I walked down the familiar path and met the crossroads where pavement turns dirt.
I know it well. I can feel it. It is real. I am close. I want to turn.
It seems so simple. I am so close. But I am grabbed and led away.
We don’t have time, I’m told. But I’m so close, I cry.
No time, child, no time. I am led away.
The smell of roasting corn lingers.
The sounds are vivid.
The ache weighs my body down.
I beg and I pull. But I am led away. I look back, it is disappearing.
The smells have gone, the sounds are echos, and the ache intensifies. My bones are burning. I pull. I fail. I am led away. I hurt.
Then; I wake up. I was so close.
The ache lingers as does the low fog outside my early morning window.