The Path to Us

“It’s not fair!” Kirk yelled as he stomped up the stairs to his room. His mother had just taken his device and handed him a book telling him, “on rainy days when we are stuck inside we should get lost in a story, in our imagination, not a screen.” Kirk had been playing a game on his device and was almost to the next level when his mother took it from him, and that made Kirk angry. He didn’t want to waste his time reading a book. How could some dumb story or his imagination ever be as cool as his games and devices? 

Once he had made it to his room, he threw the book onto his bed and flopped to the floor, ending up sitting cross-legged like his teacher at school always made them sit after lunch, before they got to have free time. He hated sitting still, waiting for free time where he and his friends got to play on their devices and have real fun. Sitting there he felt his anger growing and growing and growing. How could his mother do this to him? Why would she be so mean and take away his device? What was he supposed to do if he couldn’t have screen time? 

As his anger kept building he felt himself breathing harder and harder until he almost thought he would faint, so Kirk closed his eyes and tried to control his breath like his teacher made him do. He started counting with each breath, “1, 2, 3, 4” in, “1,2,3,4” out. Breathing this way, Kirk started to notice that the feeling in his chest that had been growing was starting to become smaller and he felt different. Continuing to breathe as his teacher had shown him, Kirk was feeling calmer and calmer and his mind started to slow down.

Sitting on the floor of his bedroom cross-legged, breathing like his teacher had made him do so many times before, Kirk began to see colors swirling about and shapes moving through space. He watched as they moved and whirled and followed them with his mind until all of a sudden he found himself somewhere else. He looked around and couldn’t believe what he saw, he was in a sunny field surrounded by a giant forest. Unsure of where he was, he spun around in a circle and noticed two paths that started at his feet, each marked with a sign.

The path to the left was called “Me” the path to the right was called “Us.” Knowing that the most important thing was to make sure he could get to what he wanted, Kirk headed out on the “Me” path. He had only taken a few steps down the path when he heard something running up behind him, and just as he spun around it lept into the air and knocked him to the ground. Laying on his back he let out a scream when the sky disappeared, as the giant face of the creature standing over him stared him directly in the eye. The monster was covered in fur and had huge teeth sharp as daggers that it was showing off as it came closer and closer to his face. Kirk was screaming and preparing for the monster to bite when it opened its mouth displaying its horrible teeth and said, “Hi, I’m Louise, but all my friends call me Louie. What’s your name?”

Kirk was frozen in fear, the monsters face was so close to his that he could feel the warmth of its breath. After a few moments, Kirk began to scream again, “help, help, help! This monster is going to eat me!” Hearing that someone was in danger, Louie jumped up and began growling, circling around Kirk and yelling, “Whoever you are, wherever you are, you better get out of here and leave my friend alone!” Kirk jumped to his feet and took off running down the “Me” path, away from Louie. Louie cried out, “Hey wait up! Stop! We can’t go that way!” but it was too late, Kirk disappeared out of sight into the forest.

Kirk ran deeper into the forest until he noticed that the monster was no longer following him and he stopped to look around. The forest was so thick that barely any sunlight could make it through the trees, and in the place of the monster that had pounced on him he now heard other mysterious and spooky sounds. Kirk was alone in the forest, but he didn’t feel alone, he felt like eyes were watching him from all around. Just beyond the shadows where he couldn’t see them, the eyes were looking on and they did not seem friendly. Kirk decided he didn’t want to hang around and meet any of the creatures that the eyes belonged to. The deeper he looked into the forest the darker it became, so he started to backtrack his way towards the field where the path had started. 

When Kirk could see the light trickling in from the opening to the field he slowed down and moved off the path, sneaking from tree to tree trying to avoid being seen by the monster. When he made it to the edge of the forest he scanned the field and to his luck, the monster was nowhere in sight. Being extra careful, he decided he would wait a few minutes to make sure the monster didn’t come back before heading out and checking out the other path marked “Us.” After 10 minutes had passed, he felt like it was now safe and he made his way back to the place where the two paths started. Knowing that the “Me” path was dark, lonesome, and full of things he didn’t care to learn more about, he started down the “Us” path.

As he approached the place where the field ended and the forest began, he noticed that the path just disappeared, like the forest had grown up and swallowed the path entirely. Kirk shouted to the empty field as tears started to roll down his cheeks, “UGH this isn’t fair! Now I am stuck here in this field alone and there is no way out.” When all of a sudden the path cleared up and he could see that in front of him was a beautiful pathway lined with flowers, butterflies, and lit perfectly by the sun. “It looks nice in there,” Louie said from behind Kirk.

Snapping his head around to see the monster, Kirk screamed “Get out of here! Leave me alone! Shoo! Get!” A look of fear came over Louie as she took off in the other direction looking back over her shoulder as Kirk continued to yell at her. When the monster disappeared into the forest, Kirk turned around to head down the happy path ahead, only to find that the forest had once again swallowed it up and there was no way for him to get past. Kirk felt something building in his chest, which at first seemed like anger. This couldn’t be happening to him, the path had just been right there and now he was stuck again. As the feeling grew in his chest, it became too much for him to take and he collapsed to the ground and started crying. All he wanted to be was out of the field and away from this monster that kept coming for him. It wasn’t fair, just like when his mother had taken away his devices, no one ever cared what he wanted, he always just had to do what he was told. His mother, his teachers, all grown-ups just told him what to do all the time and it made him so mad.

