The chains around her wrists were heavy. Her breath was shallow and painful. The weight she has been carrying on for years is close to break her bones. She has been running for so long, she doesn’t even remember how it’s like to walk or stand still. It’s chasing her. All the time. That huge monster, dark and scary. It is so big that she had a feeling it would crush her in seconds. She was always looking back and never stopped running. Even if she would fall, she would get up right away and run again. She was drained, full of bruises, her skin was pale with touches of red blood coming from her wounds and scratches, like strokes of the paint brush on a blank canvas. All you could see in her eyes was fear. But the Past wouldn’t stop chasing her and she wouldn’t stop running. It was like a never ending circle of misery and darkness.
Then, all of a sudden she stopped. The light is front of her was blinding her tired eyes and her body gave up in front of that enormous whiteness that was as huge as the darkness chasing her. She fell on her knees and covered her eyes with her week hands. She finally stopped and she was exhausted. She almost felt relief but she had to look over her shoulder even though terrified what she might see. What if the darkness swallows her completely? What if it tears her apart?
She turned around slowly and there it was. So close, that if that thing had a breath, she would be able to feel it on her face. In that moment she felt nothing and she just surrendered. And nothing happened.
She could see the rays of the light coming from the other side. The Future was still there too.
And there they were. The Past, the Future and she in the middle. Now what?
She can’t keep running but she can’t look in the Future either. Just one second of looking at it burns her eyes and leaves her numb.
She decides to lay down and rest her tired body, mind and soul. She closes her eyes and feels the ground she was laying on. She can smell the fresh grass. She can hear the birds singing. Her breath starts to get deeper. She doesn’t think about anything, like the Past and the Future are not there anymore. There’s just her and that moment. She can feel a tear falling down from corner of her eye, a tear of relief. She smiles with her eyes still closed.
She can finally feel joy and she is so grateful for that present moment. That’s it! The Present! The missing piece, the only place to be and the only place to feel alive.
She opens her eyes and gets up slowly. The weakness of her body is still there but her spirit is re-born. She feels the desire to love, dance, sing, laugh, cry, create, inspire… She feels the desire to live!
And yet there they are – the Past and the Future each on one side. She is still a little bit nervous in their presence but she finally feels she can stop running from the Past and be in peace with Future.
She feels that she’s getting back the power over her life, her senses are getting sharp again and her mind is getting clear. There’s only now and nothing else.
That’s when she notices the Past and the Future slowly moving away. It’s happening so slow that she thinks that she’s not seeing right, but with every centimeter the distance was bigger.
Is this even possible? After all this time, everything happened so fast that it doesn’t even seem real.
While still trying to figure out what is going on, she could swear she hears the Present whispering to her ear: “Welcome back.”
I don't know why and how this happened, but all of a sudden I felt the urge to write this. Maybe the inspiration came from the two books I finished reading recently or maybe @hazem91's stories and poems planted a seed in my mind but it felt so good and so weird at the same time because I never wrote anything like this before. And I have to be honest, I am nervous and a little bit insecure about putting this out there for everyone to read, but I'll do it anyway.
I would love to hear your honest opinion about this little story? I don't know if I'll ever get this urge and inspiration to write again, so this might be the only time or beginning of something new and special for me.
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You are sooo good and very talented.
I felt like I'm in there running like the girl.
Beautiful story....make some more!!!
Thank you so much!
I guess we can all, more or less, relate to this girl.
I hope I'll get inspiration to write again! :)
Best and inspirational story you write. Past is just like a shadow which follow you where ever you run. But when you run towards light it will always chasing you but will never caught you.
Life is too short to worry about stupid things happen in past, regret nothing, fall in love again and again. Never let people bring you down.
Thank you so much for your comment!
I totally agree with everything you said.
I wish you a lovely day, keep enjoying life! :)
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waw this is A-MA-ZING
you have your way with woeds my friend ;)
Thank you! :)
I value your opinion a lot, not only as a friend but as a writer as well. :D
Do I sense a little bit of autobiography in your story maybe? I could relate a great deal to the story and liked it a lot. Also, considering English is not your native language, you have captured tensions and emotions brilliantly. I think this is something you should do more of. Thank you for overcoming your nerves and letting us share your writing. :-)
There's definitely a little bit of autobiography there. I guess that we've all been in this situation at some point in our lives, where we are living in the past or over-thinking about future and forget to be present and enjoy life as it is now.
Thank you so much for your nice words. Writing on Steemit really helped me a lot with my English, even though there is still room to improve, hehe.
I hope I'll get inspired to write again.
I'm sure you will. Looking forward to your next missive.
Great story!!
Thank you, I appreciate it! :)
Beautiful story :) I am sure many of us can relate to this story of being haunted by the past and wanting to get to the future. How rewarding to find that place of peace between the two.
That's exactly how I was feeling and what I was thinking while writing this and it's nice to know that people can relate to it.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! :)Totally @sagescrub!
Your story is not just a story! Maybe it's that click that will help someone realize that they should finally stop running, that they should stop for a moment and think that running will just bring them to the end of the life...
Sometimes we forget to live, as simple as that.
I would be happy to now that this story inspired someone to feel the way you described.
This is so true!
Thank you so much for your kind comment! :)
Thank you @cheersmeup! :)