A Second Chance, Chapter I

A Second Chance

Life is no more than a game of shadows and duty.

I was a kid back then i didn’t know much. I am Mathew Baker, grew up in the outskirts of a small town. I went to school, had no particular talents, awards or and big achievements in my life. One day though everything changed for me.

So how did it start you might wonder. Well it is no big surprise that the family I grew up with, was, let’s say not the best one. So, the one thing I liked to do and did best, was wondering for hours in the nearby forest. I used to spend lot of time there, visiting my secret spots that I really loved. My own little paradise.

The other thing I loved to do, was play games. Big surprise isn’t it. I spent most of my life in that box than I did with my family. I used to play games and watch series and movies. I was so fascinated by them, that I dreamt of entering these worlds, being part of them and living the story as the main protagonist. It was awesome.

Life though was not that kind to me - like the rest of the world - and I soon realised that they were only dreams and I needed to focus more about my duty as a kid. Duty! What a heavy and depressing word. So I did focus at that duty I hated so much. I was forced to study more and become a better functioning person, that could help society "thrive". So that one day I would go into that so called society and help it grow.
If I helped myself first to grow better, wouldn't I be more usefull to society? I asked myself. My father used to tell me all the time, about how important it is to be a functioning member of society and how valuable money are in today's world. He started as an accountant and climbed the ladder. He became rich and had a family. That’s me and my mother Helen.

Anyway, enough about him. So I did studied, left my little paradise and went off to become a "good" member of society. I found a job with my father's influence and that was when my boring and depressing life begun.

Working the same hours, doing the same thing, over and over again. Suddenly, I realised that the world was not a happy place. I saw the raw reality of the world. A boring and self-repeating place. But what does that really mean? You see people having fun, enjoying their lives, yet you don't. For you, everything is meaningless, colourless with no life and without interest.

For a big period of my life, I didn’t know what that meant, I couldn’t find the answers for that big void I had inside me. I lived that happy life everyone was talking about and yet there was nothing there. Going out with friends, drinking, smoking, having fun living the dream everyone was living and kept telling me about.

Later on, I became distant and tried to do something else with my life something more interesting to spent my time. It became unbearable you know, all of it. From this tiresome job, to the same things that I had to do - weel, and was doing - for the past ten years of my life. So, I took a little break, went on vacation by myself and a very dear friend, which I forgot to mention about.

He and I, used to hang out a lot when we were young. In those little beautiful spots I mentioned before. I still remember, all of it. There was this beautiful little place that was well hidden. It was next to a river. Imagine walking at the side of that river and see on your right a big tree and at each side, a small hill surrounding every edge of that tree. At first sight, it is a non interesting site, nothing unusual, nothing magical, one might say.

Once you go under the tree though that is were everything gets revealed. The sun goes through the branches and the leaves and there is this beautiful little spot next to the tree. Top of it, you can see the river in front of you. And you can lie down, listening to the river flowing and the birds singing.

So, Alex and I - that is my friend's name - used to go there a lot. It was our small breathe out of reality, our safe heaven. We got lost though and I didn’t see him for years, because he had to move out for some unexplained to me reasons. Later on, I found out that his parents went crazy and ended up killing each other so he had to go and live with his relatives.

As I was working and trying to live my boring life, I met him one day in a random cafe and that was when he told me what had happened to him and his family that period he lost contact. We were once again together and that was a good thing.

Among my colourless, boring, unimportant little life, I found a light somewhere along the way. So, we went on a vacation together. It was for a month. I wasn’t so important for my company and I was not going to be missed.

The name of the place we went is a secret. There is a reason for it.

Things said, pon a brief time, we were on board to the train, on road to our destination. Oh God, the landscapes were amazing.These places of nature, overlapping one another in such a unique and well organised way. The mountain on the background with the trees and the river cutting across. A small cabin between and a little path made from rocks. The sun shining from the side of the mountain to the trees and the nature was something magical.

Nature surprised me yet again. The only thing that could lighten up my dark and depressing world. That big gap I had inside me, that I so much hated and wanted to fix.


Author: Jimmy Novak