seen a village where I could replenish my supplies for the past few days and my water supply was running low. I
had to ration my food and water or I could get into huge trouble. I glanced down, the ground was covered with
tiny grains of sand, evidence of a recent sandstorm. My heart began to pump, I was nearly out of food and water,
if a sandstorm were to hit, the inevitable would happen.
I was seriously contemplating turning back, making a beeline to the nearest village and giving up
on this ridiculous notion. Yet, there was a part of me that just didn’t want to give up, some part that wanted to
hold on to hope. No matter how little there was. It was then, as my mind was in turmoil, did I see…it. At first it
seemed like nothing more than a lump, probably just a rock, however, as I got closer, I realized that it was
something more sinister. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, fear building up within me. As I got even
closer its features began to come into shape. First the long, skinny legs, followed by the frail, shriveled torso and
finally, as I reached the corpse, the face. I gasped and stumbled back. It was ghastly, shriveled and dry under the
burning sun, its parched lips were still wet with blood, it hadn’t been dead long. Images of what had happened
to this man flashed through ,my mind, a grueling horror film that I had no intention to watch. A silent screen
erupted from within. Paralyzed with fear, I couldn’t move or talk.
As I tried to calm my nerves, my brain kicked into gear. I glanced at the man again , yet this time,
his face seemed different, it was my face! I fell backwards only to realize that it was a hallucination. I glanced
back at the long winding road I had walked, imagined this same man walking along the road, not expecting this
fate. That was my breaking point. How was this not a sign? A sign that this wall was not meant to be conquered,
and the effort to do so would only result in my ultimate fall.
I turned around, I had officially given up on my trip, I was not going to end up like this poor other
man. It’s a strange feeling, having to give up, as humans, we always think that we can conquer everything. Yet,
history always has tricks up its sleeve, it doesn’t go down without a fight and this was one I couldn’t win.
As I stared at the road back to safety, the wall was no longer beautiful, instead, what I saw before
me was a murderer, it had killed enough people in its time and even now it refused to give up, I didn’t want to
be another name on the death toll…
* * *