I'll go on a journey
I'll go on a journey. A journey will take my mind off of things. I have left. Okay I am walking. It is a neutral day and everything is very plain. So far, the grass is one solid color, like a sheet of construction paper. There are some woods. The trees are basic trees and are all the same height. There was a small puddle, and a very small bug whizzed by, but that was the only bug, there are no more. Okay there is a man, he pops out from behind a tree. He is not a human man, he is some kind of tall gnome, very human-like but with brown furry skin. And a face like a dog's face, but he is not mean. He says he was patrolling the woods. He seems like he doesn't have a house or anything, he's just always patrolling the woods, but I don't ask him about his life. He takes a knife out of his pocket and gives it to me and says it's a magic knife that can do some magic things, like make people tell the truth. Certainly this would be a good item to have on any journey. I didn't expect I would be encountering any enemies but also I did not think about this journey beforehand at all, I just left on it. Before I left I was sitting on the couch staring at my houseplants. But now I have a magic knife.
I tell him thanks bud and say I'll see him again real soon. I don't know why I said that. I guess I felt pressured because he seemed to want to see me again, like he wanted to have some part in my life. He reminded me of some pictures I had seen of gnome-like creatures when I was younger and I kept thinking about that, and I was thinking about it so hard I didn't realize I had walked into a frozen landscape. There was a river cutting through it and purple mountains in the background. I guess they probably weren't really purple but it looked that way because of the lighting. On the other side of the river were two big geese, and they were mated for life, not interested in dating anyone else. They looked exactly the same. I wondered if they were magic or anything but the river looked deep and they were too far away to get close to. At this point I remembered that I had a small sack with me and in it there were some different kinds of food. I found a can of corn which had a peel top so you don't need a can opener to open it and I stuck my fingers in and took out a big glob full and threw it towards them. Most of it just landed in the river with tiny splashes but a few kernels made it across. They had never been fed by a human before so at first they just looked really confused, maybe even showing disbelief, if that's a thing that geese can feel, but after about twenty-five seconds I would guess they walked over and pecked it right up.
Now obviously I was hoping that they were magic geese and would also have something to give me and they did, so if you guessed that then you were right. They called out in unison and asked what my name was. I hadn't chosen a name yet so I had to think for a second, and after pacing around, I told them it was Casper after remembering that I already had a name. They said that they had been very hungry this winter and my act of kindness had saved them, because they only need to eat one corn per week since they are magic geese, and to repay me they wanted to give me a canoe so I could travel along the river. They said the canoe was in the water and I looked and I could see it under there so I had to get down and reach down far with my arm and the water was so cold I actually got mad at them for a second, but once I pulled it out and saw it was a pretty good canoe I was glad to have it. I thanked them and got in the canoe and wondered where the river would take me.
Well, about five seconds later the river ended at a wall. I don't know how I hadn't seen it before. There was a just a giant wall of rock and the river flowed into a slot just big enough to fit the river, with no space above it. I had barely moved so I looked back at the geese and they were still looking at me and I got a little embarrassed. I asked them what I should do and they said I was supposed to go the other direction, that I had to paddle upstream, against the current. I hadn't thought about this. It seemed like nothing existed the other way, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like maybe something sinister was that way. I really didn't feel like doing that right now but I didn't want to disappoint them so I paddled just until I was out of view, which took about five minutes, and hoped they weren't going to fly this way to check up on me.
When I stopped I pulled the canoe out of the water and when I did that it shrunk down small enough that I could fit it in my sack. I had forgotten that it was magic and that must be what its magic ability was. There was a little town off in the distance, and I could see that there was no snow over there, just green land and some land that was brown between the buildings, like where people had walked a lot and worn the grass off, so I went that way to warm up. I saw two kids who were kneeling on the grass looking at something, but I didn't talk to them and they weren't important. There were five buildings and four of them weren't labeled so I figured they were either houses or buildings you aren't allowed to go in. The other was a toy shop, which I thought was weird, because how could this small of a town support a toy shop. Then I thought about how towns exist and tax codes and stuff like that.
The toy shop was a small wooden building with a wooden porch, and big windows so you could see how warm and inviting it was inside. It looked magical, but I mean that it looked like a place a kid would have lots of wonder and joy in, not supernaturally magical. I walked in and a woman was standing behind the counter and smiled at me. I was trying to guess if she was around my age, but I couldn't tell because half the time I can't even remember how old I am anymore. I remembered my knife and checked to see if it was sticking out of my pocket at all but it wasn't. I didn't want to scare her by having a big knife visible. But then I thought about it more and figured people carrying knives was probably normal around here since I seemed to be in some earlier time.
The shop was full of what looked like things I myself wanted to play with or use, all handmade, but at this point I had become so tired that I needed to sleep before I continued on. I asked the woman if this place was also an inn, and she said yes it's also an inn, we have one room and it's free, and I said thanks, and she showed me to a tiny room in back that only had a cot and a small table with a candle that was already lit. I blew it out and went to sleep, and had many dreams, as I do every night, dreams that cause me such emotional disturbances that it's impossible to simply wake up and go about my day without first trying to recall them and get some closure. I don't remember what they were because I already forgot, but I feel certain they involved my distant past.
