Beyond the Destination

A simple walk can be so much more then getting to a destination.

The cold hits me, drawing the energy from my skin, dispersing the cloud hovering over my mind, and sending a shutter down my spine. I take my first step, and a chorus of chirps play to my ears by hundreds of hidden minstrels among the grass and garden. I take a step. Their music wavers, with the fear of my approaching form diverging upon the minstrels, and I am reminded of stories from long ago of giants in lands far, far away. I take a step.

My gaze falls upon a single minuscule blossom on the edge of my mother’s rose bush; it’s petals, not yet fully open, curl away from the heart of the bloom; it lays upon a branch extending towards the path, like a child presenting to strangers a prize of their accomplishment as if to say “look what I made”. I take a step. I see the silken webs of long forgotten arachnids spun delicately along the branches of the rose bush, drops of dew sprinkled daintily upon the threads, forming strings of pearls that only mother nature could wear, and I ponder how the most beautiful things must never be touched. I take a step. Across the road lay the forest, a tangle of bushes and greenery form a veil between the exposed plains of human foundation, and the hidden world that lies within the wood; I imagine wolves and fairies bursting through the barrier between our worlds, escaping some unknown threat, and having our stories collide and change forever in some fantastic venture. I take a step.

The moon rests upon the treetops glowing in a cryptic light, and I envision lonesome wolves emitting the cavernous sound of howls echoing across the moors, crying for some sole companion. I take a step. My fanciful mind shifts center at the sound of the forty foot beast approaching, it’s roar reverberating through the hills and thicket, it rides along the road, eyes glowering at me as I come into it’s view; it’s pace slows as it reaches me, releasing a breath as it comes to a stop. I take a step. The creature’s skin reverts to metal, it’s eyes become headlights framed upon it’s dull metal shell, and the souls of it’s feet regress to worn rubber tires upon the street. I take step after step, boarding the transit, my attention yearns for the comforting dreams of my waking hours. I sit down, and the creature roars to life, shifting to blood and bone once more; it begins loping down the road as my mind opens itself to fantasy once again.