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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Mystery
- Subject: Community / Home
- Published: 11/14/2021
The young man found himself walking continuously towards a destination with seemingly no end. Despite only having little strength left due to his exhaustion, he kept going straight ahead on this path, never turning back. Every step he took made the wooden bridge beneath him creak faintly but the endless water surrounding him was calm. However, the man was not afraid that the bridge would break.
It was the possibility of not knowing how long he had kept wandering this path, neither becoming aware of how he even got here in the first place nor being aware of his true identity - that frightened him hence his “death” seemed to be imminent. For him, all memory of a previous life - if he even had had one – seemed to have been erased. Even when he bent forwards to look at his own reflection in the water to even get the tiniest glimpse of his identity, the man was not granted with an appearance – no face, no body.
“Could it be that I am maybe not human?”, the man had asked himself, “But if I am not human, then who am I?”
Often, he would find himself asking questions like that into the void. There was never an answer as much as he had hoped a voice to reply to his frequently growing questions. This feeling of having gone astray made his body and mind suffer quietly, causing him to walk slower but he was still determined.
As always, the sky was dark. There was no light, no sunshine, only darkness. Time had no relevance, it mercilessly passed on. Neither day nor night existed truly in this realm. The bridge only allowed him to either walk straight ahead or turn back.
Many times, the man had thought about turning back. If there was a beginning, he surely could find out why, how and when he wound up here. He truly desperately yearned to know – to confirm that he had an identity.
Yet, the man decided against this idea. He had found a better, more optimistic approach to solve his problem: According to his logic, there would also have to be an end if there is a beginning. If all the answers would reside at the beginning of the bridge, why would it not be possible to also discover it at the end? Therefore, he made a promise to himself to never turn back. No matter what, he would reach the end. This thought fueled his resolve.
And so, the man kept slowly walking as if he was in a trance. His body and mind were fragile from exhaustion. Stopping was not an option at this point.
“If you keep on walking, you are going to die halfway.”
A serene voice, not female or male, replied from above. No other person could be seen.
Reluctantly, the man shook his head and refused:
“I have a promise to fulfill. I want to reach the end. It will lead me home.”
A few seconds of silence passed until the voice said again, seemingly puzzled:
“How do you plan to reach the end since you have gone astray? It would be easier to just turn back.”
However, the man again only shook his head as if the voice did not understand the greater meaning behind his behaviour , still dragging himself straight ahead. Determined, he stated:
“I will not give up.”
And so, the voice lapsed into silence – perhaps of the man’s stubbornness - and the he carried on. The thought of home was far more important to him than the constant pain in his worn out legs.
Ultimately, when the man no longer could resist his exhaustion, he collapsed. His legs were no longer able to move and his vision became blurry, so he began to crawl desperately. In the distance, he could hear a beautiful, yet faint voice of a woman, crying unintelligibly “… up”.
It was the last thing he heard of in this realm until he eventually succumbed to closing his eyes.
Suddenly, the darkness along with the wooden bridge had vanished. Once again miraculously, the young man was able to open his eyes, only to be awoken by a quietly crying woman, her head buried in her arms, at his bedside near his blanket.
Repeatedly, she mumbled the words “Please wake up, dear.”
Besides, he could hear the beeping noise of a machine, symbolizing his heartbeat.
Within a heartbeat, the man remembered and he was relieved to have left the realm he had been stuck in.
Suddenly, the woman lifted her head and with the back of her hand, she wiped the tears away only to realize that he had woken up. Upon gasping at him, all the agony and grief that had previously been showing on her face vanished in an instant. Instead, the tears turned into tears of joy and she wholeheartedly embraced her husband tightly as if she intended to never let him go astray again.
“You’ve finally woken up after such along time!”
Now, the husband was happy to finally be able to stay at his wife’s side again. To keep walking straight ahead had proven to be a good decision. As he reciprocated his wife’s embrace, forgetting his past suffering at this very moment, he whispered proudly:
“I’m home.”
