"Hello!" I yelled into the darkness. That's what it was: darkness. Even if my pupils had expanded to the size of marbles, I would not have been able to see. There was absolutely no light.
"Lights!" someone yelled into the darkness and in a light-instant, the entire place was lit up.Magnificent! I was standing in the middle of an open mansion; one that opened out to the sea!
There were paintings everywhere. Some of the paintings seemed familiar. Beautiful colours swirled and faded behind new colours, the effect being almost hypnotic if you stared at it for too long. I knew my attempt to travel to a place outside the space-time continuum could not have been in vain. Thank god for this!
"Yep thank god indeed..." said an old man walking down the giant stairs on my right.
"So, you've finally discovered me." He said opening his hands outwards.
"Are you really who I think you are?" I asked looking at him in amazement.
"Are you God?"
He sighed and mumbled to himself, "I wish. What does it take to be famous?"
"No, I am not God" he said with a whole lot of disappointment.
"I happen to be" and this time he said with pride "the Sky Painter!"
"Huh?" I didn't quite get what he meant by "the sky painter."
"That's right! I paint skies." he said hoping for some sign of understanding.
I looked around at all the paintings and suddenly it occurred to me. The reason I found the paintings familiar was because I've seen them; up in the sky, every single day of my life.
"You paint the sky for everyday!"
"Not just Your sky.... I paint skies! There are many worlds, you know, and many more universes. I paint all the skies in all the worlds in all the universes."
I looked around a little more and asked him, "How come you don't paint anything else? Like a portrait of someone or anything else?"
"Aah! That, is because I'm not human like you, not mortal. I'm a soul.... I can't see, or imagine, or dream like you. I can only feel. I paint what I feel. Have you ever wondered when you look at the sky, why you feel like somebody outside understands you. A deep melancholy, happiness that doesn't need to be told to the rest of the world, pain, anger beyond your control.....only your soul can sing these. That is what the sky sings."
"Can I take one of your paintings back with me into the real world as a souvenir?" I asked hoping for a 'yes.'
He chuckled and said, "You can try, but I doubt you will be able to."
I tried lifting one of the paintings and found that my hands went right through it.
"Reality can be quite deceptive.You might be Real in your universe. But, here you're just a ghost, a figment of my imagination."
"I thought you couldn't imagine...!"
"I can't. But,YOU can" he said with a sly smile.
Suddenly the waves got rough. Water started entering the mansion.
"Time's up... for you I meant. It's time you got back to your universe."
And he started pushing me towards the door.
"What?!" I yelled. "But, I thought that time didn't exist here!" I said desperately trying to stay for a little longer.
"It doesn't here." He smiled
"It does in Your universe..." he said and shut the door before I had time to say, "but...."
