• Vol. 10
  • Chapter 11

Moonwalk

Running away from home is never easy. It takes a lot to place that one step out of the threshold. You think a thousand times to walk out on a life that you build from thousands of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle mapped on the floor of your bedroom. I can see the gateway is guarded by a thousand questions, all of them just for an action that might take a second. It seems like an unfair deal to me. I push those questions into the corners of my mind and charge toward the unknown that awaits me. Right at the sill, I gasped. This will either be my death or my redemption from ruin. I squint my eyes tight enough to cage the fears behind them and loosen the grip on my feet for the moonwalk. I raise one step. The rough bulge of cobblestones beneath the sole of my foot marks the start of the path of no return. The next step has to follow, for who would want to hang in the balance for an eternity? I dare to bring my feet back together. My eyes open to the reflection of an old friend on the pathway. The luminance calls me to have a look at the open sky. In the pitch-black silence of the night, I am bathed in the light of a super blue moon. I am baffled by the closeness of the world it holds and the world I hold within me. It is exactly like my dream from the other night, or maybe it is my dream. It grows bigger and bigger on top of me, but wait. It is actually me who is shrinking back to the size of a little girl. I can see the intricate web of colonies of life on the rocky lands, and I wonder, “We really made it to the moon.” An old farmerette resting on the bench waves at me. The wrinkling lines on her hands have a story to tell. I immediately think of ways to get to know her. My tiny figure has grown too small for a crimson heart that is too big. It needs to be set free. I cup my hands around my mouth and let her know, “I will write you letters and seal them with pieces of my heart.” She smiles back at me. I know we both have stories to tell.

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