This Is Where I'd Run Away To

If I could run away to anywhere, anywhere, this is what it’d be like:

A simple white staircase materializes in the air about a foot and a half off the ground. I climb up and up it. It’s sunny, but the warmth is balanced by a cool breeze. I climb further and further into a cerulean sky containing puffs of silky white clouds. Except for the beating of my heart and sound of my footsteps, everything is peacefully silent. The ground drops away behind me, and the staircase begins to retract from the ground. Eventually, I near a white-lacquered circular platform in the sky. On it rests a large king-size bed covered in a huge white down comforter. There are four soft and squishy pillows on it. Silk curtains surround the bed and billow in the wind. As I reach the platform, the rest of the staircase folds up into itself.

I go and just rest on the bed. The temperature is perfect, not too hot or too cold. The wind gently blows and the silk curtains ripple across my skin. I sink into the wonderful softness of the bed, and a deep sleep gently begins to ease the tension and aches from my body. I don’t have nightmares, only the best kinds of dreams-flying dreams and dreams where I’m a hero and dreams where people are happy and know what happiness is and dreams where I know for certain that God is real and that God loves me. Dreams where I talk to Jesus and he helps heal me. Dreams where I talk to my Grandpa and Great Grandma. Dreams of a world that is peaceful and loving and no more darkness hovers around me like an obstinate rain cloud. Dreams where life is what I imagined it would be. Where I get into the schools of my dreams and am very intelligent and really do make a difference. Where I help end ghettos in the inner-city and save child soldiers in Africa and stop rape around the world. Where I find my soul mate who joins me on my mission to make the world a better place.

And when I wake up from these dreams, I sit on the edge of the smooth white plastic platform and gently swing my feet back and forth in the air. I slow my feet to a hault and place a hand on each side of my body. I grip the ledge with my hands, flex my muscles, and push myself off. I gracefully fall through the air, something between an absolute free fall and floating. I reach a cloud and gently sink into its silky whiteness. I lay there and rest some more. And I feel a bit better. Overall though, I still feel very tired, like I could go on resting in this place for a very long time before I ever feel truly energized again. I don’t know how long I’ll stay here, but I do know that the world up here seems nicer than the one below, and I do not want to leave it just yet…