I stood on the edge of what appeared to be a forest. The two paths before me each beckoned me to follow it. My instincts told me to go right, towards the orange glow. This inviting glow reminded me of the town I had left behind, and how the sun filtered through my bedroom window. The warmth was like the embrace of my mother, with its trees hugging the path, and potentially myself, right into the heart of the sunset glow.1
The path on the left was much different. It was not the appearance of the path that intrigued me, it was my sense of adventure that pulled me towards it. The path was shrouded in fog, making nearly impossible to see where the path ended, and where the churning water of the river beside it started. The trees seemed less lively than those just meters to the right, but seemed to hold their own personalities within their trunks. This path reminded me of a reoccurring dream, or rather nightmare, I had as a child. The dream never allowed me to walk down the path, but it forced me to stand in the cold fog. I would awake in a cold chill, wondering what was down the path, and why I was unable to advance down the path. 2
My sense of adventure overtook my instincts and I turn towards the foggy path. The splash of something falling or jumping into the river seemed to welcome, or warn me, down the path. I took one last look back at the orange glow that now faded as I advanced down the path. Somehow I knew I would never again see that path the way I had seen it on that day, or even ever again. 3
The swirling fog tickled my legs as I took the first few steps. With each step I felt more proud of what I was accomplishing. I was finally fulfilling my dream, or nightmare, of advancing down the infamous path that haunted me. It was not until I reached what I knew to be the end of the path that I realized the mistake I had made. The path abruptly ended at the edge of a cliff, where the bottom was too far down to see. Was it destiny that I realize that the path from my dream was never to be traveled? I peered over the edge of the cliff, and felt a pair of hands shove me over the edge. I turned as I fell, just in time to see myself standing at the edge of the cliff, laughing. As I fell I began to pray for the bottom, as I was tired of waiting in anticipation of my inevitable death. 4
I awoke in the same cold sweat I had experienced every other time I had the dream about the foggy path. I sat up and began to remember where I was. The only difference from all the other times was I wondered where the path on the right would have taken me. I could clearly remember the orange glow, and how it had faded when I had not chosen its path. I fell back on my pillow and prayed for a repeat of the dream, but wondered if I would have taken the path on the right, or would I have given into my sense of adventure once more and walked to my own demise? Perhaps I would never know, but as I slowly drifted back into a light sleep I prayed for the strength to make the right choice.
Author notes
For the "Under Read Stories Contest": Commented on: Alana- "Friendless Loser"
OPTION #4
Random
-What ever you feel like you need to write.
A contest entry
- Dreams and Visions by angellove.
1050 points, ended December 20, 2008, 16 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next story in this contest, remove from contest - Give me What you Got! by MetroHollywoodTeen.
175 points, ended December 21, 2008, 25 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest - Hit Me With Your Best Shot by MusicOfTheNight9.
225 points, ended August 9, 116 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Really good! I wonder, had the dreamer chosen the other path, would they not meet a fate quite the same? Excellent writing and overall outstanding! I hope you get an idea for the orange glowing path and put that into a story, I would be very excited to read it. Thanks for entering and good luck!
Kudos,
CreaterSk8er
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I loved this. It seems so many great writers are entering.
Thank you for entering.
*Bow*
Suzann
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Very inspiring
What first caught my attention was the path to the right. Right is symbollically the position of honor and glory. The other thing that caught my attention was the color of the sunset on the right path. The color is amber, which is symbollic for the presence of God. It is the color many of the sightings of angels in the Bible describe. The trees on that side were full of life, just like those who choose righteousness over the status quo indifference. On the right side, you can see through to the light at the end, where as on the left, which is symbollically inferior, there is a fog that you can't see through. I've always heard that the biggest lie that Satan has succeeded with is that he does not exist. The fog is kind of like a veil which keeps you from seeing the danger that is to come on the left path. The fog is enticing and mysterious, so it draws you in. The trees are not as lively on the left side either, but by the time you see that, it is too late. You wrote also that there were sounds of those jumping in the river. The water is symbollic cleansing and washing away, like baptism. It is the way to get off the wrong path and switch over to the right path. It sounds like some people were doing that in your dream.
That left path led to self-destruction, throwing yourself off of a cliff. Sometimes, even though one might want to blame Satan for everything, you must realize some of our undoing falls on our own selves, our own choices. Some choices lead to death and destruction and others lead to joy and peace. You'll never know what is on that right path unless you jump in the river and change over to the right path or take that path in the beginning.
Let me know if you have the dream again and take the right path. That will be a very interesting read.
Thanks for entering my contest.
Write On!
Beth
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, characters: 5.
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This is a good short story. Great for the amount of words. I love the idea of walking to your own demise and it was the character who push themself off the cliff. Fantastic ending about it only being a dream and wondering what the other path would hold.
I'm sure we've all had dreams like that where we want them to happen again so we know what would happen if we went the other way or took a different option.
Good job and good luck.
Angel.
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THis was beautiful. I love the whole aspect of following your instincts and intuition. In some cases, that is the best. ^_^ Sometimes dreams can be the key to the unconscious or subconscious mind. I have always been fascinated by dreams, how interesting...
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