In the Pursuit of Happiness

It had been thirty-one years since the day his mother had left him. Thirty-One long years without the love he felt before his Father, Christopher, had died. This once happy child had grown into a bitter man with no love for the world or the people in it. After his Mother, Rose, received the telegram, she lost herself and her sanity. The pain had become too much and the two were sent to an asylum to survive among the crazy, the criminal, and the somewhat sane patients. Five-year-old Josh was alone in the world even with his Mother being there. As time when on he made friends with many of the other children there, some in the same position he was. Their Fathers had gone off to fight for the country and lost their lives. Thus, leaving them alone and the pain dragging them into a pit of despair.  

Rose sat in their tiny bedroom staring out the window day in, day out. As time went on, she hardly spoke to Josh, except to ask him to fetch his Father in for supper. The room became more like a tomb, cold and lifeless. Josh’s only happiness was when he would escape to the outdoors with his friends to play on the grounds of the massive building. Although, they were confined to the grounds by a towering concrete wall, he loved sitting in the grass telling stories of what beauty may lie on the other side of it.  

One day, he was doing just that, using his imagination to fill the heads of the younger children with wonder when he heard a scream and then silence. Josh was told that his Mother saw his Father coming into the gate that day. And when she could no longer see him, it broke her heart all over again and she jumped from the very window she had stared through for 3 long years. It was that day the stories stopped and he stopped believing that true magic existed beyond those stone walls.

At that depressing excuse of a shelter is where Josh would stay until the age of 16. Saying goodbye to the ones he called friends for those tough years. Escaping in the night to find a life he desired, anything would be better than this. 

Age 36, Josh had made a decent life for himself in the country. He became a writer with most of his stories being inspired by his experiences at the asylum. It wasn’t until he received a letter in the mail asking about his past that he truly began to miss his parents. They were always there in his memory but that day something changed and he felt the hole in his life grow larger. So, with a weathered leather bag, typewriter, and a map Josh set off to his hometown. Deep down he knew that this was not going to be one of those happy reunions filled with hugs and chocolate cake. No, this was going to be a one-man reunion with a broken home and sorrow filled memories. But he was ready to face his past. 

What he knew as his birthplace had become a ghost town in those 20 years since he left. The main street shops were closed, homes were abandoned, yet the graveyard was a bit fuller now. He parks his car in the driveway of the home his Father and Grandfather had built when Josh was just a baby. A single-story Victorian with earth tone paint, wooden shutters, and a wraparound porch. The boards creaked under his weight as he approached the front door.

Once inside, he is met by cobwebs and belongings of a family that had left long ago. Chairs toppled over, dusty rugs, and broken pictures lie all around him. As he walked into the hallway, he could hear his Mother speaking to him very softly and his Father’s hearty laughter filled the home. He reaches his bedroom and remembers how he spent hours playing with what toys he had then. Faint visions of his past begin to creep back as he walks around the home’s few rooms.  

His parent’s room was the last that he entered and he could still picture how their furniture was arranged. Josh takes a seat on the long-forgotten bed and his eyes fall upon the closet door. A smile crosses his face as he recalls hiding in there during games of hide and seek.  

“I wonder if the door is still back there?” he thinks to himself sighing as he recalls his parent’s happiness before the war. “I wish you never would have left us. I wish things would have been happier for both of you.” 

Josh pushes some boxes to the side to reveal a door unlike any in the house. His Father put this in just before leaving for the Military. It was a magic door; he had told young Josh. Rose believed in the magic and she helped to develop the imagination her son still had at age 36. At times they would both go into the little space behind it and tell stories they had made up for that very moment. It was something that he would always remember and now it was time to revisit his secret little space.  

“Wow, it’s still here after all these years. Let’s see if anyone found you.” Of course, he is speaking to the door but nobody is there to hear him.  

The old wood creaks as he opens it and crawls inside, the only light comes from a tiny window in the back of the space. By this time, dust and cobwebs had taken up residence and it was hard to tell what else was sleeping there. He didn’t remember the walls being so close in there. Making his way around the beams, a loose board gives way, and Josh’s world turns black. 

Josh wakes to find himself in a bed with a thin mattress and hard springs making themselves known to his spine. “Where am I?” 

Sitting up in bed he looks around the room to see that he is not alone. This appears to be a hospital, a very old hospital.  

“What the hell am I doing in a hospital?” he asks a nurse as she passes by. 

She stops and with a kind voice “You were injured pretty bad about four days ago when a bridge collapsed. Thank God above that you all made it out alive. You’re being released today.” with a smile, she leaves him alone. 

“Josh! Josh!” an excited young man about 19, hurriedly approaches his bedside with a uniform. 

“Yeah, that’s me calm down kid, what’s going on?” 

“General Briggs is calling for you to join us on our supply run. I guess you were mightier than the bridge, aye?” he smacks Josh’s arm and hands him the uniform “Get these on, we gotta go buddy.”  

Josh hears the name of the General and thinks to himself “No, it can’t be but then again how did I get here? Did I hit my head in the fall?” He has so many questions but none are answered.  

After changing his clothing, he hurries out of the hospital and meets with the young man that alerted him. They are told to meet by the jeeps and they do just so. 

General Briggs is a tall man with piercing blue eyes, tanned skin, and a demanding voice. Josh keeps his stare forward out of fear until he hears the man. Breaking his soldier like stance, Josh sees a man he used to know.  

“Dad?” he says loud enough for others to hear. “Dad, it is you.” 

“You will remain in line with the others and stop this nonsense!” The General’s voice commands. 

Josh is too convinced and won’t give up now. “General Briggs, you have a son by the name of Josh, don’t you?” 

“One more outburst soldier and you’ll...” The older man stops suddenly when he hears Josh’s name but doesn’t let it get to him too much. Instead, he stays strong and gives them their orders.  

All of the men get into their jeeps and something clicks in Josh’s memory. “Wait, no, he can’t do this with us. General Briggs must stay here if he ever wants to see his family again.” 

A fellow soldier places his hand on Josh’s shoulder “You need to calm down buddy. This is not the most dangerous thing he has done; everything will be fine.” 

“No, it won’t be!” Josh shoves the man out of the driver’s seat and starts the jeep. He presses his foot on the gas and drives fast down the dirt road towards the General’s truck. The tires kick up rocks and dust making his surroundings disappear but he can see the truck, it’s so close.  

“General Briggs!! Stop your truck! Please, I beg you!” 

Those would be the last words the General heard before the accident. The last words of a man from another time would continue to ring in the ears of those that heard them. Pleading words of a man that made a wish and climbed through a magic door to the past in the pursuit of happiness.