More Fractured Tales stories!
Across the bridge… and through the trees…
That’s all I have to do to get to the other side…
Simple… right? I should be able to do this… I can do this… I think I can…
But… the bridge looks kind of flimsy… and there’s a river down below… a long, long way down below.
Is it worth the effort?
Who knows what I will find on the other side?
Perhaps the path will lead to a village… or maybe even a city?
There might be people in those places… if there are places…
Do I really want to know? Or would I be more content to just imagine what’s over there?
And the forest looks… dense… and dark… not at all friendly… and walking through it could be dangerous.
What kind of wildlife lies hidden in its depths?
It could be populated with shy little creatures who might be just as curious about me as I would about them.
Or perhaps… there might be larger, more dangerous creatures who neither like nor fear humans.
With all this in mind, I am going to walk today…
I am going to walk somewhere I have not gone before…
What I will find and see along the way… I do not know…
What I will find when I reach my destination… I do not know… maybe something different than I have ever seen before… maybe not.
But still, I am going to walk… over the bridge and through the trees.
One foot in front of the other… that’s all it takes…
One foot in front of the other… a simple process that will get me across the bridge…
How many footsteps it will take… I do not know and I prefer not to guess…
Each footstep will cause movement… forward movement, certainly… perhaps a slight sideways swaying as well… I do not know.
But I know that one foot in front of the other… is the only way to do it.
But what if…
What if… the bridge sags beneath my weight…
There are many things that could go wrong… so many possibilities…
Maybe a bad section… just waiting for some unsuspecting person to step onto it… and fall through…
Or a sudden gust of wind… might cause the bridge to swing… perhaps causing someone on its surface to lose their footing… and fall into the abyss…
Perhaps I should wait… until I can learn to control my fear…
Maybe some deep breathing will help… or a short meditation…
In order to do this… I must find my inner strength…
With a deep sigh, I turn and begin to retrace my steps…
I tell myself that the bridge is very old… that I think there were some frayed places on the ropes… that I am not a coward… I am just exercising caution.