When I woke up I went into the toy shop portion of the building and looked around. The woman was already there and I guess she had already eaten breakfast and stuff before I woke up. I looked at the toys finally. There were lots of wooden puzzles, figurines, plush dolls, board games, and other things I couldn't identify at first glance. I touched almost everything I looked at because I like to do that. Even if I already know what it is and how it will feel, I sometimes like to touch something anyway, as if some spark of energy is going to transfer into me from the object. I guessed that I probably didn't have a lot of money on me, so I looked for something small, and found a fascinating little toy made from a bunch of concentric hexagons that were inside each other, each one slightly smaller than the last, so they had a bit of room to move but not enough room to come out of the next bigger hexagon. Does that make sense? Anyway, it was just a thing you play with that looks cool, it didn't do anything.
I thanked her for everything and then I left. At first I was really happy to have my new gadget, which I played with while I walked, but then I started to feel guilty. Did I really need this thing? I probably should have saved my money for like, food. But it felt good to give them business at the same time, because it didn't look like they got a lot of passersby in this town. Oh, I don't know! Sometimes it seems like whichever decision you make, it's wrong. And get this- on top of that, I started wondering if maybe I should have, or could have, tried to get to know the woman a little. I hadn't noticed when I first when in, but the next morning I found myself attracted to her, and I hadn't seen anyone else around. Of course there are many possible reasons why it might not have worked out the way I was hoping, and so that could have been a bad idea as well, but also it could have been the best idea of my life. Oh I don't know!
I continued walking through the town. The rest of the buildings didn't look like anything special, and no one else was around, so I figured there must not be anything else for me to do here. Around when I got to the edge of town, I looked down and noticed something small on the ground. It was easy to spot because the ground was again a solid bright green color, with no detail or variation whatsoever. I picked it up and examined it and it appeared to be a piece of lint. I gathered that it must have fallen off the clothing of another adventurer who had came this way. I thought about the world, and remembered that there were bad things that happen because of people who are mean and dishonest, and I felt a pang of sadness. How could I be so interested in this piece of lint with all that was going on? But maybe we should all be more concerned about small things. Maybe if we all stopped to notice things and wonder about them, we wouldn't be so busy and we wouldn't let the bad people get away with all these things that we assume it's someone else's business to take care of.
I dropped the piece of lint and kept walking. The town had been surrounded by large trees but now there were none, just a flat expanse. In the distance there were light gray mountains. When I got a bit closer, I was startled, as one hundred mountain lions darted out from behind a small hill and ran right into a pitch black hole in the ground. I didn't know what that was about and didn't want to find out so I kept going. There was a canyon that went through the mountains, which I realized when I got closer were only about thirty feet or nine meters high, so I followed it hoping it would go all the way through to the other side of the range. I wondered if anyone had ever made it there, and if so was there a great civilization awaiting me, or just more small towns with not much going on.
I heard a commotion ahead of me and decided to investigate. I didn't have to change course since it was coming from the direction I was already heading. When I came around the next bend, I saw five people gathered around another person who seemed to be trapped by vines that were growing up the side of the rock face. I asked them what was the problem, and they said that these were evil vines, and their friend had been trapped and no one was strong enough to snap the vines. I remembered I had a magic knife in my sack and I assumed that this was exactly the kind of thing it would be good for. I told them I was going to try so they moved out of the way, and the knife easily cut through the vines. What a relief, they said. I told them it was no problem and I was glad to have found a use for my magic knife. It's good to use the things that we have, and not just own them for no reason. I asked them if they needed to know if anyone was lying or not and they said no, they were all friends who trusted each other. They told me that up ahead there was a cave you could go in that will transport you to anywhere you wish, and I thanked them for this information.
When I got to the cave I didn't go in right away. I hadn't decided if I even wanted to go anywhere far away or not, let alone where. Maybe I was already where I needed to be, in this nondescript land of magical beings and small towns. What if I went somewhere else and regretted it? There wouldn't be a magic cave to take me back. I thought about all the people and places from my past. I missed them yes, but was I supposed to be there? Maybe the only way is forward. If I had some life or death situation going on, and I needed to get to a hospital, I would have used it, but otherwise I couldn't justify it. There wasn't a single person I knew of who was waiting for me to come back to them. I made a mental note of my surroundings to remember the spot, and kept walking.
After some more walking I got tired again. The canyon between the hills looked like it might go on forever, and there wasn't much to look at. I thought about the small town, and how cozy it was, and all the fun things at the toy shop. In an instant, I had a revelation, and decided to go back. I found the magic cave, walked in until I couldn't see anything around me, wished I was back in the town, and next thing I knew I was there again.
I went into the toy shop. The woman was behind the counter as usual, and she smiled when she saw me. I said hello enthusiastically, and then laughed, and then wondered if I was too enthusiastic, and then I told her that I was thinking of staying in the town for good. Her face lit up, and she said the house across the street was for sale for five gold pieces, which was exactly how much I had on me. I said that sounded great, and that I would move in right away, and then I gathered up all the courage in the world and asked if we could be friends, and she said yes she would like that. I said okay hold on, ran across the street and bought the house really quick, went in and looked around, and came back. I asked her if she wanted to come over for dinner later, and she said yes, I don't have a boyfriend or anything and I would love to come over for dinner, and I said if she wanted to bring any toys or games or puzzles or anything at all that that would be cool, and she said she would. Then I went to my new home and went out back and using the magic knife, dug a bunch of small holes which I threw seeds into, and because they were magic holes, the seeds grew into plants in a matter of minutes, and then I gathered all the vegetables and went inside to make dinner. This will be great, I thought. What a nice place to live. There are so many possibilities here and it seems like everything is going well. And that's how life should be.
~
March 2026