You blink, but this particular blink is different than all of the others. In that instantaneous moment, everything managed to change. Everybody experiences it. Usually once, but sometimes on rare instances, maybe multiple times even. In this moment, the usual darkness behind your eyelids is replaced with a bright light. You open your eyes suddenly from shock, not expecting the illumination in that normally dull split second. Your surprise doubles when your eyelids unveil an unknown surrounding.
The first thing you notice is the way everything glows. It doesn't hurt your eyes, but you still squint as you observe it all. Maybe you are afraid of the glow or maybe you just don't want to take it all in too quickly, for fear of it losing its luster. You are unsure and continue to peer through clenched eyelids. The only thing you know is that it is all so beautiful.
You don't know where this place is, or how you got there, but you know it isn't where you came from. It was a better place.
Once you finally got passed the vibrance of this better place, you start to notice other things. Or, the lack there of. Although everything was shining with a magnificently surreal glow, there wasn't much of anything around. You were standing outside. The sky was clear of clouds and, stranger still, it was white. It was the purest white you had ever seen. You try to think of things to compare it to but quickly give up. The only thing that comes to your mind when you see that sky is "perfect".
As you force your gaze downwards, away from the perfect sky, your brow furrows. You aren't angry or concerned, just curious. All there is is grass. An endless field of green. Nothing else.
You wriggle your toes, realizing you'd been standing barefoot on these unfamiliar plains. Curling your toes, you lean into them just to feel the mush of the soil in your soles. Then, oddly enough, a giggle escapes your gut. It traveled through your throat, as if it was waiting for this moment, and pounced the second a grin sliced your lips.
For some strange reason, you are happy. A true happy. You don't understand it but that's how you know it's real. You are at peace, without questions and full of answers. With this new bright but seemingly empty world at your fingertips, you've discovered euphoria.
With arms outstretched, you push yourself back, teetering for a moment on your heels before collapsing into a bed of soft grass blades. Each string of green grazes your skin, as if welcoming your arrival with a friendly tickle. You squirm just a bit until the blades settle. All you smell is soil and grass. All you feel is good.
After staring at the sky from your comfortable horizontal position for longer than you probably realize, you hear a rustling. You roll over onto your stomach and find your eyes open wide for the first time since you've been here. There, standing behind you this entire time, was a tree. It was a weeping willow that looked anything but sorrowful. There was no wind, yet its hanging limbs danced before your eyes. It was dancing for you.
Flattered by the gesture, you stand and bow before this beautiful anomaly. A graceful limb reaches out to you, as if offering a personal invitation. You accept without hesitation and find yourself under a shaded canopy. The limbs continued their waltz, creating the serenade of rustling leaves that had originally caught your attention. The sound soothed your once troubled soul and you sit with your back against the trunk of the tree.
Closing your eyes once more, you inhale a breath of air that leaves a taste of springtime on your tongue. "A better place," you whisper before falling asleep for eternity, the safe arms of the willow watching over you.
