The Creation of a Paradise

i. Genesis
God says, "Let there be light." And there was light found in the shadow of a prepubescent boy,
standing at the edge of the sea watching God playing with the rhythmic push-and-pull of the
tides and listening to the sound of beaching whales coming up for air. Unbeknownst to him, the
witches in Sorsogon have been told to tie his family's set of tongues, leaving behind a somber
exoskeleton of a household. The walls of the house absorb the cadence of voices, exacerbating
only the echoes of cries. And God saw it was good.

ii Testament
And then God says, "Let the ocean teem with living creatures." And the boy finds himself pulled
into the palms of the sea, searching for the iridescent treasures hidden by the folds of the
ocean. From the shore, his father screams out for the boy who has gone too far, but cannot
acknowledge the crippled child still residing within him. Instead, he turns away, unable to watch
his bygone son get caught within a strong Visayan riptide. It is impossible to swim away; the
tides are simply too strong for a fat & broken little boy taught merely how not to drown. Instead,
he is left with but lungful of briny water. Eventually, he forgets how to breathe, desperately
gasping for air in the depths of night. Once the body remembers, it will never forget the feeling
of burning sea-water in the trachea, hiding the taste of its own tears. And God saw it was good.

iii Exodus
Tonight, God sees all that he's made. The seas of Boracay glow with plankton that nip gently at
a grieving boy's feet, absorbing the salt that resides deep within the chambers of his body.
Powdery sand molds to embrace his still-chubby hands like molten gold while he watches
undulating jellyfish lick at his tired toes. From somewhere across the horizons or perhaps a
place lodged deep within his ribcage, he watches seawater lick against eroding stone, an
endless pursuit until nothing remains. And God saw it was good.