i walk down the beach alone, late at night. i walk, the wet sand squeezing between my toes, the waves eating at my footprints as they fall back to the ocean. i stop, and gaze back at my slowly dissapearing steps. as the sand covers my feet, the waves erase my steps. i look where i came from , black as night, and i realize i can't se anything anymore. i then look forward, to the east. i can now start to see the red tinges on the horizon. i look back again, and, seeing nothing, pull my feet from the sand and start walking again. I walk and i walk, the horizon getting brighter and brighter. and as i gaze forward, i begin to see a figure walking towards me. As i get closer, i realize it is a woman. we come to each other, and i stop her. "don't go that way, i was there already, there's nothing there, see?" we look back towards where she was walking and all you could see is the traces of my last few steps. " but there isn't anything where i came from either" she tells me. we looked, and there was not anything from her steps either. we looked at each other, and as we did, the sun burst over the horizon. we looked at each other again, and looked both ways. then we looked out to the gently rolling sea. then we looked into the tangled jungle. neither looked appealing, so we stayed on the fringe until it was dark again. we sat and gazed out to sea, and as we looked, we spotted a single white light straight out to sea. as it got larger, we saw it was a small boat. the boat man beached the boat, then beckoned us to join him aboard. we did, and he pulled out going straight back the way he came. the beach and jungle quickly dissapeared out of view. we flew over the water, the wind blowing in our faces and the spray dampening our clothes. we looked forward, and saw land growing on the horizon. he landed on the beach, and we got off. he left, and we looked around. the jungle was there, just as before. but then we saw, on the beach past where the water reached, two sets of footprints, like ours except side by side, leading up to the point where we stood. we looked to where they came from, and we could see the footprints going, neverending, until they left at the western horizon. the sky abovethem was pitch black. we looked to where the footprints had been leading, and there was a vast open space, leading on much further then we could see. the eastern sky here was red, and gaining brightness. we looked at each other as tthe sun broke over the clouds, exploding the sky into a blaze of reds and oranges. we then walked on, and took up the path of out past footprints, towards the light and warmth. |