You wake, and immediately know that something's different. Quieter. You rise, stroll over to the window, and open the shade to find that your world changed, altered by a silent but consummate snowfall.
Everything is white. The morning sky is gone, replaced by a solid array of winter clouds. The concrete, the mud, the cars, the trees--none of them exist anymore; in their place, intriguing amorphous white shapes stare at you. The streetlamp is still on, unable to recognize that the sun has risen. It's so different, so foreign. But also... so clean. So startlingly beautiful.
Ten minutes later, you step outside into the alien world. The cold hits you, but you ignore it as you gently step into the layer of fresh powder at your feet. The first footsteps on an uncharted moon. The thought makes you smile. You're a heroic adventurer, boldly scouting a virgin landscape. Alone, but inexplicably content.
You run your hands through the snow, tracing patterns with your fingers. Grab a handful, put it softly to your lips, take a bite. Again, you smile. A couple more paces into the field of snow, and you collapse onto your back, the snow cushioning your fall and creating a perfectly shaped pillow for your body. More comfortable than any king-size plush-foam retail mattress. So natural, so... perfect.
Your eyes close as you descend into rapturous silence. Belated falling snowdrops caress your cheeks, but the strange thing--the wondrous thing--is the silence. The stillness. No cars. No birds. No shouts. No constant electric hum. The snowflakes and the clouds envelop every sound, leaving only a breathless serenity in the whitewashed world. Everything fades away as you lie in the snow, in a foreign world that you, suddenly realize with a pang of honest jealousy, is yours. You finally belong. This is it. This is yours.
You've found your peace.
You've found stillness.
You're here.
