their bedroom window looking out at the mountains and valley cast in a bluish light caused by the morning chill and mists. She was older now. Her love came up behind her and wrapped his arms around moving her long gray hair before her kissing her softly on the neck. 

"You have always made me so happy," he whispered. She turned to kiss him, and studied his finely lined face and white hair. She smiled and then kissed him. Unexpectedly sadness gnawed at her heart for the first time she could ever remember.

"I don't want to leave," she thought silently as they kissed tenderly.

Immediately agonizing grief overwhelmed her, as she woke up in her own bed and tears poured from her eyes. Her love was gone and the heartbreak seemed more than she could bear! She tried to go back! To go to sleep, to get back to that time, that place, that life, but the dream became cloudy and faded away leaving her with a sorrow that she could not shake for days.