flash fiction-ecoSciFi "The Outpost"

A Lonely Nest


The loneliness is always present, sometimes cryptic, and Cooper's sense of home, however distant, always feels temporary. At times the lonely feeling arrives for a short visit, with soft noises shifting through the jungle darkness, then retreats for the secrets to remain guarded. Sometimes a cold smoldering of mist rises above the canopy in the moonlight causing an ebb inside Cooper. In a blink, the amount of time eternity took to build this forest, the loneliness pans out across the valley as if the forest isn't there, or had never been. Even in its flickers and shadows, the jungle holds no pretense of fantasy. As complete blackness of the night holds desperate struggles, the loneliness plays along, but Cooper doesn't wish it away the way the memory of a loss would be wished away. Competition in sport is as full of loneliness as the strugglers in this jungle, where winners rest. There is no silence here in this canopied place, no silence within his heart either. There are only gradients of loneliness and noise. The constant hum of the jungle can be interrupted by only intense sound, even amidst the unrecognizable, the loneliness stalls and something different comes to life, no smells, just pure essence that appears from behind the banyans, or just under the green canopy. Anything living here knows the meaning of these timeless apparitions of loneliness, yet no data has emerged from the chilled darkness, the inner sanctum of this rain forest. This timeless place keeps its secrets.
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