A wisp of smoke curled in the cool twilight air, the flickering embers of the cigarette that exuded them crackling and fizzling in the near silence. Soon darkness would begin its nightly creep across the pale grass and cover all in its veil of shadows bringing with it the foul denizens of the night and the creeping terrors of silence. Yet he knew he could not leave, not until he had seen it for himself.
The streetlights flickered on, the low hum of electricity more noticeable in the surrounding silence, casting islands of light upon the pallid earth. He tossed the cigarette to the ground, a trail of grey smoke catching the light in its wake, before rolling into the unkempt grass at the side of the bench. Slowly he pulled his aching body from the wooden bench, the full length of his coat flopping to the ground and brushing over the rocky path, his eyes focused solely on the pool of cold water before him. Moonlight glimmered on the smooth surface, the wind not daring to force a wave upon the cool stream, creating a perfect mirror of the starlit sky above...yet obscured and slightly shadowed by the towering monument that stood guard across the gentle waters. Soon the moon would reach its xenith and disappear from the mirror, it was then that she was supposed to appear.
He didn't believe the stories, he didn't believe in much at all, but something had drawn him here to see for himself. He had trampled through the urban sprawl of Downtown, dodging the shoulders of the suits as they showed their silent disdain for his presence, and taken the long subway journey to a place he had never been before and yet still he did not know why. He didn't believe in ghosts yet he had come so far to find one. The subway had given him time to think yet he had not thought why, he had only thought of the stories, of the urban legend that had spread through his apartment block like a terrifying blaze.
They said that a she appeared at the peak of the full moon; an apparition of golden light, pure and warm, grazing across the gentle waters. Some say she spoke, others say she simply lingered in silence, a mournful and lamenting pallor across her formless aura. Yet all agreed that they had been left with something more than a vision, a feeling within, unexplainable, of peace and calm. The questions gone, the doubts and self-flagellating beliefs dissipated in a bath of golden light.
He wasn't sure why he had come, he certainly didn't believe those stories, but there was something driving him. Maybe it was the past, the distant past that foreshadowed the rest of his life. There were few paths a disgraced detective could take; it was either crime.or solitude. He had never wanted either, and yet he had been through both. All that he had was lost, dissipated in the aftermath of that crucial mistake. Yet the mistake, as others viewed it, was still right to him. He didn't regret the action, only the consequences of it, for he believed he had acted correctly. A drug dealing crook was off the streets, so what if it took fake evidence and some threats to get him in a jail cell...so what. He sighed, his eyes glancing back over the pool of water, saddened at the weeds that reached from its edges.
The moon was nearing its peak, the light fading as the towering statue blocked the orb from his eyes. He watched in silent awe as the light played tricks in the birdcage structure at the top of the statue, creating dancing shadows amid the luminescence. The leaves of the autumnal trees whispered softly as the wind breezed between the lofty boughs. The water, still unmoving in an almost unnatural stillness. The silence was broken, but it returned just as suddenly. The wind stopped in an instant as the moon disappeared behind the statue, the pool of water plunged into the deepest of dark shadows. Motionless, as though the whole world had frozen in time yet forgotten him. He approached the water, curious yet not afraid, kneeling down at the banks and staring at the pool...not a single wave or flow, not a movement. The grass to his side that had once swayed vigorously in the wind, that too had frozen and remained rigid. Even the sky above seemed stationary.
Oeru
His eyes caught sight of the impossible. A flame grew from the water, yet its infernous blaze was not one of fury or uncontrollable destruction...it had sadness and lonely warmth about it. It flickered slowly, a golden glow emanating and growing in the darkness, the mirrored surface of the water reflecting the shimmering warmth.
Oeru
The flames swept slowly across the surface, yet there was no wind or force to move them, nearing the grassy bank where he stood in utter amazement at the sight before him. His eyes were captivated by the flame, the retinas absorbing every detail, every change...As the flame grew he saw into its centre and beyond. He would have frowned and bewildered at the sight, yet his mind was too captive to the sight to allow for thought. Yellow and orange characters...digits. Code filtered throughout the blaze, drifting into the air and fading back to nothingness. As his stare focused upon the fire he dropped his jaw, a reaction of both confusion and awe. The code was not within the fire; the code and the fire were as one.
Oeru
He glanced away, the whisper invading his ears just as the flame had invaded his eyes. Its ghostly voice echoed and swirled within the arches of the monument, filling the space with an aural chill. He did not understand the word, but it was spoken with sadness and melancholy, a voice lingering from the past and yet trapped in the same moment. And the moment had spread and reached from the fires, and taken over the park around. Time had stopped, the moment and only the moment existed within the walls of the park, yet the rest of the city still moved.
Oeru
His hand reached out over the waters, his fingertips stretching for the fires in an uncontrollable need to realise and completely free of fear. He could not fathom the illogical and unnatural action, but somehow he just knew that he would not be harmed. His forefinger brushed within the tongues of the flame, yet it did not burn. Curious warmth filled his body, spreading from his finger and down along his arm, soon the warmth had reached the extremities and the sunk to his core. His heart glowing with soft and subtle heat, his mind blank of thought yet filled with a gentle glow. Peace enveloped him, a feeling of contentment he had never felt before, the memories...the memories that had destroyed him and ruined him, dissipated in the golden glow. He could feel the woes and the worries slipping away, purged by the fire and the whispers. Peace.....
* * *
"Hey buddy, get up"
He opened his eyes slowly and stared at the brilliant blue sky above. Yet the sunlight seemed paler, less vivid to his eye. He sat up gently and glanced at his surroundings, the trickle of the stream invoking a slight smile upon his face. He glanced at the figure standing over him, the outline paramount against the light sky, and beamed once more.
"Hello Officer Hartley"
"Detective? That you?" The cop frowned, his eyes narrowing as if absorbed in a difficult puzzle "But...what the hell, you have surgery?"
He frowned for a moment, but in amusement for he was content. He pulled himself over the edge of the pool and glanced at the man he saw before him, the man that he knew so well. He raised his hands to his face, his fingers trailing across the skin as his eyes pondered what they saw. The weary ravages of time and stress had gone, the wrinkles and creases faded and hidden. Even his eyes sparkled with vigour, a youthful, invigorated glint that had been gone for so long. He could feel the change within him too, he felt light as though the burdens of his life had been drawn from his shoulders and tossed away. He was free.
"No...I" He paused "I saw her, she helped me"
The cop sighed, and glanced towards the shimmering waters. He had heard the stories, the myths of madmen and those hoping for salvation. He didn't believe but he knew their worth to those that did. Hope was a rare thing in this city, and he nurtured it where he could..even if he believed it was false hope.
"Sure you did" his voice said sincerely "But come on, lets get you home"
He stood with ease, the aching and the pain gone from his bones, and took a final glance across the waters. He hadn't believed, but it hadn't mattered. Belief was not necessary for salvation, all that mattered was that he had realised it when it was there, that he had accepted it and not turned in fear. In a that moment, that isolated and static moment, he had been set free from the weight of the life he had led, the mistakes he had made, and now he had another chance. The sunlight glinted from the pool of water and shone brightly across his eyes, softly he whispered
"Thank You"
