Everlasting Journey

Father twisted in his sheets, woke with a start. He heard, he had seen the clicking of the gun barrel against his forehead and went it off, it was the sound of his daughter’s voice that rung from the chamber…. “You killed me Father, you must pay...” the image faded and a hooded figure in swirling grey fog. With skeleton hands the figure pulled the hood back. Father gasped. It was the face of Master. Father scurried backwards, bumping hard into a solid black mass. “I have you now, my puppet” Master cackled. “You will sing for me, you will play for me, you will die for me.”

Father fought to control his breath. ‘It’s okay,’ he tried reassure himself. ‘It was only a bad dream. Tomorrow I’ll pick up where I left off, but for now sleep; dream of the eternal slumber that awaits you tomorrow morning.’

Straightening the sheets, Father fluffed the pillows and laid back down. Closing his eyes, he drifted back to sleep. The swirling fog picked up in his mind and the hooded figure appeared as before and yet this one was different. More patient, more reserved. It held out its hand for Father to take. Father backed away. The figure looked at him, its eyes glowing a deep red, then words whispered underneath the hood:

“Do you fear me?”

Father nodded.

“I tell you there is nothing to fear"

“What must I do?” Father asked.

“Take my hand.”

“And then what?”

“Together we’ll walk across this wasteland.”

“How do you know where to go? How can I trust you?”

The hooded figure remained silent for a moment. Letting Father’s words sink in, it calmly replied,

“I have taken this journey

From beginning to end

Of sin and sin again