I stare down
Trying to make sense of the mysterious world beneath me
Darkness is all I see
Darkness is all I will ever see.

It creeps up to touch my feet
It’s cool fingers wrapping around each toe
I take a step back
Unsure if I want to go any farther.

I sink lower into the cold ground
I need to decide what I am going to do before it is too late
Everyone around me seems to be enjoying them selves
So why aren’t I?

My window of opportunity is closing fast
One wrong move and I will be done for
I hear my name being shouted from somewhere in the distance
Maybe a relative or friend trying to lure me to them.

I take a step forward
The warmth is surprising
It wipes away any traces of its cold friend
It is as if it never was there at all.

Slowly going further, I realize something
Maybe it won’t be that bad
Maybe the fear I had, won’t matter as much
When I am reunited with my friends.

Now I am in up to my chest
Although I feel suffocated
I feel free
All my cares have disappeared.

It is up to my neck now
There is no going back
Although if I wanted to go back
It would probably take the same amount of time it took me to go in.

I see all my friends around me
They smile as if they haven’t seen me in ages
I smile back at them in the same way
Who knows how much more time I could’ve wasted.

I think to myself
Maybe this isn’t that bad
I might be able to return soon
But for now, I stay still, not wanting to ruin what took me so long to accomplish.