A Journey Through My Imagination

He is walking through darkness. He wonders how he ever traveled here. He wonders where here is. His confusion is almost as oppressive as the darkness surrounding him. He is not sure if he is walking straight ahead or if he is just traveling in circles. What is going on? This has to be a dream. As he keeps walking he begins to notice more of his environment. Shapes begin to form from his endlessly black world. The shapes are twisted and broken. They may have been buildings once, what they are now is nothing less then terrifying. This place is dead and forgotten.

He had not noticed the complete lack of feeling until slowly the cold starts to creep in. He pulls the blue leather trench coat around his body, hugging himself to keep warm. Where the coat came from he can only guess. He does not remember wearing it a second ago. Why blue? He continues his walk down the trash filled street still trying to remember why he is here, what he was supposed to be doing. Where is this terrible place. He hears the soft moan of the breeze seconds before he feels it caressing his face. The breeze is warm. So much warmth should be welcome but with the breeze comes an overpowering feeling of dread and repulsion. He should not be here.

He continues walking through the forgotten city streets trying to find what ever he was brought here for. He see nothing but destruction and desolation where ever he looks. Everything is so dark and muted. Details are difficult to determine. He looks around trying to grasp the subtle cries on the breeze. He knows he is an intruder here. This place does not want him. He tries to remember how he came here, what brought him here. Why is he not welcome here?

A flash of color draws his attention quickly to his left. Red, the color was red. He has seen nothing but shades of black and gray for what seems like an eternity. The color disappeared around a ruined length of wall. He starts running, searching desperately for a moment of color. He makes it to the end of the wall just in time to see a flash of white disappear around another mound of rubble. He tries to double his speed. He tries to catch up but it is as if the very city itself is sucking the will from his legs. He finds it harder and harder to move after the color. The subtle cries on the breeze have become shrieking laughter and the breeze itself has become a fierce wind trying to force him back, back away from the color. The heat is becoming unbearable.

He finally makes it around the last turn and abruptly everything is silent. He is able to move again. The wind is gone as if it were never there to begin with. How long had he been chasing the color? At every glimpse the color was different. It seemed to move from red to white to every shade of orange in between. Now that he has finally caught up to it he is stunned. She is simply breathtaking. The color was her coat, exactly the same style as his but constantly changing color. As if just by the change alone this garment can keep her safe from the world around her. Is she what he came here for?

He looks around the intersection of the two roads and notices a difference here. There is no feeling of pain, no feelings of desolation or destruction, only emptiness. An all consuming emptiness which questions his very existence. He takes a second to reclaim himself from the emptiness as she is gesturing for him to follow. She takes him to one side of the street, to the only building which still looks whole. She opens the door and he expects to see the interior of the structure. Instead he is greeted with a brilliant blue light. The entire doorway is blue. Is this the way out?

He tries to ask her where they are, what this doorway is but his words are taken from him as soon as they leave his mouth. He can not speak and he is confused. He remembers now that he is always confused. Always another world to explore never knowing why. He can not remember the number of worlds he has been to but he can not recall ever meeting another person. Who is she? When was the last time he interacted with another being?

He looks at the doorway and wonders where this one will take him. He wonders what she is doing here. He takes a good long look at her and realizes just how beautiful she is. Her hair is golden but as she moves he can see hints of scarlet through out. Her eyes also change as she stares back at him. This moment they are blue the next moment an emerald green, then a soft gray. Her face is perfect. She is perfect. Again he wonders what she is doing here, in this place of destruction and pain. She does not appear scared. Is this all she has ever known? How has she survived this long?

He thinks about stepping through the door. He thinks about the girl standing next to it. He is drawn to her, more strongly then he has ever been drawn to anyone or anything else. He notices her power, her aura. How she can radiate such power surrounded by complete emptiness he can only guess. Is it her beauty which draws him to her? Her power? Or is it her soul calling to his. Is she the reason he has traversed these countless worlds? He no longer remembers why he started this journey, nor why he has continued for so long. As always he is confused. He does not understand.

He looks at her for what he thinks is the last time and starts to walk through the doorway. Then a thought strikes him. He turns to her and before he fully comprehends what he is doing he reaches his hand out to her. She grins at him for a second and then bites her lower lip in frustration. His anticipation increases with each second she does not take his hand. He does not understand why but he needs her. He can not leave without her.

She looks around trying to decide whether to risk everything. He wonders what can possibly keep her here. How could she not leave this terrible place? What does this place offer her? He does not know this is the only world she has ever known. He does not understand she is afraid to go someplace new. She has not seen all of the different worlds he has visited. She has only known the emptiness and the pain. This is the only place she has ever existed.

After what seems like hours she slowly reaches to take his hand and they disappear through the blue light of the doorway. Where did they go? Did they travel to another world to start the journey again? Maybe these are not other worlds at all but other lives? Maybe they simply awoke from a strange dream destined to meet only in these fleeting worlds of imagination. Always apart their souls still strive for each other. I will tell you now they are not gone. Imagination is the key and as long as dreams are alive and the mind has time to wander the story will continue.