Chapter three: The Mind's Door

Chapter three: The Mind’s Door



I woke again and looked out the window. The sky was completely black now and stars dotted it, the same stars I had seen the night before, the ones I had made. I yawned and stretched my arms out. Though it was night, the scenery was still the same, an endless field of grass. I sat there for a while string out the window, towards the eastern horizon the sky grew pink with the sun. The field was caste into twilight once more and the lush green color once again returned.

Now, green was my favorite color but this was ridiculous! My eyes were beginning to hurt and I shut them. I sighed and laid back down. The sun climbed higher and the stars began to disappear, except for that first one of course. I looked back out the window and noticed something ahead. There was a dark green line in the distance; it stretched from one horizon to the other. It slowly grew larger as we move closer to it. It turned out to be, in fact, trees. What lied ahead of us was a forest. The grass outside grew shorter and the ground was littered with small shrubs of all sorts. We grew closer to the forest still, the grass was now normal size and the shrubs were everywhere, a few small trees were placed here and there.

Then it happened, so fast in fact that it made my heart skip a beat. Everything turned dark, the bright green grass dissolved into a dark blur, the blue sky disappeared altogether, and we were plunged into a twilight state of being. Trees were thick on both sides of the train, so thick, in fact, that I could see more than five feet out from the tracks. The trees were tall and thick, there were many different kinds. Everywhere vines wrapped around the trunks of the trees, blossoming white flowers. Shafts of gold light could be seen here and there, but became sparser as we headed deeper into the forest.

And yet, even with all the trees, not once did I see any signs of life, no a single one. Not even an insect was seen in the twilight of the woods. Then I noticed that we were slowing down. Slowly and over a period of time, but yes, we were slowing down. It wasn’t long before the train came to a complete stop. Thomas then walked through the door and told me to follow him into the first compartment, I did so.

“Ok, here we are, end of the line, off you go.” He began shoving me towards the door.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean? Why are you just leaving me here?”

“Calm down,” he laughed, “I’m just joking. But seriously, this is where I must leave you.”

“Where exactly is ‘here’?” I asked.

“We are in the Twilight Woods. This is where I normally dump your thoughts. You must go with them.”

“Dump my thoughts?!?! What do you mean? Where do I have to go?”

“Calm down, calm down. You see, I’m your train of thought, it’s my job to deliver your thoughts to the Subconscious or ‘mind’ you must do the same. All you have to do is follow your thoughts until you reach the Mind’s Door, which you must go through if you ever hope to get to your heart.”

“But why would I want to go into my heart?” I was really confused.

“I don’t think I’m the person to tell you that, but believe me, you will, and you must.” He smiled, “Don’t worry I’ll be with you all the way.”

“You’re coming to?” Hope rose inside of me, I really didn’t want to be alone again, “You’re coming with me?”

“No, of course not, I have to operate the train. But I’m your train of thought, I’m always with you, just think and I’ll be listening. And I know what your thinking, you must remember, your never alone. There will always be someone.” And with that he opened the door to the train. “Now, you must go.”

“Thank you,” I said, my eyes growing teary.

“Don’t thank me, I am you,” he waved as I stepped onto the ladder. “Oh, one more thing, when I release your thoughts, don’t touch any of them, unless, of course, want that thought to be stuck in your head for a while.

“Uhh… Ok,” I stammered, pretending to understand what he had said. I began my descent to the ground. When I was about two feet from it, I jumped to the ground.

“Ok! Get ready!” Thomas shouted from the train, “Remember, don’t touch any of them!”

I nodded, as if he would know.

“But I do know!” he shouted.

I smiled and thought “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye!” I heard him shout. Then something happened, all of the cars trailing behind the engine began to tip to the side. Inside of them, I could see, was some sort of liquid, bright blue and sparkling. They tipped more and out it poured, a huge wave, stretching the whole length of the train, came rushing towards me.

Don’t touch them! How could I avoid it? As it came closer, hundreds of thought rushed through my head, thoughts completely unrelated to the matter at hand. In a single instant a thousand different things must have rushed through my mind. I thought my head would explode, screaming in agony, I put my hands on my temples and pressed furiously, I closed my eyes, trying to silent my mind. The thoughts only grew louder as the wave came closer. I opened my eyes, though with much difficulty, and saw that the wave was almost on top of me. Ten feet, five, one, then something happened, just as I thought my head was going to split in two…it went silent. The gigantic wave had split into pieces; hundreds of thousands of pieces went rushing past me. Each one of them looking like a comet, a spherical head and a long fluid tail. They moved gracefully through the air, like fish do in water. There tails trailed behind them for about five feet before tapering off, leaving behind a shiny dust-like substance which lingered in the air for a little while before disappearing. Behind me I heard the train start. I turned around to see it slowly rolling away into the distance. The horn sounded and I smiled, thinking to myself, “See you later.”



