The Journey: An Original Short Story 5-7 minute read 🐪

A man awakens to the scorching hot sun beaming down upon him. He squints as he slowly becomes more conscious. He looks around and sees he is in a vast desert. He has no idea how he arrived in this place, or how long he had been there. The only thing he knew for sure is that he was so thirsty. He panned the horizon for any signs of life or water. Fortunately, there was a lush oasis near him. There was a small body of water surrounded by a number of palm trees. He quickly ran over and submerged his head underwater and drank for several seconds. As his head emerged from the water he saw a shattered version of his reflection in front of him and he could not recognize this person he was looking at. The man had realized that he didn’t know his own name, his history, or his purpose. As he peered at his reflection, in the corner of his eye, he saw a bucket leaning against one of the palm trees in the shade. He walked over and picked it up. It was very shiny, almost looked brand new. The man sat under a tree and tried to figure out what to do next. Then he came up with a plan to travel away from the oasis. He took the bucket and filled it with water, then drank as much from the pond as possible. He then headed away from the oasis. He traveled for hours and found nothing. He went to drink his water and the bucket was empty. Horrified, he noticed there was a small hole at the bottom of the bucket, so all the water must have leaked out.

He wondered how he could not have noticed the water was leaking out. He looked behind him and there was a trail of water from where he came from. He figured he can’t survive without water, who knows how long he will be walking for. So he made his way back to the oasis. The next day he fills up the bucket and goes another direction. He found nothing yet again. He repeated this for several days; filing up the bucket venturing one direction and returning back. He looked in the sky and the stars were moving, streaming across the sky going east. He is not sure how he knew it was east, but he was sure. The stars were moving as if they were guiding him. He got up, left the bucket, didn’t even drink any water and walked the direction of the streaming stars.

He seemed to walk for hours; he looked back and couldn’t see the palm trees of the oasis. He had an urge to turn around and head back. But something inside of him pressed him to move forward. The man grew thirsty, but he didn’t care, he pressed on. Days later the man seemed surprised that he was still alive, let alone still moving. The sun hasn’t seemed to come up in days. He uses the last bit of his energy to climb and large sand hill, and when he reaches the top he found his salvation. Over the hill was a city of light. The light shone so bright it was like looking into heaven. He rejoices and falls face down into the sand. Feeling death breathing down his neck, he turns over and looks at the beautiful night. As the man’s eyes start to close, he feels the warm embrace of the rising sun. He grins at the face of death feeling more alive than ever.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Did this story remind you of a time where you felt trapped, or you didn't know where to go or what to do? If so, comment and let me know about it. Also, if you would like me to break down this stories meaning comment the 🐪 emoji and if I get at least 10 of them I will break it down.

If you enjoyed this check out my other story The Cave

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