He could feel its hot breath on his back as he stepped. The cold snow clung to his shins and burned with icy slivers but the thing behind him pushed him on. His run was ragged, his breath was sparse and the darkness around him made him forget to look to either side. The world just passed a monster of bleak proportion blanketed by the fear of the creature closing in. It snarled as it got closer he almost fell but he kept his pace. The fear struck deep in his heart, he knew the second he fell the world would disappear as quickly as it came. The thing that followed would catch him, what would it feel like, would it hurt? His body now ached, years of continuous running had taken its toll, broken the knees and aged the hair. The weather was nicer, and the man looked down at the earth, watching every step. The thought of it catching him still played deeply in his mind; it was closer now than it had been. He could feel its sharp teeth pressed into his lower back. Every step was a struggle, but his mind didn’t care. The world a continuous blur, nothing to remember, everything forgotten. Just the same feet he had watched for years landing over and over in the same path, in the same way. It was so close now that its steps started to match his own, dark talons next to his feet. A dark voice spoke for the first time ever, it broke through his mind and blended into his own thoughts. You never looked to your right or left, said the dark voice. The man stopped with a sad realization in a world built upon a thought of making it to the end. On either side of him people were running straight forward with their own dark creature following. No time to pause, no time to think, no time to see the others. Now do you see, said the dark voice. Everyone is focused on the end, focused on the meaning, focused on the fear. When you forget to look, the journey can only be seen when you can no longer run the race. The creature now stood in front of him, and it smiled not of malice but of acceptance. The race had ended.
Housed and Fed 