Windows at the Crossroad

The figure stands at the crossroads

Hidden beneath hood and cloak

Hesitant, I halt my steps

I don’t know what to do

The figure stands between two windows

Each holding the exact same view of the very road upon which I stand,

heading straight, as far as eye can see

“Choose your path,” the figure whispers

“One is tainted, one is true.”

I stare at the two windows

Mind clouded in confusion

Something about this doesn’t seem right

I sense a ruse upon the air

“But,” I cry with insolence, “How am I supposed to know?

They look the same to me!

What happens if I choose the tainted?

What will become of me?”

The figure’s cloak rustles in the absent breeze

“The choices you have made have led you to this place.

Your soul will know the way to go,

whether it be tainted or whether it be true.”

I ponder on my life

And the winding road I’ve traveled

My journey hasn’t been without regret

But I feel I’ve made amends

Perhaps it is a riddle,

I think with uncertainty

To be right can mean to be true

So maybe that’s the way to go

Although… it could be a trick, a conniving, vicious trap to lure me down to hell

So… maybe left is the way to go

There was no way to tell

I sense the figure laughing

Though I hear not a sound of mirth

Then, “If you are unsure,” it says

“Perhaps we can make a deal.”

I narrow my eyes suspiciously

“And what would that deal be?

I do not believe you wish me well

So what would you ask of me?”

The figure glides a little closer

I feel a tinge of fear

But instead of smelling death and decay

I smell the scent of a summer rain

Frowning, I study the figure

Who could it possibly be?

I’d assumed it was the devil himself

Or at least a servant of his

“In exchange for the answer to which path is true,”

The figure whispers seductively

“You will owe me a soul, though, it need not be your own.

Any soul will do.”

Immediately, I pictured those that I despised

Those I’d be willing to offer

But could I really do it?

Could I subject them to this fate?

They probably deserved it…

I sighed

No, I decided. No, I could not

That is something for God to judge

Certainly not me

“It’s tempting,” I tell the figure

“But I’ll do this on my own.

I’ve done my best in the life I’ve lived

And I will not change that now.”

I spare the figure a single glance

As I step towards the right

For the moment I’d refused the deal

The answer became clear

If I’d agreed to take the deal

If I’d damned a mortal soul

Both paths would lead to punishment

The true path I’d deserve

But because I’d chosen to rise above the nefarious temptation

I was granted the gift of sight

To see beyond the windows and into the truth behind

The left would lead to my demise

Should I choose to end my life

It would not be unpleasant

But I’d leave my world behind

The right offered a renewed hope

To live with wisdom gained

I’d be with those I loved once more

And live on into my golden years

“Congratulations,” sneers the figure, bowing cordially

“I will retreat for now.

But this is not the end, child

We will meet again quite soon…”

I step through the window on the right…

And find myself in a hospital bed

A man in white is standing next to me

“Welcome back,” he says.

The End