“The Road”

This is a story I wrote for my Creative Writing class last semester and i wanted to share it with yall….

         I stood at the fork in the road, knowing that i could not stay here much longer, for I knew that the demons that were haunting me would catch up sooner or later. Two roads lay before me and each road has a destination with different outcomes. The roads seemed to stretch into the horizon. But wait, each road seemed to be a world of its own.

         The road on the right was lit up by a red moon that seemed to barely flicker and it only lit up the beginning of the path. The road on the right faded into darkness, and as i strained my eyes trying to see further, the darkness seemed to grow deeper and deeper inside of me. The road seemed to come to a point and go nowhere else. The darkness had an eerie, yet calming, silence that seemed to quiet the voices in my head.

          I felt drawn to the silence and as I turned to the right, I heard a noise on the left road that caught my attention. I could hear laughter and my happiest moments seemed to be replaying on the horizon. Tears filled my eyes as I saw the happiness and joy I brought to people lighting up the world. I noticed that there were butterflies flying around that had words on them. One came and landed on top of what I was holding. For some reason, I was holding a handful of pills, but I could not remember why.  I looked at the butterfly and I noticed that it had ‘you are beautiful’ written across its dazzling wings. One after another, the butterflies came and landed on my hands. Each had words written across their wings. Words such as: beautiful, strong, amazing, and smart seemed to be written on almost every one. I realized that these were words that people used to describe me all the time. I felt a smile start to stretch across my face. The butterflies lined the road and seemed to create a soothing melody with their wings.

          As I started to feel comfortable, I heard a buzzing sound coming from the right and I felt a burning and stinging pain on my arms. I looked down and there were black wasps with red eyes stinging me. In every place they stung, a word was appearing, Words such as: ugly, failure, worthless, and annoying were soon covering my arms. They seemed to grow deeper and darker as they were left untreated. The butterflies flew over and landed on the words and tried to cover them up. The wasps became irritated and started attacking the butterflies. The two began to fight and a whirlwind of emotions was formed. As I looked at the words on my arms, I began to believe them but when I looked at the butterflies I felt hope and strength. I did not know who to believe. I dont know where it came from, but suddenly there was a loud voice screaming "STOP". The fight stopped and the beings returned to their roads. The butterflies flew into the sun, and the sun grew brighter as it was strengthened by the hope and faith that they gave. The wasps flew back into the red moon and seemed to flame the fire.

          I could hear a faint whisper coming from the lights saying "Please dont give up. You are worth it and I love you." The darkness started yelling "Give up. It’s not worth all the pain and drama."

          Exhausted from the confusion, I sat down in the middle of the fork and stared at the roads. I began to notice that the road on the left was full of bumps and twists. It seemed like it would be a path that would have its challenges. The road on the right was made up of smooth black stones that reflected the glow of the moon and they seemed to invoke a pulling sensation in my heart.

          As I rested and watched the worlds around me, I began to hear the sound of my demons catching up to me. They brought the memories that haunted me and were going to torture me with them. I could not stay and be overwhelmed by the weight again. However, I knew that I could not run forever. I knew that one day I would fall and be overtaken. I jumped to my feet with such adrenaline that I thought I could feel the worlds quake. My heart started to beat with anxiety and fear that I have never known. My breathing became labored and I closed my eyes and tried to drown out the sound of the demons approaching. I could still hear both roads calling to me and offering protection and rest inside of them. My head began to spin and I felt like my soul was being ripped apart. I knew it was time to start moving again. I looked at both paths before I made my decision. I knew that this decision would change my life forever, but it was the best decision.. And with sure confidence of my decision, I started walking….