Chapter Ten

People often tell you to live your life to the fullest, to enjoy every second of it because you never know when it might be your last. I wish I had followed their advice. Spending pointless moments worrying about trivial things was a regular part of the day for me, it always had been, like breathing. Similar to a fish in the water, anxious thoughts would fly in and out of my head like it was a hotel room. The only difference was that this room was always overcrowded, never available for a spur-of-the-moment trip.

Regret was the emotion of the day for me. Fear was a close second as I stared straight ahead into the eyes of it. To be honest, I couldn't even tell you the name of what it was; a majestic animal colored a shining grey towering over me. It didn't look anything like I had previously learned about, though that could also be due to my limited knowledge of zoology. To kill a mockingbird lay limp in my hands, that shook so severely I am astonished it didn't plummet to the floor. The only noise heard in the room was the deep breaths of the creature, and the storm of thoughts flooding my brain. Even when I surely faced death, my worrying could never cease.

People describe death as being peaceful, yet I am sure that could be further from the truth. Would they not think about all the repercussions? After all, they were running freely in my mind, like a stampede of horses left in an open meadow. Or perhaps, it was just me.

It all happened so fast, but I'll always remember the thud of the book, the dread filling me, and the creature's roar. Then the running, so much running. I sprinted in a pattern, trying to lose the animal somewhere in the maze of my home. I relied purely on my gut instinct, trusting it to guide me to safety. It was ironic, to be back in yet another dangerous position in the same corridor. The fallen door I passed served as a reminder about what exactly happened that night 15 years ago.

The animal's footsteps seemed to create miniature earthquakes, its shrieks stinging my ears. I didn't dare to look back, my mind put into auto mode as I sprinted to the entrance of this god-forsaken bunker; the same one that I had stared at every day for fifteen years. It was then that I realized that I was finally done. I was finally coming back into the world. The only problem was that I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

My breath ran short as the entrance came closer insight, the bright light flooding in from the open hole. The sweet scent of nature wafted out, the sound of water flowing, birds chirping hidden behind the roars of the creature following me. I thanked my stars that the animal was this big, if it had been any smaller, I would already be saying adios to life. As a result of its larger-than-average body, the creature ran into walls, doors, and anything else that stood in its way, providing me, a much smaller being, ample time to increase the distance between us.

I grunted, using every bit of my, less than average body strength, to pull myself back into real life. Immediately, I shielded my eyes, the bright, powerful sun burning my eyes that were now used to dark, dimly lit lights. However, the animal's shrieks alerted me, reminding me that I was still in a life-threatening situation. Fun.

Seeing as the creature had interrupted my dramatic return to real life, I dropped all forms of astonishment, instead, I greeted an old acquaintance, one that had too many unpleasant memories associated with it to ever become a friend. In all honesty, it felt like the strangest feeling, standing on the dirt, natural ground. I suppose just like the rest of my body and mind, my feet had gotten used to the tiles floor of the bunker.

Perhaps the most surprising feature of this return, was that I wasn't happy, per say. In a way, it could be seen as the official goodbye to probably the best part of my life. It definitely, didn't mean that it was as happy as one could be, instead, it was a reflection of exactly how miserable I had been in the earlier parts of my mind. I wonder if a person that had been appreciated and treated as an asset in society, would have felt the same way I felt now.

These thoughts filled my head as my feet gently stepped on the hard ground, which was quite a contrast to my rushed footsteps in the bunker. I suppose that is the difference between an unknown, dangerous place and home. After all, what is home if not a place you are comfortable in? A place you long to be in when you attend stuffy dinners with your parent's friends; a place you wish for when you stare at the dull, white walls present in your hotel room.

I let out a small sigh, touching the rough bark of a pinewood tree in an attempt to rid myself of the flurry of thoughts in my mind. The threat of the creature suddenly flashed in my head- how was I able to forget about an animal who was hell-bent on eating me, yet I still couldn't forget the lyrics to 'we are all in this together?

I quickened my pace, urging the lower half of my body to hurry along and match the speed of my thoughts. I ran through overgrown grass, weeds poking through here and there like patches of poison, large, thick roots, and even crunchy leaves the color of a green apple. It felt like both time and wind ran with me, one offering mental support, while the other ran with me like a constant companion. Eventually, I was sprinting, hair open and flying behind me like it was a kite left alone in the endless blue we call the sky.

Suddenly, I came to a sudden stop. I realized that through these next trees stood the museum, the very one in which I had my last instants in society. Nerves started to creep on me like hands coming from the shadows and pulling me to their level. Yet I resisted, I had prepared for this moment. I wasn't a shy, intimidated teenager anymore, no, I had grown. Mentally speaking, of course, I still stood at 5 foot 7, doomed to an average height for the rest of my life.

With a confident smirk on my face, and my back straight, I stepped out of the forest… only to see another forest. My eyebrows were scrunched in confusion as my eyes darted across the land present in front of me. Instead of the infrastructure known as the North Dakota Historical Museum, there were simply just plants. Vines to be specific, covering every bit of the man-made location. Actually, that was all that was there. All around me, there was just greenery, as if there had been an explosion of nature.

I remember running in all directions, desperate to find anything that mankind could claim as their own. Yet, there was simply just nothing. Absolutely no remains of anything resembling human life stood. No houses, buildings, traffic lights, nothing. My breath came out in rapid succession as I stared in total shock at my surroundings. My mouth opened in astonishment, and I just stared. What the hell had happened?