The beginning of The Path
How did I start on the path? It is actually hard to say. I think it was a gradual process leading up to a cross road. I woke up, went through my morning routine as always, nothing new, nothing different. But as I climbed into my car and started following the same tried and true route, something began creeping into me. It's hard to describe, just a feeling of something or someone else making itself felt within me. Thinking back now, I believe that otherness was and is The Path.
I felt a sudden impulse to take a right at the street ahead. It would still get me to the highway and thus to work, so at first I just figured that some part of me needed a break from the old route. I took the turn without much thought. As I drove, I noticed that the route seemed subtly different. Turns in the road occurred where I didn't quite remember them before. Stores looked slightly different. It was just enough to make me uneasy, not enough to raise any alarms or cause me to think I was on the wrong road.
Another impulse came, and I followed it down a back alley to the left. This was a strange impulse and I immediately wondered why I would do such a thing. It looked a little sketchy and besides, where did I think I was going? Immediately I followed the next impusle, a right. Good, now I should be heading back towards the highway. Except I wasn't. I'd never been on this street, and it made me a bit nervous. There was no one around. No people milled along the aged, grass invaded sidewalks, and no cars drove along the cracking sidewalk. With a single turn, I seem to have found myself in an alien part of town. The air seemed suddenly hotter too.
I drove strait for a while, hoping I would come across a sign or an underpass that would lead me up to the highway, and considered the choices I had just made. I've been a little prone to whim here and there, but nothing like this before. To just follow an unexplained and almost alien impulse was a little new to my mental makeup, and I didn't know what to make of it.
No signs appeared. In fact I had not seen any signs on this whole street that I could remember. From street signs to the fading store fronts, I could find no titles what so ever to help my journey. I felt I should be worried, and I was a little. But something in me was truly enjoying this sudden adventure. In a predictable life, I had suddenly found something unwarranted and capricious.
I drove on as aging and bleached stores gradually gave way to grass, shrubs, and trees. But this transition did not occur in what I would think of as a natural way or expected way, i.e. a grassy lot between buildings, or a shift to more residential buildings with manicured lawns. Instead, nature seemed to be mounting an attack on the small business buildings. Grasses took over entire parking lots, and seemed to even be on roofs. Bushes split walkways and the branches of trees jabbed into broken windows, as if growing so fast they where able to shatter the glass. The road, though cracked, remained clear.
I brought my car to a stop in front of a railroad track. Not because there was any train coming, or lights blinking, but because it seemed like the right place to stop. I shut the car off and stepped out.
It had gotten hotter, so I took my thin coat off, folded it, and draped it over one arm. Ahead and through a naturally forested area, the road seemed to become a normal residential area. Behind me, forest infested buildings ended short of a small rust colored but plant free power station. A privacy fence started on both sides of the road about 10 yards from the tracks, then continued along parallel to the tracks for a small distance. To the left the land was hilly and the tracks were lifted up on a very high man made ridge, maybe 30 feet from the forest and pastures below it. To my right, the hills rose back up forcing the curving tracks to cut through a small section of rock to keep level. I stood there in a kind of daze. There where no sounds except the blowing of wind, but there was a sense of expectation here that made the place seem quite full none the less. I felt this was truly a crossroads and I had to make a decision. Ahead was what you could call normal life. I drive on and find the highway and it's back to life as you know it. To my right, (somehow I knew I could only travel the tracks to the right) was something new. I didn't know what, but I felt I had been given a very small taste of it. But I also knew I would be leaving behind my life as I knew it, my car, my savings, friends... all I had worked for. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply and just enjoyed this sudden stop in my life, just resting on my feet on a still, country road. I became aware of the approach of a slight grating noise to my left. As it grew closer, I heard a few shrill vibrations in the tracks. I opened my eyes and turned. On a little rail sled like you might see in the old Warner Brothers cartoons, complete with hand pump pumped by a small man road towards me in odd green clothes.
So far, everything I had seen or felt could have had some, all be it odd, rational or explanation. This little gnome like character, grinning a cheshire grin from a sparsely bearded face somehow crossed the line. To me, this sight was a sign that read "Welcome to Wonderland, please enjoy your stay." And yet, somehow, I felt perfectly normal and natural, as if I saw this kind of thing everyday. He smiled and waved as he passed before me and I watched him for a time, still feeling numb and quiet within. I took a brief glance down the road leading into the country neighborhood, then, without hesitation, jagged up behind the railroad sled. Catching the back of it though careful not to drop my coat, I easily hopped up, turned, and sat on the back of the contraption, a foot away from the small man. He said nothing, and I mimicked this and we road on in silence.
That's pretty much how it started. Not very impressive really. No blazing gates or fearful orations. No oaths, plans, or promises, except perhaps to simply follow The Path I had just given myself to. I felt I could get off the path even then if I wanted to. Just jump off and somehow make my way back to my life. But then again, I knew I couldn't. Life wouldn't be the same and I would do nothing but itch afterwards, wondering what I had left.
