For my entire life I've been the only occupant of a massive forest, but even though I'm secluded I've never really felt alone. At night the stars get come out and I talk to them, I always tell them about my day. More than often they consist of me running around and exploring the forest. Knowing that I'm seeing beautiful sights that no one else in the world has set their eyes on gives me a feeling that makes up for the lack of peers or alive company whatsoever. I lay in beds of rainbow influencd flowers and listen to the sounds of the zig zagging creaks on a daily basis, and if it weren't for them my life wouldn’t be as filled as it is now.
The stars always talk back to me. One thing we have in common is our secludedness. The stars tell me all of their secrets because I have no one to tell, and vice versa. This has been going on for as long as I can remember.
During the day I tell them how sun light creeps through the aging branches and trees in the forest, and even though I bathe in the sun rays in every opportunity I get, I've never actually seen it in its entirety due to the massive size of the trees. I tell the stars how the sun has been on my mind lately. The thoughts of seeing its own secluded beauty fills my mind every day. This means that I haven't been looking at the flowers and the creaks with as much concentration as I usually give them. The stars worn me about the suns danger, but my imagination of a colossal golden ball of light in the sky blocks out any reason I hear.
The other day I decided it was time to fill my temptation, so I ran until I found the edge of the forest. Taking a deep breath behind my genuine smile I stepped out from its boundaries and into an open field. It’s more open and different from the forest, but I can notice nature's similarities. The grass is still green, I can still hear crickets, and there is still not another companion in sight.
I walked around the field for a few minuets, enjoying the change of environment, but all I was really doing was letting my excitement grow and grow. When I felt like I was going to burst, I took my second deep breath of the day and shut my eyes. Tilting my head up to the sky, I opened my eyes, wider than I ever have before.
It was only for a second or two that I actually got to see the sun with no consequence. Its magnificence was greater than my imagination was ever able to produce. The colossal golden orb in the sky powering all the life around me. It was everything I had ever hoped it could be.
I suppose it was on the third or fourth second when my eyes started to burn. But as the pain increased, so did the beauty and the strength of the sun. I couldn’t look away no matter what my common sense told me.
In went on like that until I inevitably lost my sight, but in those few dieing moments I felt like it didn't matter. I had seen the most beautiful thing in the world, the only thing in the world that I wanted to see. In those first few moments of my eternal darkness, I had felt like the entire ordeal was worth it.
But now I lay here, in this field. Every now and then I try to crawl and find my way back to the forest, but every time I do I fear I'm just getting myself more lost. Every now and then I feel I'm only imagining the suns ray on my skin. Still, I call out for the stars every chance I get, but I'm sure they're hurt by my betrayal. Maybe they’ll come around. Sometimes I miss the forest itself. Sometimes I feel like I hear the gentle water of the zig zagging creaks or that I'm laying in a bed of rainbow influenced flowers.
Sometimes.
And even though I do miss their companionship, I feel deep down that I don't need them anymore. I see the outlines of a beautiful golden orb every time I open my eyes. |
Submission Name: Ambition
