The Barn

Igashu is panting. In the corner of his eye, he sees a dark, shadowy figure chasing after him. He doesn’t know what it is, but his instincts tell him that any close encounter would be trouble. He’s having a tough time breathing through the cold air, but he knows that he can’t give up. He notices the dark figure closing in on him, so he changes his course, away from the figure. He looks around for a way to lose it, but with no hope. Igashu takes a quick glance behind him and doesn’t see the figure anymore. Even though the figure is missing, his gut warns him that it will come back, so Igashu continues running to ensure his safety.

Igashu places his hands on his knees and stops to catch his breath. All that can be heard is his panting. As he slows his breathing, he tries to listen to his surroundings. However, it’s completely silent. He looks around, but everything looks the same; just bare trees and snow. Suddenly, the sound of tree branches breaking can be heard from a distance. Igashu desperately tries to find the source of the sound. As he listens intently, he hears the sound coming somewhere some distance away to his right. As he lifts his leg to begin running in the opposite direction, he hears more tree branches breaking coming from the left side. His heart begins to race. Igashu decides to run forward and try to make a run for it. While he’s running, he starts wondering how he ended up in this mess in the first place, but his mind is blank. Igashu closes his eyes to brush off the topic in order to focus on escaping. He looks behind him and his eyes widen.

In a quick glance, he sees two shadowy figures wearing black cloaks with no distinct face or body. A third shadowy figure shortly follows behind. Igashu can’t believe his eyes. At first, he thought he couldn’t see them clearly because of his mind, playing games with him while he was running, but it wasn’t the case. He’s definitely sure that if they catch him, he’s going to be a goner. Eager to get out of the situation, he speeds up. Just when he thinks he got away from them, he sees one ahead of him from afar. Igashu looks left and notices something red, so he heads in that direction.

After a while, he notices the ground goes downhill. Igashu manages to keep his balance, but as he runs down, gravity gets the better of him and he ends up rolling down the slope. The snow cushions most of his falls, but he’s dizzy from it. He gets back up, but has a tough time keeping his balance. Due to his dizziness, his vision becomes blurry and he sees double. Despite his condition, he tries his best to concentrate on the red objects. He looks back to see where the figures are and sees eight dark figures on top of the slope. Igashu closes his eyes and shakes his head and quickly opens them again. His vision returns back to normal and he glances back up again. This time, he sees four shadowy figures heading down. He focuses back on the red object and manages to get out of the wooded area and out to an open field.

As he gets closer to the red object, he notices it’s some sort of building. Unfamiliar with its build, he assumes there will be people there to help him. Feeling like his legs are about to give up, his pace slows down. He takes a quick look behind him and sees the dark figures come out the treeline. Relieved, he reaches the barn and bangs on the doors. “Help!,” he screams. Igashu notices the barn door isn’t locked and hastily goes in.

Looking around, he sees hay and cow dung all over the place. Ignoring the smell, he sees a tall wooden ladder and places it horizontally against the walls supporting the barn doors, barring the entrance. Then, he sees a wheelbarrow and rolls it against the ladder. He scurries and manages to find rope. Igashu ties one end to the barn door, wraps it a couple times around the ladder and the wheelbarrow, and ties the other end to the other barn door. He picks up a pitchfork and readies a fighting stance.

Igashu gives out a loud gulp. He stares through the cracks of the barn door from a distance, but all he sees is light shining through. He suddenly sees a shadowy figure from the corner of the barn through the cracks. It slowly moves to the barn doors. Scared, Igashu quietly steps back; his hands are shaking. The figure stands in front of the door, making no noise for a while. Then, suddenly, the barn doors shake abruptly. Igashu doesn’t know what to do. He knows he’s trapped. The shaking continues for a while and suddenly stops. Igashu sees the figure moving to the right and stops at a corner. Then, he sees another dark figure stand in front of the corner to the left. Confused by what's going on, he looks behind him and notices two other figures standing in front of the other corners. Everything becomes quiet.

Igashu slowly walks towards a corner to see what’s going on outside. He looks through the cracks, but he’s at a bad angle. He tries to find another angle and moves back and forth to get a good view. He spots the bottom of the shadowy figure. It’s floating and it has no legs. All that can be seen is a worn out cloak and a gas like substance coming from where the arms and legs should be. He moves up to where the face should be, but it‘s pitch black. Then, he notices a spiral movement on its face. Mesmerized, Igashu continues looking at it, not blinking. The moment he blinks, he sees an image of a distorted ghost face enter his mind. Frightened, Igashu falls backwards. Then, suddenly, the outside light going through the cracks of the barn disappears and everything instantly becomes pitch black. Igashu looks around frantically, but he can’t see anything. He stands up, trying to feel everything around him. He feels the walls of the barn and puts his finger along the cracks. He tries to look outside of it, but the moment he tries to look out, a different ghost face appears out of nowhere, causing him to fall backwards again. Not knowing what to do, he cowers in the corner in the dark and eventually falls asleep.

Igashu suddenly wakes up. His surroundings are pitch black except for the lights coming from the cracks of the barn doors. Still sitting on the ground, Igashu becomes indecisive about what to do. Either stay safe in the smelly old barn for who knows how long or face the dangers outside. He remains in the corner for an hour contemplating. After overthinking too much, Igashu decides that regardless of the situation, he’s going to die anyway. However, he decides that he would rather die outside with hope in his heart than to succumb to darkness and wither away slowly. Igashu stands up and using the light from the cracks, unties the rope. He moves the wheelbarrow and ladder to the side and opens one barn door.

Igashu can’t believe what he’s looking at. Inside is completely dark despite the light from the door cracks. He turns around and jumps. He sees a ghost, but he realizes that it’s just his reflection. He gets a closer look and reaches out his hand. He tries to touch his reflection, but to no avail. He notices the way the barn door opens and it opens outward. Igashu comes to a realization: he’s stuck in an infinite loop. Leaving the barn door would lead him back to where he started, the barn. No matter what he did, nothing would change or matter. Then, suddenly, an unknown force pulls him backwards and causes him to fall into the ground. He falls endlessly into an abyss and eventually hits the bottom and becomes unconscious.

When Igashu wakes up, all he sees is a white sky. He gets up and looks around. There’s snow on the ground everywhere. Everything around him is white except for seven old barns, exactly like the barn he was in, evenly spread out around him. However, each barn has a painting hung above the doors. One painting has a slice of chocolate cake; another painting has a brown paper package; and the rest has a marigold flower, a bull, green light, a frozen pond, and lastly, a pear tree. Without thinking, Igashu takes his first step to the first barn he sees.

- Never lose hope. Life is full of possibilities, so don’t be afraid of taking the first step.