It
felt as if time had slowed down just a little. I could see the waves
breaking on the beach, as clear as glass beads. Carefully, I stepped
forward and into the ocean.
“How peculiar… The water doesn’t feel cold.”
The
water itself felt strangely thin, almost as if it offered no resistance
at all. It seemed more like a fine curtain of light, the kind that you
might see when the beam of a laser oscillates rapidly. The seawater was
turning into waves of light as it broke on the sparkling, white beach,
and the boundary between water and air, where my feet were submerged,
was shining brightly. I lowered myself into the water, confirming that
my body would float, and began to swim slowly, out into the open sea.
I
once saw a picture, by a painter from some country or other, titled
“The Swimmer”. In it, a lone man swims across a dark ocean. At that
moment, I felt a similar sense of cosmic solitude.
A small,
spiral galaxy brushed past my helpless body, spinning like a pinwheel,
as innumerable stars swirled around playfully. Star fish leapt around me
in unison, almost as if to cheer me on, and beyond them, I could see a
small steamship, loaded with stars.
“Hey! Hey!”
Frantically, I waved my arms to signal the ship. If I missed this chance…
“Where d’you come from?” called a man with a white beard, the ship’s captain.
“Where… did I come from?”
“Hmmm… That planet over there, was it?”
The old man was pointing into the void behind me. As I turned to look, I could see the Earth slowly fading into the distance.
"Right on the money? There’s a liquor shop just nearby. Let’s have us a drink to celebrate. Welcome to Phantasmagoria!"