The Thoughts, as I called them, weaved between the trees, never slowing down, never speeding up. I was harder for me though, to move through the forest with such grace. I stagger around trees, tripping over fallen branches and sweeping brush out of my way. Luckily for me, the Thoughts move at a slow pace, slow enough for me to keep up with anyway. Though the terrain was much more difficult to travel through, I found the forest much more enjoyable than the field. The scenery was better, that’s for sure. The trees were tall and wide, not a single patch of sky could be seen through the canopy, though to my sides I could see a few beams of light shining down from above. Ahead of me the great brown pillars stretched on endlessly. Ahead of me and to my sides the Thoughts could be seen gliding through the air, disappearing and reappearing as they weaved in and out between the trees, leaving behind them their bright blue tail, and sparkling dust.

Unexpectedly, one of the Thoughts had appears behind me. I jumped to the side trying to avoid it but it was too graceful and I was to clumsly. It made a sharp turn as I slammed into a tree, and it hit me squarely in the chest. Instantly a thought ran through my head.

I felt alone, like I had before I boarded the train. The despair I had been feeling in the field returned to my head and I began to cry. Tears rolled down the side of my face as I, unwillingly, thought of being alone, without anyone there to comfort me. My legs began to shake and my knees buckled under the weight of my thoughts. I looked up, even the star that had kept me company before was gone, it had left me, lost in the canopy of the forest.

“Think of anything,” I said to myself. “Any…anything else but this.” But no matter how hard I tried to think of something else, the isolation continued. I looked up, the rest of the Thoughts were drifting away. “No,” I said crying, “don’t go.”

Now I didn’t even have my thoughts to keep me company, I was alone. Alone with only this crushing feeling of complete isolation. But then I heard something, a voice. It sounded strange but familiar at the same time, far away and yet very close. I turned my head and behind me was a stray Thought. Before I had time to react it slammed into my back. I fell forward and the voice I had heard roared in my head.

“You must remember, you’re never alone.”

It was Thomas, “You must remember, you’re never alone.” Again and again that line ran through my head. Suddenly I was filled with new hope. I rose from the ground, brushing the tears away from my face, and began to move quickly through the forest, trying to catch up to the Thoughts. After a while I saw, ahead of me, a flash of blue, replaced by sparkles. I moved faster, it had disappeared behind the next tree. As I walked around it I could see the Thought ahead of me. I took another turn and disappeared, I fought to catch up with it but my legs were growing tired. I moved even faster, using the horrible thought of being alone as my motivation. I turned again and there, right in front of me, was the Thought. It was moving in a straight line and disappeared through a bush.

I quickened my pace to catch up and jumped through the bush. Once I got to the other side I stopped dead. My brow furrowed and I blinked. For in front of me was a clearing. Instead of trees there was only bright green grass with flowers everywhere. In the center of this clearing there were stone steps leading up to an alter. There on the alter was a doorway, just a doorway, three pieces of wood were tied together to shape it. Shafts of gold light shone upon the entire alter. Hesitantly I took a step closer. Mt Thoughts were moving more quickly now, swirling around the doorway. I took another step and the Thoughts, moving so fast now that it made me dizzy to watch them, went flying into the door. But where they should have appeared, the other side, they didn’t. Instead they just seemed to disappear upon entering the door.

I took a step and felt my foot fall on the first stone step. At that instant hundreds of butterflies went zooming into the air. They were colored a brilliant shade of bright blue and green. They zigzagged every which way, shining as they passed through the shafts of light. It was quite beautiful, and the sight of them warmed me and made me happy. I watched them fly higher into the air. Above was a hole in the trees, I could see the blue sky for the first time in hours. I also noticed the star, that very same one I had seen so many times before, and I smiled. I diverted my gaze and turned to look at the gateway that stood before me. There was no question as to what this thing was, not a single doubt in my mind as to where this door may lead to. I took a step and, like the Thoughts, walked onward through the Mind’s Door.