I am walking down a dark path. I can't see anything at all. There's no one with me, but I can hear sounds, muffled sounds that I can't decipher. As I walk on, I can suddenly make out a glow. Is it the end of the tunnel? Is that where I've been all this time? A pitch-black tunnel? But now I can see the light.
The dark path. My life as I know it.
The light becomes a house, and my dirt path leads up to it. It looks like the house that Hansel and Gretel came across in their twisted story. Like a gingerbread house, it is completely made of candy, and it is situated in the middle of an idyllic forest with the sun shining through the thick canopy of evergreen trees. I walk towards the house, and I reach for the doorknob. I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Am I dreaming? I wonder.
The strange fairytale house. Me.
I open the door, and the first thing I see is a dark brown, grizzly bear. He's standing on his hind legs so that he is much taller than me, but the strangest thing is that he looks almost human, so he is not threatening at all. He looks startled, worried even. It appears that I have caught him in the act of stealing a chocolate-chip cookie from the cookie jar on top of the fridge. With his astounding height, he should not have to reach, but he is standing on his tippy-toes, or tippy-paws. The fridge is abnormally tall as well.
The bear in the house. My problem.
The bear is frozen in place, unable to move, so I follow my path through the house and open the back door. Suddenly, my path becomes a stream. Streams should be calm and peaceful, but this one is not. It's too deep to be a stream, and the waves are too strong. Perhaps it is a river. I cough and sputter, but I remember how to swim. When I finally reach the shore, I realize that my path is still there, but now it is made of grass. I sit on the grass path.
The aggressive stream that I drown in. My love.
I see a shiny object somewhere ahead on my path, and I pick it up. It's a tiny silver key. I don't know what it's for or where it came from, but I know that it belongs to me. The feeling is too strong to doubt. I put it in my pocket. Maybe I really am Alice. I want to know what the key is for, but I don't see any doors.
The tiny silver key that's mine. My future.
Suddenly, I do see a door. It's actually a tree. The door is on the tree, and my path leads up to it. It seems to be the end of my path. I put my key into the keyhole and turn the key. The door opens easily, just as I expect. I do not even consider how it is possible for me to fit in a tree trunk. I step into the tree trunk, and I start to fall. Down the rabbit hole, it seems.
The door in the tree. The end of me.