Sitting on the ground crying with his head in his hands Kirk felt so alone and scared. He was crying so hard that he hadn’t heard Louie walk up behind him, so he nearly jumped out of his skin when she asked “are you okay?” Scrambling to his feet and backing away from the monster Kirk took a real look at her for the first time. The ferocious teeth that he’d thought would eat him weren’t nearly as scary as he thought, and the smile on the monster's face wasn’t that of a beast about to eat you, but one of a friend happy to see you. The monster was big, really big, but it also had white fluffy fur with white brown and black spots, paws way too big for its body, and giant, beautiful blue eyes. Really looking at the creature for the first time, Kirk realized that maybe it wasn’t a monster after all.

Smiling so big that every tooth in her mouth was visible, Louie introduced herself to Kirk for the second time, “Hi, I’m Louise, but my friends call me Louie. You can call me Louie. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Hi Louie, I’m Kirk.” 

“Hi, Kirk! That’s a great name. What brings you to The Here?”

“Um, I, I don’t know. What is The Here? What are you?”

“The Here is now, this very here to be precise,” Louie responded. Kirk looked confused and started to ask a question several times but couldn’t figure out exactly what he was asking.

“As for me, I’m Louie. Always have been, and as far as I can tell might always be. Just like you are Kirk.” As she talked, Louie bounced from side to side like the words were all running around inside of her and trying to escape as fast as they could. Kirk still didn’t understand where “The Here” was, or what Louie was, but he no longer felt scared of her.

“Ok, Kirk. Now that we are in The Here together, I think we should be friends. Can we be friends?” 

Kirk didn’t have many friends. He and his mother had just recently moved and he hadn’t gotten to meet any new kids, so when Louie asked if they could be friends he paused for a minute, thinking of his old neighborhood, his old school, his old friends that he had left behind. Thinking about all of this made him start to feel upset, and before he knew what was happening he began to cry.

“Oh no, I am sorry Kirk. We don’t have to be friends, I don’t want to make you sad.” Louie said as she moved beside Kirk and put her arm around him.

“No, it’s fine. We can be friends I guess.”

“Outstanding!” Louie shouted as she jumped up and dragged Kirk to his feet.

“Okay Kirk, friend, what should we do now?”

Kirk looked behind him and could see that the path that had closed up before was now open again. 

“I tried going down the other path earlier, the one with the “Me” sign but it was scary. The further I went the darker it was, and it felt like each step I took it was a little bit colder. These eyes were watching me and I couldn’t see them, but I could feel them there.”

“Oh wow. I tried to go down the “Me” path once too.” Louie said.

“It was was really scary and difficult. All I wanted was someone to help, someone to hold my hand and walk with me through it but I was all alone.”

“Yeah, that’s how I feel too. It’s lonely and all I want is to have someone there who understands, someone who cares and who I care about. I know my mother loves me and cares about me, but I feel like I am on the path by myself.”

Kirk began to trail off as he realized he wasn’t talking about the “Me” path out of the field and into the forest anymore, he was talking about his life. Since they had moved he had been feeling so alone and didn’t have anyone he could share anything with, the good things or the bad things. Talking to Louie was the first time he had opened up about any of this to anyone, and it felt so good. He had a friend, someone to be there for him, to understand him, to walk holding his hand when he was scared. All at once, Kirk realized why the “Us” path had disappeared on him before.

“Louie! It’s us, it’s us, it’s us. Together, we can take this path and keep going forward. Come with me, let’s go!” Kirk was nearly screaming he was so excited. Grabbing Louie’s hand they took off together down the “Us” path skipping and laughing as they went on their way to the many adventures that lay ahead. As they skipped into the forest Kirk opened his eyes and was back on the floor of his bedroom.

Kirk stood up and grabbed the book off of his bed and placed it on his nightstand so that he could read it later. The rain had cleared up and the sun was shining outside. Nearly flying down the stairs Kirk found his mother in the kitchen beginning to prepare dinner.

“Hi honey, how was the book?” his mother asked.

“I didn’t start yet, but I will tonight I promise. Can I go play?”

His mother sighed and disappointedly opened the drawer where she had put his device and held it out to him. 

“Ok fine, but only 30 minutes of screen time.”

A giant smile grew on Kirk's face as he said to his mother, “No, can I go outside and play? I saw some kids across the street and I want to go be friends with them. I don’t want to be alone, I don’t want it to just be me. Please Mom, can I please go play?”

“Be back in 1 hour for dinner,” his mother replied.

Kirk flew out the front door and across the street to where the other kids were playing. They had invented a game they called “Muddle Puddle” and were splashing around and laughing. Kirk approached them and said, “Hi I’m Kirk. I just moved in across the street, can we be friends?” The group of kids looked him up and down and seemed to come to an agreement. 

“Ok Kirk, we can be friends. Let’s go play in the treehouse.” They all took off following the flower-lined path through the yard together, holding hands as the sun shined down on them and butterflies fluttered through the air.