The rock-slide rose abruptly, towering over and dwarfing me. How could I ever get through this? The task seemed hopelessly large, impossibly daunting in its magnitude. There is no way I could move all these rocks, certainly not the big ones, some taller than I was. I leaned forward, pressing my forehead against the rough cold rock. My breathing was heavy and I realized I was sobbing. After all this, fighting my way to this point only to be stopped dead, my heart began to feel dead.
"I will give you strength" This voice startled me, and I involuntarily jumped, catching my breath and wiping at the tears running down my cheeks(this only served to smear the black gunk all over my face). The voice had been a guys this time. I felt inexplicably reassured though, buoyed with confidence. I took several calming breaths, inhaling deeply. A slight breeze whispered through the rocks, seemingly fresher and invigorating. Reaching down I grabbed the first small rock and chucked it behind me. The next one was large enough to need both hands and as I bent to pick it up I stopped and stared, puzzled. On the rock was written "Greed". A quick scan of all the other rocks revealed they too had various things written on them. It didn't matter how small or how large the stone was, every one was labeled. "Greed" got thrown behind me, followed by "Anger", "Lying", "Cursing", "Prejudice", and "Self-love". These rocks all varied in size, but the weight of each felt identical, from small river stones to bigger blocks that required me to wrap my arms around them in a bear hug, the oddity and increased size being the bigger challenge to move rather than the weight.
Now I was confronted with my first real obstacle, a boulder taller than me, and probably three times wider. Written on this one in a glowing red paint was "Selfishness".
"Hey, hey! No need to move that one there champ! Its not really in the way! If you just knock out some of those rocks along the side of the wall you can just go right around it! Or better yet, come on back and we'll go snowboarding! No, wait, on a Heli-skiing trip!" It was the voice of the Odd Man echoing up to me. I didn't bother turning around, not really wanting to see what incoherent outfit he had on now, but I did glance at the wall that was still standing, the part I would have to remove to go around. The wall that was hemming in this path and guiding me up this narrow way had words written on it too, but instead of scrawled in various colors like the loose rocks, these words were written in a clean, neatly scripted white. The words closest to "Selfishness" that I would have to knock out were "Family", "Friends", "Church", "Responsibilities", "Self-Discipline" and "Self-Sacrifice", all linked together so that if I took one out the others would topple. It did look like the wall would be easy to knock down but then I would be exposed to falling off the path. I found comfort in knowing those rocks were there to protect my way, all of them formed to help lead me to the voice(or now voices). This left me with only one option; to remove "Selfishness". Upon looking closer at the boulder I now realized there were some cracks in the rock I hadn't noticed before(had the cracks been there before?) which made perfect hand-holds. I grabbed hold as best I could, pulled in a deep breath and with a heave I pulled. The rock didn't budge an inch. Again and again I threw my weight back only to slump, exhausted and panting. My weight alone wouldn't move this rock, I needed some other way to dislodge it. I studied the wall again, noticing that the seams between the rocks on the wall, notably "Self-Discipline" and "Self-Sacrifice" would make perfect footholds. Given the fragile look of the wall I was hesitant to use it, but realized I had no other choice. I tentatively wedged my feet on either side of the wall, grabbed hold of the rock and pushed gently back. In a rush the boulder gave way, and I had to quickly scramble back as "Selfishness" began rolling down the path. Elation rapidly turned to fear as I realized the huge rock was now coming right for me, picking up speed and there was no way to get out of the way. I back peddled as quickly as I could, but tripped over something, probably one of the other rocks I had thrown behind me, and fell with a thud, the air rushing from my lungs. As I watched my impending doom bearing down on me I still felt comfort, knowing that I had at least moved that boulder, had gotten that much closer to the voices. Then something miraculous happened. "Selfishness" began to break apart. First into two big pieces, then those began to crumble, breaking further and further down as it got closer until it was a small tide of pebbles and then as it reached my feet about to bury me it vaporized into a fine dust that settled over everything. Finally able to regain my breath I inhaled sharply only to lapse into a fit of coughing trying to clear my lungs of the thick chalky dust. Shakily I clambered back to my feet, trying to shake as much of the dust off me and stumbled back up to what was left of the rock-slide blocking my path.
Now that "Selfishness" was gone I could see an archway with "True Love" etched in ornate lettering across the top. The pure white light radiated from all around it, blocked by one last hulking boulder. Because of the bright light shining in my eyes I had to draw close to this last barrier to read its label. It was smeared and barely legible, pitch black scribbled on the dark rock. It read "Lust". This one had no hand holds though, no way for me to get a grip on it. I tried wedging my hand between the archway and "Lust" but as soon as my hand touched the rock images shot through my head and I staggered back, blinking to clear my vision.
"Oh yea suga', rememba' that? Wasn't that just a hoot? Why my dear, ya' blushin'! You wasn't too ashamed of it back then. Come on back to me baby, we can make more memories." The lady in red! How had she caught up to me?! I quickly glanced over my shoulder but couldn't see her anywhere. I couldn't go back there, not again, not after coming this far. Frantically I beat at "Lust", kicking it, punching it, throwing other rocks at it. Every time I touched it a shock was sent through my system, sapping my energy to keep fighting and to my great shock each rock that struck it was absorbed into it. Finally exhausted and ready to give up I feel against the archway of "True Love" and collapsed. Strength seemed to flow back into me the second I touched the archway, not in the violent bursts of "Lust", but in a steady, constant stream of energy. Then from the other side came the mans voice again, still a quiet whisper, but yet it carried authority and reassurance indescribable.
"Allow me. Just ask and I will remove it."
Please, I can't move it and I want to go through "True Love" and see you and find her, the girl whose voice I heard.
"Stand close to "True Love" and you will be safe"
I scrambled to my feet and pressed in close to the archway. With a sudden blast, "Lust" shot forward and almost instantly vaporized. I had to squeeze my eyes shut as that piercing white light flooded the hallway, temporarily blinding me. A few minutes passed and I slowly opened my eyes, allowing them to adjust. I quickly passed through the "True-Love" archway and then I saw her. More accurately I saw her figure, with the light shining directly from further down the path behind her I could only make out her silhouette. My breath caught and my heart leaped in my chest.
"Follow me" her voice rang clear and melodious in my ears as she turned and continued up the path. I quickly started after her, breaking into a quick jog.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry this took so long, I kind of hit a creativity wall and wanted to make sure I was ready to work on it, not try to force it or rush it. I believe I can wrap this up in one more part, which hopefully should come early next week but no promises. Thanks for reading and hanging in there, I do appreciate your time. Again, if you missed the other parts, just use the menus on the right to go to January's posts and you'll find parts 1-3 in there. Thank you again!
No comments:
Post a Comment