Short Story – The Perpetual Journey
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The sun beams danced beside him, mocking him, pulling him back, like anchors, to the life long forgotten , to the life sacrificed. He tumbled through the netted beams , the sand shifting and sizzling between his toes, the scorch of the heat engulfing him, he knew there was no mercy in store for him.His throat lusted the lingering touch of water , His vision limited to his next step and the heat – making every beat of his heart, every pulse of his nerves and every throb of his veins – agony.
To break the perpetual monotony, he stole a look. A second of escape. He saw the gilded hills all around him. He saw hills of gold where the sun kissed the Earth and then he carried on, knowing that his mind overcome by the boredom had taken to playing tricks on him. It seemed like he had walked into the fiery depths of hell, right into the devils hand. He saw his long forgotten sins breaking free from the prison of his mind, dancing with the sun beams . To him they were only more anchors. Fate had it , that the only mementos he collected from this long , long journey were anchors.More and More reasons to stop but it would more than that. Much more than that.
With each step , his body sunk lower and lower , closer to the blanket of sand. His shoulders hung low and his back lifeless. But with each step , his spirit became stronger, determined to go-on, to conquer the next step. And with each step under the cruel sun, he traded bits of his body for bits of his soul.
Alas, he was only human. His mental being no matter how strong , was limited by his physical being. His bloody knees sank into the sand, staining it red. Darkness overcame him. He was alone , trapped with his thoughts, in his mind- the last place where he wanted to be.
Melancholy soon followed,he started drowning in the realization of failure-not the failure of his journey, but his life. But a small stubborn part remained, refusing to let go,refusing to give way to self-pity.His long journey had presented yet another choice- To drown himself with misery for once and all or hang on to that stubborn hope and continue to suffer. Like all the decisions in his life , he chose the harder one.
They say darkness lies in the path of he who has discovered all his limits. But the traveler’s path was bright for he came to an epiphany that his limits had no end. The single spark of stubbornness , turned the dying embers of his soul into a roaring fire. He found himself again in the company of the heat, but this time it came from within.
The End
