What is Lost Can Be Found

An offbeat story about a bad day. Open to interpretation.

 

What a barren, empty place. Nothing lived here except for the lost. This is where forgotten dreams and lost hope came to exist, ebbing and flowing, moved by the tides of sadness. You can feel their presence, waiting for someone they could attach themselves to so they can spread the cold, dead weight of hopelessness.

            The land is painted in nothing but multiple shades of grey. Clouds veil the sky from sight, stretching their long, wispy fingers in a fog that touched the bare, empty trees. Everything seems to lack water and nourishment. The trees look dead, like they could break apart at any minute, and the ground is dusty and cracked. You can’t see for more than a foot in front of you. The cold air around you seems to part around you, molding to your body, ready to accept you into its grasp. The sadness presses down on your shoulders, a heavy weight to bear.

            Where are you going? It seems you can’t remember what you were doing or what brought you here. The sadness consumes you and you realize you are lost. The further you travel, the deeper you seem to go into this never-ending forest of the broken. By now, the fog is too thick and you can’t even see the miserable nature that surrounds you. All you can see is nothing; nothing ahead of you, nothing behind you. You’re losing hope. Of what exactly, you don’t know, you just know that it is gone and you can feel the emptiness inside of you where something warm used to grow and flourish.

            Falling to your knees you can feel the air around you caressing your skin, gently lapping, feeding off the hopeless energy you seem to give off. You open your mouth to call out, to scream, but no noise escapes, not that there was anyone around to hear you anyway. You are alone.

            You are putting up a fight, but you are quickly losing. Your breaths come quicker and shallower, like there isn’t enough air, even though you know that isn’t true. You can feel it around you, pressing on your shoulders, bringing you down and crushing your lungs. This is it, this is the end, and you know it. You’re giving up the fight; you’re letting go, and for a moment, you aren’t afraid anymore. The sadness in the air has weighed you down for far too long. It is time you just let give in and let it all go. You close your eyes and fall.

            The moment your body hits the dry ground, you know that it is in fact over. The heaviness in the air is gone and you feel as if you can move again, but you choose not to, reveling in the feeling of being free from the oppressive weight. Your lungs expand and contract with ease again and your skin begins to warm. When, from behind your eyelids, you see the world around you become slightly brighter, you open your eyes and look around. What you see takes you by surprise.

            The land around you is in the middle of a metamorphosis. The fog is thinning and the clouds are parting, letting through a few rays of bright yellow sunshine. The cracks in the earth are splitting even further to let green grass and brightly colored wildflowers reach for the sunlight. A slight breeze ruffles your hair as is moves past you collecting the dust and taking it away from the new life growing around you. Leaves begin to sprout on the trees along with sweet smelling flowers that seem to smile down on you.

            By now, all the clouds are gone and grass almost completely covers the ground. You sit up as you recognize the sound of birds singing in the trees all around you. The forest is full and alive, such a giant contrast from what it was just minutes before. The biggest change isn’t one you can see; it is one you can feel.

            The air is as light as a feather on your shoulders. The air gently caresses your face feeling light and smooth. It pulses with an energy that is completely foreign to you. Is it light? Happiness? Maybe it’s… hope? The air is filled with the courage used to find your way, compassion for others, the will power to keep going, the dreams that are chased on a daily basis. It seems to urge you to get up and keep walking on the journey you had all but forgotten about. In front of you, you see a gently worn foot path through the trees where the grass has been permanently bent, but not destroyed, from the light travel. As you unsteadily rise up on to your feet and begin making you way down this foreign road, you realize that nothing is ever really lost forever.