Vast empty expanse

Of white linoleum

Faces us as we journey to the unknown.

Always forward

Never right nor left.

They come towards us

From the opposite direction.

Their leader pauses

To kiss the head of our line.

A kiss bearing top-secret information

“Another barricade of poisonous powder.

One of our men died just stepping on it.”

The wind carries the words to all of us,

Yet we move forward

Always forward.

But what is to the left and right?

More white,

More emptiness,

Made more alluring by its difference in direction.

I turn and march to the right.

“Hey, where are you going?”

I don’t know either.

But won’t it be fun to find out?

I zigzag left and right,

Weaving through the ghosts in my head.

Oblivious to the flesh monument falling from the sky,

I never saw it coming.

The vast white expanse stretches towards me.

White…

“Oh God.”

Gray…

“I knew him when…”

Black.