Max took a deep breath and let it out with a long sigh. He crossed the threshold of the cave and was instantly enveloped in total darkness, as if the cave opening had sealed behind him. It took a few seconds for Max's eyes to adjust to the darkness. Wondering how he could see at all, he looked around and noticed there were some sort of blue luminous flecks dotted throughout the black rocks around him. He felt a tingle in the back of his mind that was drawing him deeper into the depths of the blackness. He walked cautiously, he knew that somewhere in the heart of this bleak, stale cave, something unbelievably scary and inevitably dangerous, was waiting for him and him alone.
After a while of trudging across the slippery cave floor, he reached an enormous cavern. He whistled aloud in amazement and was greeted by an echoed whistle in response. Ahead he could make out a tall, pedestal hewn from the very rock he stood on. Around the outside of the rock edifice spiraled a staircase. The pedestal was so tall that he could barely make out the top. He craned his neck remembering the tall, stone structures he saw on a trip he took with his ex, to Arizona. He could however make out a barely noticeable glint, a small, green sparkle way up in the heights on the cavern.
Max was drawn to that flash of bright, emerald green, so he took a deep breath and began to ascend the stairs. As he climbed, the familiar burning returned, bringing him back to when he and his ex wife would take camping trips. The stairs, narrow and uneven, made the climb slow and tedious. The sweat ran down his cheeks and soaked into his chicago bears t-shirt. The cavern smelled musty and damp, he could feel a cool, refreshing mist against his skin as he went higher and higher up the stairs.
He climbed steadily up, as he went small stones and pebbles tumbled, seemingly forever toward the ground. As he neared the top he chanced a look down and couldn't see the ground, it was obscured by a thick, cloudy mist.
Max finally reached the top, before him was a four foot tall pedestal, on top of which a huge, slick, emerald sat, like a fat, slimy toad. This gem was the size of his head and shown with an unnatural green light. He stepped aprehencively toward the sparkling beauty, hands outstretched, just as he was about to grab it something happened. He felt the ground shake and a blast of air. The feeling of speed and movement was crazy, like he was on top of a speeding train. Then just as abruptly he stopped, so abruptly in fact he lost his footing and fell painfully onto his back. Max stood and brushed the dust from his clothes and slowly took in his new surroundings.
He was truly shocked by what he saw. The gem was once again just a glint of green separated from him by a long, stone bridge. It was a hundred yard long and about as wide as he was tall. The object of his desire was once again out of his reach. Disappointment overcame him in an all encompassing wave.
"Not this shit again. Can't I ever do anything right?" He asked rhetorically. Self loathing creeped in slowly.
Suddenly bright, yellow flames lit atop tall, skull capped torches running along the length of the bridge at five foot intervals. An overwhelming sense of foreboding came over him, but it was nothing compared to the longing he felt for the feel of that beryl giant of a gem in his hands.
He had heard once that every journey start with one step, so he made up his mind and took that first step toward destiny.
YOU ARE READING
Dream Therapy
General Fiction"Dreams have always expanded our understanding of reality by challenging our boundaries of the real, of the possible." -Henry Reed Ex-army Ranger Max was angry and depressed. Mental illness plagued him. Now he's stuck inside his own dreams with only...
