Hello. My name is Child.

When I came into this World, it was with Light on my brow, and Hope under my eyelids.

I have no age, really.

I just felt very young, yet a bit wise at the same time. I don't even know how I got here. I just opened my eyes One Day, and there I was.

Over the years, my outside Body grew. But I myself stayed the same.

I had a fixed train ride into Life too, to help make things easier. I watched with pride as my Body grew stronger, and did amazing things. And oh, the joy I felt when it won things and received recognition!

But it wasn't all sun and roses. I also watched with envy when other Bodies achieved even greater things. I watched with pain as sometimes, my Body's bad choices blew up in both our faces. Then I wept when we both lost pieces of our Soul, together with the ones whom we'd thought would stay with us.

Nevertheless, we lived on and the Train of Life continued steadily on its tracks. Most everything went according to plan...

My Body went through School, Puberty, High School, Life Lessons, and even University. All the good, expected things that should happen as a Body grows up.
In fact, it went on swimmingly for twenty years, just like this.

But Another One Day, disaster struck.

I woke up at night to find the Train shaking and rumbling like an earthquake around me. Then, it seemed to shrivel in on itself and blow outward. Finally, it just blew up. Or maybe I got blown out of it first. I don't know. It was hard to tell.

I met a second blackness that night. It was thick and unwholesome, not fresh and cool like night.

When I came to, I looked around for Body. We had been travelling as One for as long as I could remember.

I panicked when I didn't see it amidst the wreckage. I was about to cry out when I finally spotted it walking dazedly a distance away. I sucked in a breath worriedly and got up. It couldn't do without me. So I chased after it as fast as I could.

When I caught up with Body, it looked Lost. As I looked around again, I realised we were at an intersection. There were 2 paths diverging away from us.

I looked closer still, and each path diverged into two...then five...then ten... Finally, they all just coiled together like a medley of snakes and seemed to dance before my very eyes. I looked away and shook my head.

When I glanced at Body again, it had gone without me onto a random path. First, it kept going down, down, down it. Then, it went back up, up, up. Then, back down.

Sometimes, Body looked around and tried another path, skipping from one to the next. But always, its movements grew more frenzied and agitated. Now it was Double Lost.

I began to cry.

How would we know which Way to go?

How would we ever reach Any Place?

We would always be Going, and never Arriving.

I cried some more but knew I had no choice.

I followed after Body and embraced **her**. Even if we never Arrived, we could still walk Together. When I held her, Body finally stopped and let her arms hang down.

And then she finally cried.

**~ Growing up (19.06.21). Image by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash.**

© Abigail Sim