And besides, The Path had just started.
Zach Riah
I felt a sudden impulse to take a right at the street ahead. It would still get me to the highway and thus to work, so at first I just figured that some part of me needed a break from the old route. I took the turn without much thought. As I drove, I noticed that the route seemed subtly different. Turns in the road occurred where I didn't quite remember them before. Stores looked slightly different. It was just enough to make me uneasy, not enough to raise any alarms or cause me to think I was on the wrong road.
Another impulse came, and I followed it down a back alley to the left. This was a strange impulse and I immediately wondered why I would do such a thing. It looked a little sketchy and besides, where did I think I was going? Immediately I followed the next impusle, a right. Good, now I should be heading back towards the highway. Except I wasn't. I'd never been on this street, and it made me a bit nervous. There was no one around. No people milled along the aged, grass invaded sidewalks, and no cars drove along the cracking sidewalk. With a single turn, I seem to have found myself in an alien part of town. The air seemed suddenly hotter too.
I drove strait for a while, hoping I would come across a sign or an underpass that would lead me up to the highway, and considered the choices I had just made. I've been a little prone to whim here and there, but nothing like this before. To just follow an unexplained and almost alien impulse was a little new to my mental makeup, and I didn't know what to make of it.
No signs appeared. In fact I had not seen any signs on this whole street that I could remember. From street signs to the fading store fronts, I could find no titles what so ever to help my journey. I felt I should be worried, and I was a little. But something in me was truly enjoying this sudden adventure. In a predictable life, I had suddenly found something unwarranted and capricious.
I drove on as aging and bleached stores gradually gave way to grass, shrubs, and trees. But this transition did not occur in what I would think of as a natural way or expected way, i.e. a grassy lot between buildings, or a shift to more residential buildings with manicured lawns. Instead, nature seemed to be mounting an attack on the small business buildings. Grasses took over entire parking lots, and seemed to even be on roofs. Bushes split walkways and the branches of trees jabbed into broken windows, as if growing so fast they where able to shatter the glass. The road, though cracked, remained clear.
I brought my car to a stop in front of a railroad track. Not because there was any train coming, or lights blinking, but because it seemed like the right place to stop. I shut the car off and stepped out.
It had gotten hotter, so I took my thin coat off, folded it, and draped it over one arm. Ahead and through a naturally forested area, the road seemed to become a normal residential area. Behind me, forest infested buildings ended short of a small rust colored but plant free power station. A privacy fence started on both sides of the road about 10 yards from the tracks, then continued along parallel to the tracks for a small distance. To the left the land was hilly and the tracks were lifted up on a very high man made ridge, maybe 30 feet from the forest and pastures below it. To my right, the hills rose back up forcing the curving tracks to cut through a small section of rock to keep level. I stood there in a kind of daze. There where no sounds except the blowing of wind, but there was a sense of expectation here that made the place seem quite full none the less. I felt this was truly a crossroads and I had to make a decision. Ahead was what you could call normal life. I drive on and find the highway and it's back to life as you know it. To my right, (somehow I knew I could only travel the tracks to the right) was something new. I didn't know what, but I felt I had been given a very small taste of it. But I also knew I would be leaving behind my life as I knew it, my car, my savings, friends... all I had worked for. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply and just enjoyed this sudden stop in my life, just resting on my feet on a still, country road. I became aware of the approach of a slight grating noise to my left. As it grew closer, I heard a few shrill vibrations in the tracks. I opened my eyes and turned. On a little rail sled like you might see in the old Warner Brothers cartoons, complete with hand pump pumped by a small man road towards me in odd green clothes.
So far, everything I had seen or felt could have had some, all be it odd, rational or explanation. This little gnome like character, grinning a cheshire grin from a sparsely bearded face somehow crossed the line. To me, this sight was a sign that read "Welcome to Wonderland, please enjoy your stay." And yet, somehow, I felt perfectly normal and natural, as if I saw this kind of thing everyday. He smiled and waved as he passed before me and I watched him for a time, still feeling numb and quiet within. I took a brief glance down the road leading into the country neighborhood, then, without hesitation, jagged up behind the railroad sled. Catching the back of it though careful not to drop my coat, I easily hopped up, turned, and sat on the back of the contraption, a foot away from the small man. He said nothing, and I mimicked this and we road on in silence.
That's pretty much how it started. Not very impressive really. No blazing gates or fearful orations. No oaths, plans, or promises, except perhaps to simply follow The Path I had just given myself to. I felt I could get off the path even then if I wanted to. Just jump off and somehow make my way back to my life. But then again, I knew I couldn't. Life wouldn't be the same and I would do nothing but itch afterwards, wondering what I had left.
And besides, The Path had just started.
Zach Riah
posted by Matthew | 5:52 AM
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