The Endless Struggle

...once upon a time, there was a boy.1

This boy didn't know who he was, where he was, and what was going to happen. He was an innocent.2

A mindless wanderer in an empty world.3

As he opened his eyes to this place, he started to see, as the world created in front of him. He started to walk. With each step he took, the world changed and grew, and he saw more, and it grew with him.4

This was HIS world in a sense.  The sky turned from nothing to expansive blue, and his feet found solid earth that gave way to each continuing step.  Grass sprung up, and small flowers, as his being grew as well.5

He learned more. The places became huge. The sky expanded further, cloud formed.  The stars would twinkle, as the new sun would fall down and that odd moon would rise.6

He was growing still as well, full head of hair and hazel eyes that shone with wonder and excitement.  He wasn't naked any longer, wearing strange garbs.7

And then the animals came to be.  Small bugs, and insects, floating about, as the trees shot up and the rivers ran fast, fish jumping through them while bears waited for lunch.8

Then he saw them.  The towering buildings, the mechanical atroscities, and the noise that bellowed.  Amidst all this, he saw the last creation in his world.  The people who inhabit it.9

The people that looked like him.10

...who are they? Do they know what they are?  Did... I create them?  Or were they always here and I never saw?11

Questions he wondered... they were walking as well, but they all walked down a single path, blocking his way to this world.12

He stared at this line of mobile masses, as they were focused and going in but one direction, toward a never-ending cycle of aimless walking.13

He had wandered, but they were just following.  Following each other yet following nothing.  Beyond them he could see the rest of his world, and the beauty of it all... and he realized that he had gotten caught on one side of this line, with the noise and the drama and the cold... he wanted to get back to his world.14

Some of the people wandered off, but they never came back. He wanted to do that. To walk off and travel, to see his world, but this blockade was stopping him.15

He tried anyway.16

He pushed against society.17

He tried to slide into the line.18

He tried to make friends with the people and get them to stop a moment.19

His small cries and pleas were noticed, they were heard, but they weren't taken for much.  He'd push into them, struggling to squeeze past... but they wouldn't budge.  They'd turn their heads, look at him, hear him squawk in protest, but they wouldn't stop ever.20

...the funny thing is, he actually started to get to know some of them, and they were nice.  At least, they were at first.  He figured, if I can get them to acknowledge my plight, maybe... maybe they'll pull away, and leave a gap so I can get by.21

He got to become friends with a few, as he walked by the line, following next to it... he found the line grew wider as he went on, and he was surrounded by more people, as they came and went in their own pace.22

Some were his friends, and some weren't... many of them would wander off for a time but then he would see them back in the line again soon enough.  They never wandered very far, always within sight from this line.23

He started to forget his goal... fell into the line and walked with them.  Following, not caring anymore, or at least, he thought.24

...but then, after a long while, he turned his head, and saw.  He saw the world that he created, the one he wanted to be in.  He remembered. He remembered how he wanted to get away from these people and walk, to be himself... only now he wanted someone with him.  There were people he cared for now.25

It wasn't just HIS world... it was THEIRS.  He realized this.  He wanted to take his friends with him now, and escape this endless line.  His world was far behind them, he had been walking so long... but still, he could see it, faintly.26

The people he cared for, they were still walking... far behind him in the line, and yet, also far ahead.27

He turned, and tried to go back... to get back to his world, to find his friends.  He could have just slipped out, but if he did that, then they'd pass by and he would never find them.  The line pushed him, and it grew wider... the distance grew between him and the ones he cared about... and soon, a sea of followers swallowed him up...28

No longer was it a line, but a river, a torrent of voices, and echoes.  Mindless chatter and shuffling, overrunning his existence.  It grew harder to see his beautiful world... the more he pushed against them, the harder it got.  He could no longer see over them.  He fell.29

The last thing he saw was their feet, as they trampled him to death.30

The End.31

...wait.32

Wait a minute.33

No.34

No!35

It can't end that way!36

It can't!  I won't let it!37

Neither will he!38

No!39

Refuse that pain!40

Push it back!41

He didn't die, no, but he was beaten.42

He was torn and bruised.43

His skin was ripped and he bled...44

but he wasn't dead.  Not yet.45

He pulled himself up, grabbing their feet, their legs, their bodies.46

He didn't care now.47

No matter what, if they push or shove, he'll push right back.48

He didn't care now if anyone came with him.49

He realized, if they wanted to, they would find him.50

And so now he waits for them to follow, as he continues on.51

Pushing his way through this river of souls that constantly moves against him.52

Beaten, torn, shattered... but he keeps on moving, to this day.  He has learned to deal with this pain, with the aches in his body.  He's learned to keep his head clear, and not let his beautiful world out of sight.  He now crawls his way above the masses, and rises over them at times, knowing how to see above it all.53

So he pushes now, looking for a gap to escape from this mass, in an Endless Struggle to find his way Home.        -Daniel T. Mead54