I am new to Steemit and hope I am doing this right but I guess I will learn just like everyone else. I love to write and while I do not worry about punctuation I know it's important and I will save that for those who know how to do it right. I hope you enjoy the beginning of my story and will continue to post more as I move forward on Steemit and learn the process of doing things correctly.
I am currently on Chapter 3 but here is Chapter 1.
I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 1
I was walking down the street in the early morning hours on my way home from work at the L.A. Times wondering why I was carrying a bag of oranges when a reflection of light from the Wilshire Grand Tower turned daylight into darkness. One minute the sun was rising behind me over the San Bernardino Mountains and the next minute it was pitch black. My forward motion came to a complete stop as fear and uncertainty prevented me from taking another step forward and I could feel the ground beneath my feet begin to shake as I stood on the sidewalk confused, my body unwilling to move with the sound of automobiles and people passed seemingly unaware of my predicament.
As the seconds turned into minutes the sounds around me began to fade and were replaced with what seemed like an oddly familiar noise, one that I couldn’t quite make out but felt like I had heard before. Then I realized that it was like the sound I use to hear as a child as I was going to sleep at night while my grandfather was writing his stories many years ago. It reminded me of the sound of an old typewriter as the keys struck the ribbon that created the letters on the sheet of paper. But as I stood there in the darkness it was evident that the sound I was hearing was not the sound of a typewriter but something much stronger, more like a hammer hitting a piece of steal and as the minutes ticked by my heart began to race as the sound, whatever it was, began to echo through my mind.
Tap Tap Tap....
Then my eyes opened and I realized I had fallen asleep on the couch and the morning light was slowly creeping through the blinds. It was still early and I could smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. I got up, rubbed my eyes and walked to the window outside. The traffic was already starting to back up and the thought of driving to work and sitting in the morning rush hour didn’t motivate me to move. I just stood there looking out the window as the darkness faded and the sun began to rise in the horizon and wondered how I was going to get these thoughts out of my head without changing things again. Changes that continue to prevent me from finding the answers or letting you know what to expect if and when I am able to break the secrets that have kept me locked inside my mind unable to find the key that I hope will open the door and hopefully let me see what I have been searching for all these years. However, I must say that during this time of uncertainty where I thought that the words or even the numbers were the obstacle I have spent the time becoming fluent in 16 languages.
While most languages over time have become easy I have found that the Mandarin language was by far the hardest for me to learn. But even as I have translated my thoughts from one language to another I have come to realize that no matter how I try to describe things, trying to find the answers is just not that simple. It’s not necessarily the words that seem to make the difference but the meaning in how they come together. Like mathematical equations and how they can describe such things as space and time, nothing makes sense until you can truly grasp the concept and understand the fundamental theory but in my predicament there didn’t seem to be an answer, there was no fundamental theory and there was no concept for me to understand. The words and letters just seemed to float on the paper in an endless dance that left me frustrated and confused.
I walked to the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee, walked backed to my desk and sat down. On my desk was a stack of empty sheets of paper piled to my left and to my right were 3 pages turned upside down and in between was my note pad. My note pad was there to remind me where I left off so I would know where to begin today. If things had changed again then the notepad would be empty and the 3 pages that were upside down would no longer exist. I would have once again woken up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee, a pile of empty sheets of paper to my left and a blank notepad in the middle. So as long as there are pages turned upside down to my right and something written on my notepad to remind me where to begin then I will know, at least for now, that progress is being made and I can continue where I left off.
I sat in my chair and listening to the wind blow outside as I tried to ignore the feeling of defeat and everything that was racing through my mind. Somehow hoping that I would be able to think clearly enough so I didn’t make the same mistakes I have made countless times before. I sat in my chair contemplating how to describe my thoughts knowing that I may never be able to put them into words while others simply appear as a mirage on the outer reaches of my mind. Thoughts that I may never be able to share with you, not because I don’t want to but every time I try, I find myself right back here, sitting in my chair and starting from the beginning. The words are gone, my thoughts forgotten and defeat will have once again succeeded in this endless fight between my hope and my sanity.
You see this will not be the first time I have tried telling you my story. In fact I have tried telling it far too many times for me to count but with every hurdle I think I have overcome I find myself right back where I started and once again trying to find a way to let you know or in some way to see the truth. But sometimes the truth is not always easy to see. It can sometimes hide in plain sight or sometimes even in the darkest corners of your mind where even the brightest and most intelligent individuals can never seem to find them. Why this happens and for whatever reason I have yet to figure out but with each day that passes I sometimes think I am one step closer to solving one of the most mysterious events in the history of our species and as each day, month or even year that passes I will continue to hope and search for a way to unlock this door and no matter what the sacrifice I will never give up because if this continues it will not just be my thoughts that will be lost but yours and everything and everyone you have ever known.
Through my journey I have come to realize there are things that are better left unsaid for now and maybe as I continue I will learn a way to put these things into words but for now it will just have to wait. I would love to give you some examples but that would start things over so I must forget about trying and just move forward in a way that will allow me to acknowledge that some things are either better left unsaid or that someone or something is preventing me from doing so. I hope that one day I will find the key and let my thoughts escape. A way to finally move forward so you can experience everything and decide for yourself what you think should be done. Maybe I will find my way out but until then all I can do is choose my words carefully and try to make it through another day. If I can continue to do this then I will know I am making progress but if not I will inevitably forget what I have started and I will find myself sitting here in my chair, drinking my coffee and wondering where I should begin.
It has been a long journey, one that I will continue because if I don’t nothing will ever change. The world will move on and everything I have done will be forgotten. The things I have seen and the places I have been to will be lost in some distant memory that will simply fade away into the past. It is my persistence and will power that has allowed me to get this far without making the same mistakes I have made countless times before, so I will slowly move on and continue to write with the hope that when tomorrow comes the pages to my right will still be there, upside down, and my notepad will remind where to begin.
Time is not necessarily against me because I have all the time in the world and I have changed things that I hope will make a difference. I have not stopped wars and I have not prevented the atrocities that you see and read in the news every day. I have only done little things like changing the direction of a butterfly or moving a pebble on the side of the road and while these may seem small to you now in the grand scheme of things they are like tidal waves and earth quakes and they have changed things in ways that even I can’t comprehend. The road I am traveling down is not just a one way street but is more like a freeway that goes in every direction imaginable and the world is on this freeway with me but there is something on the horizon, something that is traveling with us and I can hear the sound in the distance and it’s getting closer every day.
Tap Tap Tap