The Battle To Heaven

[Story in booklet]

At the very end of a tunnel, a faint white light flickers like a hole in a black wall. The man peers from one end before he enters and begins an arduous walk through the longest path he has ever seen. With jagged slopes and holes, the tunnel becomes a prison where his demons, foes, all tear at his sides to taunt him. But as he stumbles over debris beneath his feet, his eyes never leave the white hole at the end that grows with each step he takes. He treads through it, listening to his heartbeat echoing until he slowly awakes from this dream.

Dressed in white, the same woman stands before him with her head bowed. Her face is solemn and there is a plea in her eyes as she places a letter into his hands. And then, like a ghost who drifted in and out of his days, she was gone.

“Ever changing, growing, and searching through stretches of time beyond life and death.
This is the journey that every soul makes.
My journey always brings me to the place between wake and sleep,
a landscape of memories where you and I meet again and again.
Even in the darkest night, in the heaviest storm, I always find my way back to you.
When you remember, please come back to the place we both know.”

Reading her words again that night, the man falls asleep to find himself walking inside of the same tunnel. He paces fiercely with his arms outstretched as if he is pushing against the wind. The air smells of burnt pine and evening frost as the end is near in sight. When he guides himself out into the light, his hands brush against a rough surface, much taller and wider than he can reach. What lies on the outside of the tunnel is a fully-grown tree surrounded by a circle of white stones. He drops to his knees, touching its roots and turning over each stone in disbelief.

Recovering a lost memory is like a dam breaking open, releasing all the water that had been barricaded from flowing. As he sits here, every moment with her in these woods resurfaces within him. He holds a stone in his hands and weeps as he remembers their promise.