I was going through some old files, and came across this story that I must have written ages ago. Well really a year or so…anyway it’s incomplete and I have no plans to finish it so I’m entering it into the public domain blah blah blah if you or anyone else shouldwant to take it and run with it that’s fine.
I was out hiking one day when I happened across a set of cliffs I had never seen before. I approached the edge of the cliffs, adn foud a rock so flat it could have been an altar.
I sat there for a while watching the clouds as they drifted silently above the small town in the valley that the cliffs over looked. I don’t know how long I sat there, but I remember being ripped out my my cloud induced trance by seeing one of them move very close to the cliffs, it was very thick, and the bottom chunk of it that was sticking out seemed to be at the same height as the cliff.
The cloud drifted right next to the edge of the cliff, and I readied my self to be enveloped in a magical fog. It stopped, right by the edge of the cliff. I was shocked. This hardly seemed normal for a cloud to be this close to these cliffs, and more odd that it would hover at the very edge of the cliffs.
I got up and walked over to the cloud. It was close enough to tough. I reached out and pushed my hand inside of the fluffy white mass. It felt damp, and a little cold, but not much different from the air I was already surrounded by.
Then something quite amazing happened. Have you ever stared at a cloud, and watched it change into many recognizable shapes? I have a thousand times, and what I saw this time was just like that.
A staircase formed out of the clouds, a very long and tall staircase that led up to the top of it. I was astounded. It didn’t seem possible. I examined the steps for a long time. They looked as though they had been carved out of stone. They were smooth, and immaculate.
I acted without thinking.
I took a step onto the staircase.
It felt damp, and endless. Soon, I could feel my gut being sucked up into my chest. I was falling, falling faster, and faster. I was spinning and out of control now. I tried to turn to see where I was going to land but then everything went blank. Not black, not white, not fuzzy, just blank. It was almost as if I didn’t exist for a moment, but even then it seemed to be something beyond time.
I woke up in a medicated state of half consciousness staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. I examined it for a while, while I regained my bearings. Slowly reality crept back to me. I began to notice the sounds of footsteps, and beeping every once in a while with low mumbling coming from somewhere far off.
There was bright, beautiful sunlight shining in through a window. The bed was warm. It felt very warm, and I liked that. I began to look at more than just the ceiling. I looked at the top of the walls. They were white too. I could make out a cross on the wall in front of me.
More of my consciousness crept back. Memories. I remembered me. I remembered my story. I was hiking, and then, then everything was damp and fast, and cold. And then I guess I came here.
I then realized that my consciousness wasn’t all that was half functioning. I was cut in half. I pushed myself up quickly in bed. More memories came rushing back. Memories of Jennifer, and of my family. As I sat in the upright position, I remembered my job as chef, and my friend Alex. I threw off the sheets, and remembered football in high school. I was the running back. They used to call me “wheels” because I could move so quick and agile.
I saw my legs sitting there before me, attached but not feeling. I tried to remember what it was like to feel my legs. I began to hit them and scream “Wake up!”. Nothing happened. I gripped them and squeezed as hard as I could screaming at the top of my lungs, “Wake up!”
I felt nothing as the nurses came rushing in. I squeezed harder and yelled louder, fighting against the inevitable reality.
Then I felt a sting in my arm, and a slight tickling sensation. It was all I remembered as I drifted away.
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