A Sketchy Sort of Miracle

The Chaos of the Universe

It was a perfect day. Nick walked along the beach, enjoying the sun. He had never felt so relaxed in his life, and he had never thought it could be possible to be this happy. The sand was soft beneath his feet, the ocean breeze tickled through his hair and caressed his face. The sun shone down on everything with a golden-yellow light. To his left, the ocean surged forwards, crashing against the shore with great force until it reached a point where it retreated again as quickly as it had come. To his right, the sand stretched as far as he could see into what looked like an endless horizon. On either side rose hills of green and brown, topped with trees and shrubs that rustled gently in the wind. Behind him was a white sandy beach, across which lay a set of wooden steps that led up to a house built from white-washed stone and redwood. Above all of this stood a blue sky, streaked with clouds that rippled across it like waves on water. It was just how he remembered Earth used to look when he was little; how it must have looked before all of this happened...

He took in another deep breath of fresh air, inhaling through flared nostrils as he savoured the smell of salt water and brown earth. There was no smell of rotten eggs or burning rubber here; just pure air that made him feel alive. He walked for what seemed like miles without passing any other people or buildings; there were no cars or planes passing overhead - just nature at work on its own terms. Nature had always been kind to him; always tried to help him out in every way she could. If he could go back home to Earth then maybe things would be different for him now...

Nick hitched up his jeans and kicked at the sand with one foot as he walked towards the house on the hillside above him. His mother and father lived there; they had moved there after they found out they were going to die soon. They wanted to live in Arizona - somewhere warm where they could enjoy their final days under the sun together. Maybe he should go visit them today? Maybe they'd be proud if they knew how well he was doing now? Maybe....?

A sudden blast of noise cut through this thought process, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. He turned around slowly, looking back out towards the ocean behind him...

"How are you doing today?" said a voice over some unseen loudspeaker system. "My name is Ben Brown; I'm your tour guide for today." A pause then: "I hope you're having fun!" The voice echoed from somewhere high overhead; from beyond one of those clouds perhaps...

"I'm sorry," replied Nick over the din that suddenly filled his ears again. "I didn't quite hear you." He cupped one hand around one ear while trying to shield it with the other hand so he could hear better...

The sound faded away again briefly before returning more clearly this time: "How are you doing today?" said Ben Brown's voice once more - more loudly than before if anything! "My name is Ben Brown; I'm your tour guide for today." He paused again then added: "I hope you're having fun!" This time though there was something else mixed into the words - frustration perhaps? Anger...? Whatever it was, Nick could tell that Ben Brown didn't sound very happy about being there at all...

Suddenly Nick was overtaken by that familiar feeling of nausea again; that same feeling that hit him whenever somebody spoke about things too far removed from real life... Here it came again - falling down into his stomach like some huge stone sinking through calm water... That thick fog rolled over his mind then too - descending like a thick mist filling up an empty space... All thoughts were lost as it crept inside him, covering everything in its path like some dark monster spreading its huge black wings across an open field... So clouded now were Nick's thoughts that he didn't even notice anymore that Ben Brown's voice had stopped and that everything else around him had gone quiet too... In fact nothing seemed important anymore except for himself…and what went on inside his own mind…like thoughts swirling round in circles until they fell over themselves like dominoes lined up one after another…then falling down…one after another…until everything became dark…and silent…and still…within him…