Heaven on Earth
Warning: The following contains despair, but there is some happy at the end, plus a moral. If I do my job right, you should feel emotionally balanced by the end of this, so please read it.
The city is beautiful at night. There is something to be said about the way the streetlamps that line the small park path reflect off the black water. The thin line of trees does little to block the four-lane highway that rims the island city, but if you keep your eyes to the water, and focus on the sounds of the waves smashing against the seawall below, it's possible to get past the roaring cars.
Alec walked down this path, his shoulders hunched under the trench coat that hung loosely about him. He cast a weary glance to his left, in the direction of the road, and particularly at one of the streetlamps a few yards ahead. It flickered in a non-committal fashion, as if it wanted to go out, but suddenly thought better of it. Alec knew the feeling, and he threw a glance over the painted steel railing again, checking the height of the seawall. It was still too shallow. He could survive that fall. Currently, his destination was the high suspension bridge that connected the fake island to the mainland. He was still trying to figure out whether the trip was one-way or not. For one thing, he had been laid-off from his job. Another reason, his wife had left him. Right on their tenth anniversary, too. On the other hand, and maybe it was something he should have led with, but the bridge was tolled, at a dollar fifty. He only had two quarters and a half-pack of Halls™ in his pocket. With a defeated sigh, he sat down at on an inconveniently placed bench on the left side of the path, facing the channel. To be honest, it was a very convenient bench, offering a perfect view of the water, but Alec's outlook was making everything a little inconvenient right now.
He sighed again, wondering whether he should head home or not. He was going to lose the apartment in four days anyway, might as well enjoy it while it's unlocked. Oh, but his bed was gone, repossessed yesterday. Another sigh. He stood up and headed towards the bridge again. He would get past the toll guard somehow, and go through with it this time. He put his head down and slumped his shoulders again, the epitome of "goodbye". Except he had no one left to say goodbye to.
The tollgate officer was gone, nowhere in sight. A miniscule smile broke his lips despite himself. At least no one would try to stop him. The guard had last time, and some random passerby the time before that. He had stopped himself the first two times, something that, in hindsight, hadn't been a great idea. He could have saved himself a lot of extra grief.
A familiar spot came into view a yard ahead, to his right. The scuffing on the rails from where he had stood four times before. He took a quick glance around. The bridge deck was deserted, not a person in sight. A large bracket, meant to hold two I-beams together, served as his step. And there he stood again, the breeze ruffling his hair as he stood, staring down at the rolling waves two hundred feet below. Two hundred and eighteen, to be exact. But none of the research mattered now. This was it, he knew it this time. He grip on the thick wire on his right, tightened, and then was gone. He ever-so-slowly shifted his weight to the tips of his toes, and he felt the rounded rail begin to slip from his heel. And suddenly, in a rush of wind, his feet left the rail, and he was falling. He simultaneously knew that this was the greatest and worst thing he had ever done, but that didn't matter now. He shut his eyes, and he felt a full-blown smile break his lips for the first time in three years.
The impact was more painful that he had expected, and had come must faster than he had thought. He mind shook and wobbled in and out of confusion for a second, but slowly began to clear. He knew that something was wrong. He didn't feel the clutch of death, or the agony of broken limbs. He didn't even feel wet. He went to open his eyes, but something pressed gently against his sides, and he was flipped in strange directions until everything stopped again. After waiting a moment to make sure that the crazy ride was over, he rolled into a sitting position and opened his eyes.
His eyes were overwhelmed by what he saw, and his brain couldn't handle it either so he decided to close his eyes, wait for a moment, and try again. This time, he kept his head down, to try and minimize the amount he saw at once. He was sitting on a wide, somewhat flat platform. It was completely covered in very tiny seafoam green plates. They almost looked like scales. The curves of the platform contoured to him, and it creased in almost the same way his palm did.
He kept his eyes straight, and very slowly moved his neck so that his eyes moved upwards. A long, cylindrical object perfectly merged with the platform. It gauged it to be more than fifty feet long, and end in a sharp upwards angle. The corner was perfectly joined, with the tiny scales bending to form something that looked terrifyingly similar to an elbow. Upwards still, the next cylinder joined a massive other piece in the same perfect manner of the other joints. Upon a review, Alec decided that he was definitely looking at an enormous arm. His eyes continued upwards, and froze. The edge of the bridge hung a mere twenty feet above him, but it was the thing between the bridge and him that made him stop. It was a giant head, but it was definitely not a human head. It was taller, slimmer than the average human. Two, long pointed ears were angled close to the sides of the held. And just above those, two short, straight horns shot out, angling back over its hairless head. Below that, a soft brow was furled with concern, and Alec followed the connecting nose bridge to the short, curved snout that molded out of its perfectly shaped face. His eyes travelled upwards again, and met with the dark, black spheres of the creature that held him. They were filled with care and love, the kind of unwarranted, unconditional love that a mother gives her child. And a mother she definitely was.
Two perfectly-rounded, pert breasts rolled out of her chest, and below, her hips curved lusciously into her hips. But it was not these pleasures of flesh that he was so interested, in fact, he hardly took notice of them. It was her eyes, those two massive orbs that embodied everything that he needed. Looking into them made him feel like he had when he had first met his ex-wife, when they had been madly in love. But this, this was a thousand times larger. Suddenly, the plane of her hand came towards her, and he was gently caressed against her warm skin, near her heart. The massive organ beat hypnotically within her, lulling him into a stupor. And above him, one of those kind, loving eyes was always fixed on him. He felt another steady rhythm begin as she began to walk, but it just faded into the background. He closed his eyes, knowing that he would always be safe and loved with her, and all thoughts of suicide were erased from his mind. He could not remember a happier moment than what he had right now. Warm and happy, Alec fell asleep.
The moral of the story, don't give up just because things look hopeless now. There is always someone out there that will make you feel loved, no matter what you do.