A Two Way Street

One tree, two trees, three trees, four, five, seven, a few more, and then I lost count. The trees were moving so fast now that I could no longer keep count. I looked down and to my surprise it was not the trees that were moving but it was my feet. Or so I think, they too were moving too fast. So fast. Like in a cartoon where the character is running so fast that their feet and legs just become a blur. That’s what was happening to me right now. I felt as though I were moving at the speed of light. I was tired and out of breath now, but I couldn’t stop running. I don’t think I wanted to though because I had a look of fear upon my face, like I was being chased by someone or something. I’m not quite sure what I was running from. I tried to force myself to turn around but unfortunately dreams don’t work that way. I am just a passenger along for the ride. A bystander, watching the scene from a distance. I pass house after house. Trash can after trash can. It has to be Tuesday because that is trash day and only on that day are there so many cans on the curb. A pot hole comes up and I jump over it as if it were a hurdle. With perfect form. Perfect hurdle form that is. It was a rather large pot hole. Again I try to force myself to turn around to see what I’m running from or to see if I am running from anything at all. Maybe I’m just taking a casual sprint down the street. No that couldn’t be it. My view has changed now and all I can see is my face. There is one drop of sweat making its way down from my right brow, around the outer side of my eye, and down my cheek. I want to wipe it away. I can’t. I am breathing heavily. Or should I say more heavily now. My eyes are fixed forward. With a strange fear in them. It scares me to see myself like this. I’m starting to get really frustrated now. Why am I running? What if I am in a fairytale dream and I had just escaped the evil witches castle and now her fire breathing dragon is after me? That would definitely explain the fear in my eyes and the running. But this didn’t feel like a children’s storybook dream. So I think not. Or maybe a dog is after me? I am afraid of dogs. Possibly. If I could only turn around to see. All of my wonder would be gone. I just want to know. I have to know. I must. But I can’t. Another drop of sweat forms in my brow and falls down the side of my face, but this time it falls down the left side of my face instead of the right. Again I want to wipe it away. I can’t. Wait. What’s happening? I’m starting to slow down. Pace by pace. Maybe this is it. Maybe I’ll turn around now and reveal my enemy. Yes! I’m turning around. The moment I’ve waited for is now approaching. Oh how I’m so excited! It has to be a dog. Possibly. And then it happens. I’m turned all the way around. Revealing the entire street behind me. All of the houses that I had passed on my right and left. All the trees. Trashcans. But something is missing. There is no fire breathing dragon. No dog. Nothing and no one is there. I’m confused. Something must be wrong. A malfunction in my dream? No, that doesn’t even make any sense. But this just can’t be. It simply can’t be. My head is hanging down now and all I can see is the ground. I start to see small drops of water hitting the ground. One at a time. And then a few at time. And then too many to count. I’m crying…I’m crying? Why? There is no one chasing me. I’m assuming that there is no evil witch. So why the tears? I’m clueless. And then I look up and I can now hear my thoughts. ” I’m free now”, I say. ” He can no longer hurt me. My nightmares end now and at this moment my dreams begin.” KayF.

Melony is running late for work this morning. She snoozed her alarm clock one too many times and now she is ten minutes behind schedule. The time is now 4:20. The time that she would usually be getting in the shower, but since she is ten minutes off she has not even set her clothes out yet which she usually does before she gets in the shower. She finally decides between the plaid black and white button up and the light pink blouse. Light pink it is. The time is now 4:30. Melony steps into the shower and as she’s doing so she notices that she forgot to put on her shower cap. She steps out of the shower, into the bedroom and removes the cap from her dresser and places it upon her head making sure that all her hair is covered. The time is now 4:35. Melony once again steps into the shower, this time not forgetting anything. She washes her body, her face, and brushes her teeth. She then grabs the towel from the rack and dries herself off. The time is now 4:57. Melony wraps the towel around her body and then makes her way into the kitchen where she makes her coffee. The time is now 5:06. The coffee starts to brew so she goes back to her room where she turns on the news to check the weather for the day to make sure that her outfit is suitable for today’s forecast. Because Melony is running behind she has missed the weather forecast and must just take a chance on a clear blue sky. She starts to put on her clothes and then realizes that she hadn’t yet done her hair and makeup. So she removes the blouse that she had so gently put on, trying not to wrinkle it before even leaving the house. She goes into the bathroom and begins doing her hair and then does her makeup. The time is now 5:45. Melony then returns to her room, puts her clothes on, and picks out a set of pearls to accompany her light pink blouse. She glances at the clock and realizes that she is not just ten minutes behind anymore but now she is 15 minutes behind her usual schedule, which means that she would have no time to stop and get a muffin from her favorite cafe. She would just have to grab a piece of fruit from the basket on the kitchen counter. Possibly a banana or an apple. She begins to pick up her pace because she cannot afford to waste anymore time. So she quickly pours her coffee into her coffee mug which she had gotten from her niece last Christmas. It read, “World’s Best Aunt” in bright green font. She then walked over to the fruit bowl and grabbed a banana that looked as though it were a few days past the expiration date but she thought to herself, “they’re always sweeter when they’re brown.” The time is now 5:59. She sets her coffee mug, her brown banana, and her blazer that she had gotten from the closet just in case the clear blue skies were hiding today, and her briefcase by the door while she removed her car keys from the table in the foyer that held items that did not belong such as her dog’s chew toy that she had so cleverly named Kang. It’s a stuffed Kangaroo. She then picked up all her belongings, locked the door and made her way to her car which was covered in a layer of ice due to the extreme cold weather last night. The time is now 6:07. She puts her keys into the ignition, starts the car, removes the safety break, puts the car in reverse and pulls out of the driveway. The time is now 6:10. Melony pulls up to the stop sign at the end of the street and is in such a rush that she does not fully stop nor look both ways before entering into the street. The time is now 6:12. Erica. A nice woman who lives two streets down from Melony leaves her house at the same time every morning and is right on time today. As Melony so carelessly pulls away from the stop sign she does not realize that it is Erica’s turn to go. It is too late to hit the break and before she knows whats happening, Melony crashes into the driver side of Erica’s car. Killing her almost instantly. The time is now 6:14. Melony has not one scratch on her body. The police arrive and Melony tells them what happened saying, “I didn’t see her coming. I looked and I didn’t see her.” News reports the next day stated that the accident happened due to a driver miscommunication. The story was soon forgotten and the lives of people continued on. But Melony was never the same. She constantly asked herself, “What if I weren’t running late? What if I had woken up at the right time, and not spent so much time deciding on a shirt to wear? What if I had not forgotten my shower cap and had to go back into my room to get it? What if I had not made coffee that morning and instead grabbed a power shot from the pantry? What if I had not forgotten to put on my makeup and do my hair before I put on my blouse? What if I had skipped the pearls that morning? What if I had placed the keys on top of the table in foyer, with easy access to them, instead of in the drawer? Would that have made a difference?” KayF.