The Art of Fiction

{ Swinging his arms with the natural movement of his body; putting one foot in front of that other as if each step would add another day to his life, he continued his steady jog down the sidewalk on main street towards the bridge that leads into the city. With his eyes transfixed on the lights of the sun as they bounced off he moon and streamed their way through the earth's atmosphere to illuminate his path, he trudged on through the night's cool air.

Navigating himself across the street before the bridge and through the enclosed entrance, he continued on to the separated walk area on the left side. Having a slight incline, he strained a bit to keep up his pace, but tried his best to ignore the pain as he approached the plateau. Having no real destination, he used the moon as his compass and continued to make his way across this man-made structure with a spherical glow in his sights.

He chose the left side so that he could see the oncoming traffic. While there was a divider, it was only waste-high and he felt more secure knowing what was coming. Deep in his thoughts though, who knows if anything could have caused him to break out of his trance. Shuffling through the chaotic memories, one in particular he concentrated on for five, six, seven steps, and like a light beam had burned right through the back of eye and continued to pass through his brain and out of the back of his head and down to the earth, anchoring him to the ground, everything became still.

A moment later, what seemed like an eternity to him, the beam shattered and his head reverberated, producing a mind-numbing ring. He mistook it for a horn, and not seeing anything in front him he whipped his head around his shoulder. Such a sudden movement threw him off balance and as he tried to turn straight ahead, he tripped over his own feet causing his body to be thrown right into the divider. Being exceptionally agile, while his feet were all tangled, he was able to catch himself somewhat without actually topping over into the road. Slouching over the cement wedge staring at the ground, he heard the distinct sound of a car horn. Looking to where the sound was coming from, his left, two miniature moons were coming his way, and fast. Pushing off as hard as he could, he launched himself backward onto the sidewalk, landing first on his ass and having no choice but to stabilize himself with his elbows.

Not wanting to think about the pain, he lay down and looked up at what comforted him the most, the night sky. Two tears streaming down the sides of his face, the moon was now oblong and he found this strangely comforting. Embracing himself and closing his eyes, he continue to lay there as a part of the bridge. As cars traversed the bridge, it would shake, and with his hands on his chest, he would match the rumbles to the beats of his heart.

After a while, he glanced to the right to see that there was a small opening to allow water to pass through at the bottom of the divider to his right. He watched several cars pass, although all he could see were the tires and bottom portion of the frame. From his sideways perspective, three cars traveled North and four cars traveled South. Looking down the sidewalk itself, he saw an army of ants marching North, with huge amounts of dirt on their back. Just the fact that he witnessed more cars traveling in the opposite direction of the ants made him smile. He would finish his run while clinging on to this very thought. } - A short story