And yet he walks
The feet drag him slowly. The weight of the body makes it harder, the inertia tugging him, making him experience a moment of limbo between pressure, pain, and pull.
It’s been a while. The familiar road feels alien, the familial building windows now a bunch of strangers staring at a newcomer. There was a strange determination in the morning and a nimbleness to his feet. They are absent now.
Used to be once the skies told him the time. Plans, schedules, tasks, all in a day’s work. The skies don’t speak to him now. There was a deep silence which he used to carry within that allowed him to resonate everything outside and take only what’s needed within. And now, there is a strange silence even outside.
Familiars nod to him, a few old eyes recognising his own eyes, an old reverence in him despite their fatigue. A wave of a hand pops up and he nods, his arms full, his reaction a moment too late as to make it awkward to follow through. A stare at nothing in particular marks his eyes, his brows crinkled in discomfort as the tensile nerves stretch his forehead from within.
What’s on my mind, he wonders. What’s in my back, he ponders. Why aren’t the skies speaking to me today, he laments. An old rickety light beckons to him and he stares at it for a moment too long. He walks towards the light and temporarily looks at what could be a doorway to another realm. He longs for the days when he could venture through and return seamlessly. Seems his inertia is not only in the gait, but also in everything his mind inhabits.
He walks on. His reverie undisturbed as he still stares at nothing in particular. He wants to understand where he is walking to, what he is staring at, but they elude him. Like an apparition that vanishes before his eyes can read the image to his mind.
And yet he walks. The air feels strange to him, the smells no longer of any consequence, his neck straining to keep a level head. He senses a swish of hair, turns around, and looks at the dark colour of it. The ethereal being looks at him, nods an understanding nod, and goes away.
The disquiet dissipates slightly. Replaced by a confusion. The efforts to discern his mind deepening and yet scraping the edges as his thoughts curve down a road unknown. There is a storm brewing within. Portents of what lies ahead weighing heavily on him. And yet he walks on.
