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You’re in a peaceful, wide open field without a worry or care in your mind. It’s a place you aren’t sure about, and you’re not positive how you got here.

You haven’t got a lot, but you’ve got enough.

You’re not in picture-perfect health, but  you’re not hurting and far from death. You’re content, not wanting anything. The area seems generally safe, so you wander around exploring a bit.

The grass is soft and fluffy, the breeze is perfect, and you can see up and down the gently rolling hills until the distance carries them away. There don’t seem to be any threats or dangers in this place. The air is crisp and clean, and the sky is a striking, uninterrupted blue. The sun is shining warm on your clean skin, and the clouds seem to be something perfect. Everything looks drawn out of a cartoon.

You could stay here for a while, so you do. And it’s nice. It’s pleasant. A calm smile stretches across your face as you inhale deeply and close your eyes with a full and satisfying exhale.

Over the next hill you notice a rock wall. It is clearly man-made.

It stands high, with no signs of entrance or exit way around at either end and definitely no way to see what is on the other side. It is daunting and grim.

You feel an inexplicable and overwhelming urge that comes over you to see what is on the other side of this wall. You have no idea what might be over there, but somehow you must have it. You scour the wall for doors or cracks, trekking further and further for a way around it. Days pass and though you finally find a large wooden door, it is locked. And though you’ve pushed and wedged and charged, there is no way to force it open.

You worry that you’ll never have it—this thing on the other side.

It’s been weeks now, and you are frustrated. Beaten and worn down. About to collapse to the ground in exhaustion.

Just as you say to yourself in tears, “I’ll never open this door or get to the other side of this wall,” the door opens.

You get up and walk closer. After all this waiting and anticipation, you expected you’d sprint to the other side, but now that the pathway is open, you walk tentatively. Because you’re scared. Because you’re unsure. Because you want this moment to last.

It looks welcoming on the other side.

It looks like everything you had on the previous side, but somehow you perceive it to be a little bit better. You take a couple steps through the seemingly sacred gate. For a moment you even feel proud. Happy.

As you take another step, you look back at gate.

Confusion sets in as you notice the impenetrable wall and overarching gate have both vanquished. They are gone, without a trace. It’s as if there never was a wall. Seeing this now you have no idea what to feel.

Billy Hafferty

Billy Hafferty is probably still hanging out of the passenger side of his best friend's ride trying to holler at you.

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