An Enclosed Purpose

Chapter 4.1. Morning of the Next Day?

The soft grass tickles the eyes. The air is fresh and cool. There is no sound. Everyone now lies on a glad, and they have all felt it simultaneously. Everyone tries to open the eyes, but not everyone can. The women see the sky first. It is dark blue and cloudless. Then they raise their heads, and the landscape around fascinates them.

The bright green grass shades into a light green color with a turquoise shading. Trees wall the glade in. Their silhouettes are distorted. The air is so pure that people want to inhale more and more without stopping. The leaves on the trees hang in the stillness. On the glade are four men and three women. They share no common traits and have vastly different stories. Their one similarity is that they have appeared on the glade of abnormal beauty. The women are Jennifer, Emily, and Sora. Near them, the men sleep: Samuel, Wilson, and Nobu. And they have been joined by Anthony, the pilot. He is tall with a dark, small beard and slightly curly black hair that covers the tops of his ears. His family tends to pudginess, and his superfluous pounds give him a rounded stomach.

The women think they should not wake the men, so they get up and meet each other half way. They move slowly and uncertainly, made timid by their fear of each other. Overcoming the shyness, they meet each other in a circle and begin to talk at the same time. They realize that they are speaking different languages – English, French, Japanese - and stand silently a few minutes in a trance-like state. They have forgotten the most important thing – they know the languages to allow them to communicate without problems. Jennifer studied French at a university; Emily had additional Japanese courses; and Sora studied at an English-speaking university in Japan.

Having gained, Emily approaches Sora and asks her in Japanese what is happening. "I wonder as well," Sora answers in Japanese.

"It is good you have found common language, but could you talk to me?" Jennifer is slightly nervous but smiling faintly. She asks in English then repeats in French.

"We asked what is happening. Maybe you know?" Emily asks.

"Our plane flew to Rome. It was the first time I saw an eclipse like this. After that, it was totally dark, and the temperature in the plane's cabin began to rise..." Jennifer starts to share the story of what happened. She describes precisely what happened up until that minute.

The women, listening to the story, understand that Jennifer describes their experience, that everyone witnessed the phenomenon from different sites but that it was the same phenomenon. They wonder how they arrived at the glade, but nobody knows. They decide to wake the men. As they wake, the men try to speak to the women, but there is no sound. Their voices are gone, and this complicates their communication. Nobu tries to ask his question by treading the grass to make it form the letters. But the grass is soft and dense and will not form the contours of the letters, as he wants it to. Therefore, it is still necessary to guess what he wants to ask. The group members continue trying to find ways to communicate, but in an hour they understand that they don't know or understand what has happened or is continuing to happen.

"Look at the sun," Jennifer shouts and stretches her arm in that direction. The group is surprised by the view. It is a scene from fantastic movies. Two suns shine in the sky. The one in the foreground is smaller and radiates the yellow light, and the second is three times as big as the first and has a red shade. A few minutes pass, and another sun bursts into view. It is the smallest and white in color. Samuel embraces Jennifer, and Wilson comes to Emily and takes her hand. Nobu, without hiding his feelings for Sora, approaches her kissing her on the cheek, then stands behind embracing her.

Anthony keeps serious considering the sight. He has nobody to share the feelings the scene provokes with. And he only thinks of how he could have gotten here, of what and where this place is, and what has happened to the plane he was piloting. He remembers every detail until it got dark, but between then and now, he has no idea what has been happening. He has no headache but feels as if this part of his memory has been removed. He needs to find himself.