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Walking Down the Crossroads

Walking Down the Crossroads

By Michael OnstottPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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Photo courtesy of Medium.

I look at the sides of this path and see many sand dunes. Now I was in the desert... somehow. I keep walking down the path, and every so often I see a body or two laying there in the sand. Sometimes a scorpion crawls on them. Eventually I come to a sign and it says, "Love thy neighbor." Oddly enough, I haven't seen anyone else on the path. Okay, I should say that I haven't seen anyone alive on the path, but whatever. What are you gonna do? Sue me? Ha! Good luck with that.

I walk past the sign and keep going. I tried looking back at the sign, but all I saw was black, as in, nothing. As in... I keep going. I walk and walk and walk. I hope the sun will go down soon, but it doesn't.

Suddenly, I'm standing in the center of another crossroad. I look left, but I can't see where it goes, same thing when I look straight ahead or to the right. Except when I look back, all I see is black. I decide to go right and start walking.

As I'm walking, I look at the sides of this path. I see tons of plants. I think I'm in the jungle. I take note of a plant that I'll soon pass. It looks pretty, but I have a strong feeling that it's something more, like a rose; a rose looks pretty but it has thorns.

Eventually I come to a sign and it says, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." I heard something like that from a priest once. He said it a different way though: "Hell is full of good intentions, but Heaven is full of good works." I meant to take some money to the bank for the church when I was little, but someone stole it when I was looking at some toys in a store window. Later on, I found out that the person who stole the money was hit by a truck and died. Hell might be full of good intentions, but it might be full of more bad than good intentions, just maybe.

I walk past the sign and keep going, can't do much more than that. You know, I thought the jungle would be more humid. Maybe that was the rain forest, don't know, would like to know but won't find out anytime soon.

Suddenly, I'm standing in the middle of another crossroad. I look in every direction. I can't tell what's beyond the scope of what I see, except when I look back, can't see anything then. I decide to go left and start walking.

As I'm walking, I look at the sides of this path. I see water, gallons of water. I must be under the sea. Everything looks beautiful. Nothing brought me joy like looking at the wonderful marine li— I can't keep doing this. I can't keep dwelling on something I can't change. What good would it do?

Eventually I come to a sign and it says, "And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" I guess I do. I never REALLY believed. I get it now. I believe now.

I'm just grateful I'm not one floor down. Is it one floor down? I actually don't know where exactly I am in relation to there. Hopefully I'll never have to find out. Hopefully.

Suddenly, I'm standing in the middle of another crossroad. I don't remember walking past the sign, did I? Anyway, I look to the left, nothing. I look ahead, nothing. I look to the right, nothing. I look behind me—wait. I can see something behind me, it's a someone. I run down the path behind me. The person waves to me.

"Hello there," I say.

"Hi," the person says.

"How long have you been walking?" I ask.

"Can't remember. Lost track years ago. Well, what I think to be years ago," the person replied.

"Years? Amazing."

"Yup. Every so often this kind of anomaly happens. Care to see where it goes?"

"Absolutely. Lead the way," I said eagerly. Huh. Haven't been eager in... a while. We start walking and looking at the sides of this path. It looks like a scorched Earth. Nothing on fire, but you can tell it was on fire once; no animals, no plants, no one around, well, except for my new and only pal.

"What do you think happened here?" I ask.

"Not sure. Best not to think about your surroundings too much though, just drags you down," the person says.

"Gotcha.... you mentioned this was an anomaly a little ways back. What kind of anomaly is this?"

"Well, it could be a few different things. One, it could be glimpse into Hell. Two, it could be a glimpse into Heaven. Three, it could be a glimpse of Earth. It could also be a random view to... entertain us."

"You must know your way around here."

"Been waiting for my shot for a while now," the person says.

"Shot? Shot at what?" I ask.

The person pauses, "to be judged."

"How do you know you—we—haven't been judged already?"

"Because that wouldn't be there if we were," the person pointed to the demon writing on the upcoming sign.

The demon finished writing, turned, and smiled, then it disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

The sign had scratch marks on it. The demon scratched off whatever was written there. In it's place was something chilling. It said, "If you really believed as much as you think you did, would I be seeing you soon?"

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About the Creator

Michael Onstott

I hope my writing makes your day a little better. :)

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