The Path to the East

                                    

                                          


                          
Inching her way down the unmoving conveyor belt, rain pouring down on her despite the umbrella, wind tearing at her fingertips, and lightning blistering too close for comfort, Day was definitely regretting her decision. She tried to seek shelter, any shelter, but all the shops were closed and Day did not want to go home until after she found the source of this strange light. She glanced around anxiously. That's when, of course, a peal of thunder sounded right as a lighting bolt struck only feet away and threw her under a moaning tree. 
Of course, Day realized. The umbrella attracted the lightning. After pausing a moment, thinking this was the only one her family had, she tossed the umbrella into the wailing storm which happily accepted the gift and played with it, tossing it higher and higher until it was out of her sight. She sighed, then looked around and realized this served as a brief respite from the rain. The small clearing under this tree was relatively dry, and she could wait the storm out in here. But then she paused. She had never seen the moonlight come in the day so she sighed wearily, again. 
                          
"I have come to find the daybreak." she announced to the rushing wind, moaning trees, and churning clouds. Then she stepped out of her relative shelter and, fingering her hastily made pack, started to walk along the conveyor belt again. The storm pounded her, relentless, and she kept on walking. All she became aware of was putting one step in front of the other and submitting her body to the elements, not feeling a thing even as it was battered and beaten by wind and rain. 
                          
The wind ripped her hair around her in a frenzy and she clutched her micro-fiber jacket closer. Day sank to the ground and let the wind do as it wished with her tormented body. 
                          
"I live for daybreak." she announced to the darkness that hid moaning voices from her prying eyes. Then, her flashlight flickered out and she was left in complete black. The threads of lightning flickering across the forever night sky were her only hope. The boom of thunder crackled her eardrums. 
                          
Silence. Then... 
                          
Moonlight. 
                          
Day lifted her head and fixed her eyes on the light, now silver out of the house she had left behind. It shone a path of hope through the thunder and lightning and rain and wind. It seemed to silence the storm, and the eerie beauty left Day's mouth open in amazement, rain silently stealing into her mouth as it stayed open, her watching. 
                          
The beam of moonlight unfolded from the clouds and came to rest on the ground. It was quiet, except for that eerie moan. It shimmered, then sank into the soil, leaving only a slick outline in the earth. The path was straight forward and seemed to lead to the east. Day looked at it, then stood up. But as she did that, she fell to her knees in wonder and reverence. 
                          
For the stormy clouds parted and she saw the moon. She was the first human who had seen it for four hundred years. 
                          
Though seemingly small in the night sky, it beamed a glory and beauty Day could only begin to imagine. It stretched it's radiance over the black clouds that had hidden it for so long, the clouds that had wiped the faces of humans to bleakness because of the lack of light, true light. 
                          
But not anymore. 
                          
Day sensed something alive about that beautiful sphere of silver hovering regally in the sky. Something alive and calm and kind. Something that was there to give hope in times of darkness. Like what it was doing now. Ironically.  Day bowed her head in complete submission to the moon. Then she looked up to the fading path to the east. The clouds closed around the brightness and it was dark again. 
                          
Except not completely. 
The path was faintly shining. Not enough to completely light the way, but enough. Day stood up and shook herself. 
                          
"I have seen moonbreak." she whispered. The storm was tossing once again, but now the rain was warm on her back. "Now I must find the daybreak." She looked at the stormy clouds that covered the sky and lifted her shoulders. 
"I shall find daybreak." she told herself. And for the first time, she believed it. 
                          


                          
Day felt her feet sag on the smooth path towards the east. She paused, and drank a bit of water from her water purifier. The gray dawn brought was starting to creep up from the east but the sky was still mostly black. She imagined the huge sun taking up half the sky, a loud and mighty force, ruthless and reckless and something to be respected. She expected nothing else. The slickness of the path had caused her feet to slip several times and a few bruises dotted her side. And she was so tired... 

                          
Day shook herself and lifted her head. The bare trees rattled in the cold wind and the rain had eased off like it did every morning. Day told herself to keep walking, keep on going. To never give up. But the path was fading and she was so tired. 
                          
Day collapsed to the ground in sleep.