The next time he awoke he had even less of an idea of the time or day than he did before, but that hardly mattered. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, in those few moments when you have no idea whether your eyes are open or shut, he saw the door, sideways as he lay. He imagined the door opening sideways, the huge iron drawbridge falling to earth, providing the access he was so afraid of. He saw Chance and Possibility both, standing in the blinding light of the open doorway, walking slowly towards him, across the drawbridge. The twin intruders walked towards him as slow and unavoidable as death itself, until his strained eyes revolted and blinked twice. The image dissolved as he sat up, righting the door. He crawled weakly to his corner, and sat huddled. His eyes wandered across the room, the windows and the bed, and once again rested where he knew they would.

That door…there was something odd about it this time; as if something should have happened to it but had not, some event he was waiting for, something he could not place. Perhaps it was the strange bowing out of the door that caused this neuron misfire in his mind. Perhaps it was the door that was so violently flying from its hinges that caused his confusion.

The men came with an inhuman quickness through the doorway, still smoldering from the force of the explosion. The light blinded him for mere seconds before everything was dark again, something he was used to. Once again however, there was a difference. He could feel this darkness against his head, against his face. This darkness caused his hot breath to hang where he could feel it on his cheeks. Slowly he became aware of a vibration under him, a loud noise all around him. He felt the uncomfortable aura of an unknown human presence near him. In his state, he did not realize that he was being moved.

He sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Not the clichéd novel type of eternity, but just…eternity; until he felt what he thought was a boot on his back. He did not realize it had caused him to fall until after he had hit the dirt. His weak limbs slowly removed the darkness from his head and let it fall in a heap of cloth. His eyes scrambled about, searching in vain for the door, but could only see a long winding path in front of him, and bare autumn trees to the sides of him. He stumbled down the path as it led him, as if that door had fallen to earth and stretched itself to show him the way. His unease at leaving the room slowly faded and was replaced by the chill of nothingness as his eyes scanned this unfamiliar terrain. He realized that, as his eyes wandered freely about the landscape, he expected to see what he saw, as if he recognized this entire place on some subconscious level. He knew he had never been here, and so continued on.

The feel of the path under his feet, the sound of leaves, the air in his lungs, all served to awaken a sleeping part of his brain shut down by the room unknown ages ago. He turned a corner, wondering why he chose do so and noticed a fenced in grove of trees. He felt compelled to walk towards them. Why would there be a fenced in area in this barren forest? Who took care of it? Why take care of something no one will ever see? Questions slowly rose in his head for the first time in ages.

It should at least provide a good chuckle to anyone out there that still follows this journal.

The One Words still sit here on my desk. Reminding me of my fears. I need to do something decisive about them.

I suppose I have no one to blame but myself.

Will, our schedules seem to consistantly be too different to ever be able to talk to you face to face, so if you read this, come find me. I need to know what you’ve been up to.

I’ve been away a long time. This place feels as alien as it did the first time I decided to stay down here. When the influx of weekend-explorers began again, it took its toll on my desire to continue my work. The snapshot-crowd isn’t why I came down here.

A fine layer of dust on my book and pen was the only change to my desk that greeted me those weeks ago.

It seems like a sort-out of priorities is in order.