“Beloved,” he whispered. “There are still those lost in the forest. Now that you know the way, I want you to seek them out and lead them to me at the river. Don’t be afraid. I’ll be there with you, always ready to help you. You’ll be dirty when you return, but you can always wash in the river. Will you go?”
“Yes, I will go.” She rose to her feet, took a breath, and excitedly ran into the dark forest to find those who had been wandering, lost as she had been. She delved deep into what she had remembered as the darkest parts of the woods, but even among the thickest trees she could see clearly what was there…and more importantly there were no shadows to trick into seeing something that was not there.
It was not long before she saw someone stumbling through the trees. It was clear this person couldn’t see well for they tripped and fell over obstacles she saw clearly.
“Hey you there!” she called out. “I can show you the way out. Follow me.”
The other person looked around, but couldn’t seem to see her. So she stepped closer and took the person’s hand just as he had done for her. They traveled hand-in-hand until they reached the fringe of the forest where he stood waiting. She passed the person’s hand to him and then rushed back into the forest to find someone else. When the brought the next person to him he stopped her and said, “Wait, come and get clean.”
“There’s no time,” she answered as she ran back to the forest. It seemed a bit darker than before, but she didn’t give that any attention. She spotted the next person, but as she stepped out to help them she tripped on a branch she hadn’t seen. The person disappeared into the darkness and she was left alone. She stumbled about trying to find her way out, but she was utterly lost.
“Help me,” she tried to say, but she was so afraid that it barely came out as a whisper. Within moments, he was by her side.
“Why didn’t you listen to me?” he asked while he helped her up.
“I’m so sorry, I thought I could bring more to you by staying here.”
“If you are not washed by me, how can you be any help to them? The darkness will surround you, too.”
She followed him back to the river and he washed her again and then sent her back into the forest. She never again forgot to return to the river after being in the forest and she brought many to him until the day he called her to follow him past the river.
4 comments:
Good illustration of a key point. No matter how strong you may be, you can still fall. I try not to do too much literature analysis, so I'll stay away from commenting further, but I liked it.
thanks! I got bored on the airplane and wrote it on the flight from London to SF. I dunno if it's that great, but it's something to pass the time. I didn't even outline it...just started writing and kind of let it go where it wanted to. That's kind of the scary thing about writing, a story can just start to write itself if you let it. I'm not sure how...
karyn! that was beautiful! i didn't know you wrote fiction!!
and yes, writing writes itself. i have mannny stories about that...haha, like the time i was writing and i got so mad at one of my characters for not doing what he was supposed to and didn't know i was showing my anger until my mom asked me (very concerned) what was wrong. =P
haha! yeah i can relate to that!
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