The Secret World of Maya Alexander

Chapter 55

In a world where time had no beginning or end, everyday was magical as shapes shifted and light bent across time in perfect synchrony with its inhabitant's needs. And though there was no sense of what day it was within this hidden world, Maya woke from one of her brief periods of slumber to an abundance, which felt like the giving of a gift. It was as though the land was putting on a mystical show just for her. It began with the trees; their leaves had been shed, but soon tiny egg shaped buds grew into a bounty of blossoms and foliage, as warm rains fell and quenched sturdy unseen roots. A fresh earthy smell mingled with the newly grown daisies and delicate tree flora, encouraging Maya to inhale the world deep into her chest. She could feel a forgotten aching emptiness fill with an unfathomable sense of everything, as melodies began to ring out from birds' nests and her eyes were drawn towards a cozy home of sparrows perched on a low branch right beside her.

A plumply feathered matriarch stood proudly watching over four oval shaped milky white shells, each with its own unique array of brown speckles. Two of the shells had small holes already pecked from the top. They seemed to wriggle and shake from the new lives waiting inside, eager to greet the world. Time sped up. A large crack appeared. Maya watched as a scrawny brown figure with a bulging blue where eyes should be, worked tirelessly to make its way out of its shell. Bursts of movement would be followed by moments of deathly still. Yet the mother bird did not look concerned. She watched peacefully with a knowing that they would all make it in the end.

There were times when it had looked as though the effort of being born was too great a task. When each of the distorted looking figures would look as though they were giving in. That the fight for life had been too much.  And they would lay quite lifeless, half inside their shell, half outside. Occasionally the mother bird would chirp a gentle sound of encouragement. It was patient. She never nudged or pushed her offspring. She did not pull away the shells that they were trying to be free from. She just watched patiently with her gentle noises of acceptance and unrelenting hopefulness.

Although Maya knew that birds hatching was an ordinary occurrence, which only bird watchers probably bothered to notice, it was as though she had just witnessed a miracle. From perfectly sealed shells, one by one, four unique lives had exerted an instinctive effort into existence. And their mother had watched on, emanating hope and a confident belief in her children, even when to the unknowing eye all had appeared hopeless.

By the time the hatching was complete the forest and hills and fields and mountains beyond had bloomed into full vibrance. The woodland was alive with rustling creatures and busy greens. Salmon leapt up stream in yet another everyday miracle of life and the world was full and perfect. The once frail and deformed creatures in the nest at Maya's eyeline had devoured the offerings of their parents and were now plump and fat with soft downy brown and ready to take flight for themselves. One by one they flew from the nest. The first chose the forest, the second chose the mountain, the third flew so far from view Maya could not see where it had landed. The fourth and final offspring chose to perch a while on a branch not too far at all, surveying the foliage it could make use of to begin to build its home.

With all four birds grown and fled, the mother sparrow turned to Maya as if to speak, but no sound came from her beak. She blinked. Maya mirrored the movements, with the opening and closing of her own eyes. For the briefest moment she found herself in a white room with her own mother's face, wide eyed upon her. It filled her with a haunting feeling she was not ready to contemplate and so she quickly opened her eyes beside the mother bird instead.

The sparrow's beak pointed back into the forest where the days were growing shorter once more. Branches bowed with a heaviness of the fruits borne upon them by a summer nourished with lighter days and the perfect amount of warm rain. A cold snap clicked its fingers and magiced the leaves from greens to golden and crimson. An incense filled the air as sweetness spiced the breeze and brought with it a hunger Maya could not remember feeling for a long time. It was as though the land had delivered a banquet for the senses to devour. It ignited a craving for nourishment that had been starved for too long in a world where no one seemed to notice they were hungry anymore. A world where hunger for what was wholesome had withered itself to the brink of extinction.

Aching for the fullness of Autumn, Maya began to forage in the bushes by her side. She released berries, which burst with juices and stained her fingers red. She pushed them into her mouth where she savoured the flavours as they poured and satiated an emptiness that she had not even known she had denied.

Watching her, the mother sparrow flew away in a hurry before returning to deliver berries and nuts to her hungry neighbour. Just as she had for her own young before they had been strong enough to fly out beyond their mother's nest and into the far corners of the world. The brown ball of feathers perched herself on Maya's shoulders. As Maya turned to greet her, she pushed the berries and nuts into the waiting mouth of the young woman, whose form stood gaunt and grey amidst the heart of the world as it brimmed and swelled with the simple inevitability of a rich harvest.

Her new hunger satisfied, Maya looked down at her rounded and bloated stomach which suddenly seemed alive, as though it had been fed for the first time. Full, nourished: she snuggled into the evergreens as she watched the days grow shorter. A rainbow of leaves carpeted the floor, leaving the trees bare yet beautiful, as the world retreated into a hibernation and stillness. It was like the still of a church when the congregation took a moment of peaceful gratitude before the commencement of the next renaissance.

Sleepy and with heavy eyes, ready for own settled hibernation, a nudge of a little beak told Maya that there was still more to see. Her skin awakened to a chill of tiny iced symmetries of crystal landing softly upon her and all around the land. Snowflakes, seen as though in magnification, each uniquely beautiful. Waters crystalised through the icy air to create individual stories of each of their journeys. Looking up, Maya saw the sky was heavy and white, thick with a civilisation of snow finally ready to be seen. First to dust, and then blanket the resting lands of winter with a hopeful light.

It was as though for that moment, Maya had been secured in her very own snow globe scene made with the kind of magic that brought a delightful production everytime you chose to look in upon it. The little bird had flown to an opening of snow not far from Maya and had begun to peck at the blanket of white. When it had finished its endeavour, it turned and made a clear sing-song noise beckoning Maya to come and look.

The icy carpet caused a tingly feeling on Maya's bare feet as it crumpled beneath her with each step and produced the beat to a long forgotten dance. She took the time to enjoy the combination of the sound and the feeling made with each movement upon this new dancefloor. Each footprint marked out a union between the physics and magic of life.

The feet of the ice-dancer had become numb by the time she had reached the little sparrow who had now completed her own waltz in the snow. Following the gaze of the mother-bird, Maya noticed that tiny footprints had transformed the white canvas into what looked like words upon the page of a book.

Together they sang the words, as though they had both always known them.

Daughter

You know I feel you
The hurts are far
I want to heal you
And cherish the scar

I want to reach you
In this faraway land
So let me teach you
As my wings hold your hand

Seasons shift but Beauty is True
Endless is the truth inside you
Through the icy winter and the bringing of Spring
From the vastness of nothing, everything bring

All of this, always yours
Sensing deepens through your core
Believe in magic hidden inside
Finally see what they taught you to hide

You know I feel you
As deep as your wound
I want to heal you
Beneath ocean's moon

Let me reach you
In this land we call home
No need to seek you
Never alone