Astray(Krisha_Grim)
The young man found himself walking continuously towards a destination with seemingly no end. Despite only having little strength left due to his exhaustion, he kept going straight ahead on this path, never turning back. Every step he took made the wooden bridge beneath him creak faintly but the endless water surrounding him was calm. However, the man was not afraid that the bridge would break.
It was the possibility of not knowing how long he had kept wandering this path, neither becoming aware of how he even got here in the first place nor being aware of his true identity - that frightened him hence his “death” seemed to be imminent. For him, all memory of a previous life - if he even had had one – seemed to have been erased. Even when he bent forwards to look at his own reflection in the water to even get the tiniest glimpse of his identity, the man was not granted with an appearance – no face, no body.
“Could it be that I am maybe not human?”, the man had asked himself, “But if I am not human, then who am I?”
Often, he would find himself asking questions like that into the void. There was never an answer as much as he had hoped a voice to reply to his frequently growing questions. This feeling of having gone astray made his body and mind suffer quietly, causing him to walk slower but he was still determined.
As always, the sky was dark. There was no light, no sunshine, only darkness. Time had no relevance, it mercilessly passed on. Neither day nor night existed truly in this realm. The bridge only allowed him to either walk straight ahead or turn back.
Many times, the man had thought about turning back. If there was a beginning, he surely could find out why, how and when he wound up here. He truly desperately yearned to know – to confirm that he had an identity.
Yet, the man decided against this idea. He had found a better, more optimistic approach to solve his problem: According to his logic, there would also have to be an end if there is a beginning. If all the answers would reside at the beginning of the bridge, why would it not be possible to also discover it at the end? Therefore, he made a promise to himself to never turn back. No matter what, he would reach the end. This thought fueled his resolve.
And so, the man kept slowly walking as if he was in a trance. His body and mind were fragile from exhaustion. Stopping was not an option at this point.
“If you keep on walking, you are going to die halfway.”
A serene voice, not female or male, replied from above. No other person could be seen.
Reluctantly, the man shook his head and refused:
“I have a promise to fulfill. I want to reach the end. It will lead me home.”
A few seconds of silence passed until the voice said again, seemingly puzzled:
“How do you plan to reach the end since you have gone astray? It would be easier to just turn back.”
However, the man again only shook his head as if the voice did not understand the greater meaning behind his behaviour , still dragging himself straight ahead. Determined, he stated:
“I will not give up.”
And so, the voice lapsed into silence – perhaps of the man’s stubbornness - and the he carried on. The thought of home was far more important to him than the constant pain in his worn out legs.
Ultimately, when the man no longer could resist his exhaustion, he collapsed. His legs were no longer able to move and his vision became blurry, so he began to crawl desperately. In the distance, he could hear a beautiful, yet faint voice of a woman, crying unintelligibly “… up”.
It was the last thing he heard of in this realm until he eventually succumbed to closing his eyes.
Suddenly, the darkness along with the wooden bridge had vanished. Once again miraculously, the young man was able to open his eyes, only to be awoken by a quietly crying woman, her head buried in her arms, at his bedside near his blanket.
Repeatedly, she mumbled the words “Please wake up, dear.”
Besides, he could hear the beeping noise of a machine, symbolizing his heartbeat.
Within a heartbeat, the man remembered and he was relieved to have left the realm he had been stuck in.
Suddenly, the woman lifted her head and with the back of her hand, she wiped the tears away only to realize that he had woken up. Upon gasping at him, all the agony and grief that had previously been showing on her face vanished in an instant. Instead, the tears turned into tears of joy and she wholeheartedly embraced her husband tightly as if she intended to never let him go astray again.
“You’ve finally woken up after such along time!”
Now, the husband was happy to finally be able to stay at his wife’s side again. To keep walking straight ahead had proven to be a good decision. As he reciprocated his wife’s embrace, forgetting his past suffering at this very moment, he whispered proudly:
“I’m home.”
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