Fabulous story, @apolymask :) Special little touches of truth mixed in with fiction makes for a very convincing story ;) You had me sucked into the drama and I was wondering how it was going to end...glad it had a happy ending! And nice message. I also thought your re-use of "one foot in front of the other" was a very nice touch....like a song's refrain - very effective!
I hope you write more short stories! Isn't it amazing how inspiration and creativity are contagious? I love that and what you wrote to @charisma777 It's true....
And
Those sleep paralysis experiences are no fun! ha!
Thanks! :) In a sense the more I think about it, the more the story is sort of a metaphor for dealing with your shadow side. And.. This is an interesting subject for me. Cause.. I do think in a sense you need to try to hug and love your shadow self, but not too much or else you'll become it even more and manifest or embody that so to speak.. So.. Love your shadow self and then destroy it. Though perhaps some day the destroying part won't be necessary and it'll be possible to just hug the shadow self.
I'm not sure if that's possible or not.. Or how entertaining of a read it would be, heh.. But.. Something to think about! I still believe strongly in self defense, so.. Not a pacifist, but maybe some day I will be. I do have a certain kind of admiration for those who refuse to fight, even though I think it shows a high level of self value and love to fight, for all involved. So it's definitely a deep complex philosophical subject if you get into it in my opinion.. I still haven't totally figured it out, and it's fun to explore in little fictional short stories like this one. :)
Also glad you noticed the "One foot in front of the other foot" part, I thought that was good and meaningful how it repeated like that! :)
Well if you hope I write more short stories, then.. I even more plan on it now! :D
Thanks for the great feedback!
PS.. Yeah.. The sleep paralysis stuff or nightmares or whatever you wanna call them are not fun, I had another one not too long ago, though it was much more clearly a dream, but one that felt sorta foreign, like.. A being somehow got into my dreams, which is bizarre and hard to explain, though.. It felt like not an ordinary nightmare, there was an extra real element to it, like someone somewhere in the world was cursing me or something, heh. The dream world is an interesting one I haven't explored enough since I was younger! I think there's a lot of mysteries to be discovered there.
What an interesting concept....to write a story about your shadow self. In a way, I think my "Girl in a Box" poem was like that. It got a little confusing trying to write from both perspectives - yet it being the same person. But actually it was quite healing. Wounded self/shadow self - are they the same? Hmmmm so interesting.
Hey, writing is an amazing tool for self exploration - it's surprising what comes out of the other side when you finish a piece. We need that creative or soul searching/expressing time-teaches so much.
Yes, yes....that was a really special part of your story repeating "One foot in front of the other foot"
I actually thought that was pretty cool little insert how you included the sleep paralysis in your story. I've had this since I was a child (luckily never saw any hallucinations the experience itself is bad enough). I had 3 or 4 in one night a few years ago and I decided to do some deep researching on the topic (which is also not fun). Two things popped up that people swore by - Rosemary oil on the headboard and sleeping on your side. I tried both and sleeping on my side really did stop it. My sleep paralysis had evolved into literally not being able to 'breathe' - Can someone die of sleep paralysis? Felt like it to me!