Effects of Light (Departure)

Flash (~~~>)

The Earth is crumbling. Coming undone, like so much stitching, unravelling. Just bigger. I have no idea to why I am here, at the end of things. No clue how I'm able to be here while everyone else is gone. I cannot help it. It'll all be over soon. The oceans are boiling, the ground is thin and brittle as ice in Spring. There will never be another Spring. Gray's last words to me were, "Do what you gotta. I gotta do what I been doing, running. See ya…" He ran until his feet stopped touching the ground, the proximity of the sun vibrating his every cell into pure speed. He was smiling, and dissipating into a beautiful blurring nothing. Before the end of it all, he flew. He'll never know now, but that's what he always did, he was never just fast - in reality he projected a charge that decreased his friction with the smallest of molecules. I miss True. She did what she does, opened her mouth to the sky and sang, repelled an incoming solar flare. She screams my name, because of all the vowels, they force her to open her mouth wider. I am watching God write creation in reverse.

Flash (<~~~)

The Earth crumbles. It's really sand. I love the sandbox the day after it rains. Clumps of rough dirt that make funny grinding noises in my ears because somehow it gets in my mouth. Rays of sun peeking out from behind clouds and painting Gray in pastel blues while resting in his pastel baby purse, bjorn, sling, thingy…A car pulls into the playground parking lot, as soon as the passenger door opens, a screech shatters the calm of the day. A small brown girl pokes her body out of the door and walks angrily to the sandbox. "Hi. Want some sand?" I say, as altruistic as I can imagine. "No!!!!!!!" She says, as loud as possible. Mom picks me up, and says softly in my ear, "I hope you never turn out like that one." I looked back to the sandbox, shrinking in the distance, and thought I heard someone say, "Come back, I need someone to play with." The sun shone proud in the pale indigo of the sky. Gray shuffled uncomfortably in his carrier, as if to free himself from his bondage and run before he'd learned to walk.

Information

Earthshine is the phenomenon of sunlight reflecting off of the Earth and shining on the Moon. That's what we are being called now, The Earthshine. We are a reflection of the connection the sun has with the planet. UV rays are broken into three types: UVA, UVB, AND UVC. UVA is a long wavelength transmitted from the sun, it gives us our brown skin and tightly curled hair. It is the natural form of energy. UVB and UVC are shorter, more kinetic wavelengths. The ones that burn us if out in the sun too long. We don't burn, we metabolize the shorter wavelengths, turning the heat into something else entirely. I call them 'expressions'. We express the sun's light in our different ways, but we still don't know why. I express via higher brain functionality, Gray expresses a frictionless molecular existence, and True expresses a psychokinetic relationship to sonic frequency modulation. We shine in the daylight, and glow a bit at night.

Waves and Particles

The others we've been traveling with have each exhibited some form of 'expression'. None as far advanced as True, Gray, and I, but noticeable physiological differences. The change in flora and fauna led us to believe we'd crossed into Canada a few days ago. We've picked up some nomads along the way from L.A. Two cousins, a gym teacher, three Washington police officers, two guys (Scott and Steve), and a slew of other folks met on the long road to where we are now. I haven't spoken to Gray in a day or so, he scouts so far ahead of us recently I wonder if he'll up and run off the face of the planet someday. True has kept excellent company however. She says things to me that I don't understand, although I know what she is going to say before she's done thinking it. Why is it no matter how smart we are or aspire to be, we never understand the opposite sex? When she sleeps at night, I look in her direction just to see her glow bronze against the purple of the night sky. She is Aurora Borealis to me. We kiss when no one is paying attention. It makes a sound, a faint humming. A steady bass line, in tune with the resonance of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and stars. We vibrate. We can feel it when our teeth touch by accident. We are so scared out in the wilderness, without our parents or societal markers. When we're near each other we forget the situation we're dealing with, and become entangled in one another. On a really sunny day, we made love for the first time. She was loud, and I was quiet. I could feel her every living process. Then we didn't speak for a while after. It's like this feeling comes and goes in waves. When she's walking ahead of me, I stand downwind, anxious for her particles to ride the wind and find me ready.