“No! Please! Let me in! You must let me in”.
“You are not ready”, a thundering voice rang as Daniel was swept off his feet and dragged all through the gates. Daniel was resolute...he would fight with every being of him or at least what was left of him.
Daniel struggled and tussled and clawed while attempting to hold on but somehow he couldn’t despite all the strength he had once thought he possessed. It was as though he was fighting with the wind or a cloud or shadows.
“Come when your deeds measure up”, the voice roared once more accompanied by hums that neither encouraged hope nor instilled fear.
On seeing the gate almost shut completely, Daniel called forth all the strength he could muster. This was his last chance to survive...to escape the horror he would go through if he returned.
As the gate closed shut, Daniel felt the hope drain from within him as he was dragged towards the edge. On looking down, he realized how much he didn't want to go back but didn't have the strength to fight even though he seriously contemplated it.
As Daniel contemplated what next to do, he heard a whisper saying, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood”. He quickly turned around to see his assailants fully clad in golden armour, their faces shone brightly as headlights would in a dark night, fiery crowns laid atop their heads and dress akin to the clouds he had seen countless times during his travels adorned them.
“No...please, I am begging you”, Daniel cried once more, while attempting to kneel. “I can't go back, please. You have no idea what it is like. The pain is unbearable”.
They both looked silently at Daniel for what was a minute but felt like an eternity. A deafening silence only intermittently broken by Daniel’s cries. They then looked back towards the gate as Daniel continued his appeal and suddenly tossed him off the steep.
Daniel shouted and screamed as he fell. It was a fall that characterized his entire existence. An arduous childhood, a crippling sense of insecurity that fostered an inability to enjoy any semblance of companionship. A dissent to drinking that employers always badgered him about which only resulted in more bottles. Drugs were the last resort to feel anything different from what he had always felt and it worked...for so long it worked until it didn’t.
The further Daniel fell from the cloudy heights, the better he felt. He was at peace as he felt the silent, but gushing winds interrupt his very soul. It was as quick and as still and as calm and quiet as that one time in the woods. That day at the woods felt different...better, as if he was one with nature, as though the things that made him weary had melted away into nothingness.
That day the feeling of satisfaction and tranquility gradually eroded just like Daniel feared it would, replaced by the persistent hunger he usually felt when he needed a fix. That tingling feeling at the back of his head that gradually scratched his thoughts until it unraveled his mind. He would do anything for a syringe.
As Daniel fell, all flashed through his eyes. He wished it could all end. Nothing was worse than a return. As he got closer and closer to the ground a feeling of dread enveloped him and he closed his eyes for the inevitable.
A sudden car honk startled Daniel from his trance as he opened his eyes to find himself in the middle of the highway. The headlights of the oncoming truck held unto Daniel, his body unable to move, as if he had been caught in the tractor beam of a UFO.
“Get out the way!”, the driver screamed through the window at Daniel as he sped past him.
Still shocked, Daniel looked around. The quietness only drowned by the sound of crickets singing a lullaby to the night’s moon.
Daniel sat on the road, hopeful for another truck.