Golden threads

The seat is slowly warming under me, I feel the worn plastic scraping against the thick coat that envelops me as each twist and turn of the tracks sends me listing in a certain direction. The bubble of silence that surrounds me is broken when the train slides to a stop, reaching its next station. The once empty carriage fills with people, businessmen, and working women, elderly couples, and young reckless teens. The silence that surrounded me only moments ago is replaced by the busy chatter of life. Phone calls and hushed whispers, bubbling laughter, and relieved sighs. I welcome the buzzing electric aura that connects these strangers. I wonder what choices caused me to be here at this exact moment in time. Was it as simple as deciding to sit in a coffee shop for ten minutes longer this morning or was it more complex? The butterfly effect that changes every moment of my life has always drawn me in, the idea of a split-second decision meaning the difference between meeting the love of my life or meeting my end. The fact that life could change or end, one minuscule decision away fascinates me, knowing that the millions of paths I could choose in life, twist and turn in unison with the old, creaky train I sit in now. All of the lives around me are connected, their futures intertwining and separating in seconds as each possible decision comes to pass. 

My gaze flows like water, pausing on each person seated around me, seeing the golden threads connecting each person, the threads frayed and worn but just as bright as a ray of sun. An unknown power controls these lives, whether it be fate or coincidence, some of these lives are changing so drastically in the simple minutes they spend on this train. The beauty of it enchants me as I'm sucked into the millions of possibilities that surround me, one decision away. Always just one decision. The golden threads hang from my fingers, attached to each strand of my hair, and wrapped around the buttons of my coat, each flittering off in its own direction, some leading to people, some to places, some just never end, disappearing into the world and their ends unknown. I examine my fingers, admiring each choice I have, unsure of which will lead me to my final destination. The one attached to my pinkie jerks suddenly, pulling me from my seat as the train slows, approaching my next adventure I assume. Collecting my bag from the seat next to me, I wrap my hand around the pole that caught me as the train stopped, another hand holds on just above mine. I see his golden threads too, they lead to a girl who clasps his free hand in her own, their intertwined fingers surrounded by the same gold aura. I hold back a smile at their luck, so young and have already found their soulmate. 

The metal doors slide open, allowing a puddle of starlight to sprinkle the train floor, a drop landing on my shoelaces, pulling me towards it. I follow, trusting the stars. 

The bustle of the crowd exiting the platform fades so quickly, leaving traces of gold as the threads follow their chosen souls, leaving me in a silver ring of light, the moon kissing the tip of my head, and the stars caressing my soul. 

Sighing contently I follow the traces of gold, exiting the train station and beginning the long walk along the cobblestone street, old lanterns lighting up the quiet town as families return to embrace the comfort of home.

Home. Such a foreign concept. Where is home? Which thread of gold will lead me there I wonder. But that is an adventure for another time. For now, I go where I am drawn to, and that seems to be the tall tree that stands in the field ahead. I approach the elderly being, feeling the wisdom it exudes as I embrace its presence. My palm rests against the scarred trunk, laying my forehead against the old wood and breathing the scent of life in deeply. My eyes follow the lines in the bark up until I reach the branches. My breath leaves my body as I see the web of thousands of threads all wrapped around the branches, braided between the leaves and resting on the sapling twigs. The threads vary in luminance, some fresh and glimmering, the gossamer strands oblivious in their youth as elderly cords fade from existence right beneath them. Eyes still trained on the maze above me, I lay on the soft grass below me, embracing the soft blades as they separate to comfort me. The stars glinting through the leaves, twinkling through the beams of moonlight that spread through the tree, seemingly piercing the very essence of it, reflecting through the bark and shining through the grooves and cracks. This is not my eternal place, I know I belong elsewhere but for now, at this moment in time, in this ripple of the butterfly’s wings, this is where I must stay. And so I shall.

Time passes slowly and somehow all at once. The stars dancing their way across the sky, following the moon as she fades into the light of the sun. I bid her goodbye and wait for the sun to rise, continuing to study the labyrinth in the sky. The light of the tree echos through the universe as each thread of choice changes, the waves of the universe reaching extraordinary heights before calming down to a lull, the choices of thousands flowing through this tree and unknowingly affecting the path of the cosmos.

The sun finally decides to show herself, peeking over the horizon and shining its rays onto the fluffy tufts of white that float through the endless blue sky, painting this world in the hues of orange and pink, contrasting the brilliant green of this tree of life and shedding hope for a new path as the thread of my ring finger begins to tug me in a new direction. A new adventure. A new life.