The Life Of A Lone Traveler

The Fall

The boy was alone in his room, the lights off, and his shades drawn. He loved the intoxicating darkness. He knew that to be here was to be ready to go to the other place. This other place is only two steps away when he's in this room. He took the first step.

The Outside was dark, but he knew it would be. He preferred the darkness; it left him feeling cold. There was also the force, an almost sentient thing that pressed in on him on all sides. The Pressure pushed down only hard enough to cause discomfort, for it did not want to cause its victims pain, no, it wanted to lull them into a false sense of security, like a poisoned lullaby. This almost dreadful pain had become his sick pleasure. He knew that one day this place would draw him in and he'd never be able to leave, but he continued his visits regardless.

In The Outside the boy thought up things that would make the average person's blood run cold in their veins. At his tender age he became the deepest thinker of his time. His thoughts were colors in this other place. The boy loved the freedom this blank canvas left him. Instead of drawing upon a white slate this boy worked on a black surface to make it all the more vibrant. He became used to the cold of this other world and when he returned to Home he always felt feverish, even the coldest day in Home could not match the bone chilling cold of The Outside.

He saw the beauty of Home, for it was a warm place where even the most horrible of men were swaddled in the deep, nurturing, love of a mother. Home was also stunningly beautiful; almost no shadows existed there, a place that existed almost without fear, pain, hunger, or famine. The average boy felt immense joy in this, a joy akin to euphoria. Our boy instead felt disgust at such a weak place, a place where intelligence was greatly ignored and innocence was the norm, not the exception. He could not stand the naivety of it all.

He continued his visits to The Outside, drawing great masterpieces of thought while he was in the darkness and cold. He understood things that the "adults" of Home had been fighting over for as long as man had existed. He uncovered vast, hidden, secrets. Whatever god there is in that dank, cold, and lifeless place had obviously touched this young boy's heart, and frozen it in his chest. Perhaps he could have been saved, if he had just waited longer between. Instead his visits increased in frequency and duration. Damning him to a fate worse than death.