Presently in Clarity - A short story

At the start of the day there was a boy who could not fathom why he could not walk home on his own.   Often he would plead with his mother to allow him this one small amount of independence, and often she would deny this request.   This went on for some time, he would beg, and be denied and then morosely take the route with his mother holding his hand.    It was for the longest of days his normal routine, and although he hated it, it always happened.

There was something about having to be towed along hand in hand with his mother down those wooded paths.   It was a serene location, quiet save for the sounds of morning birds or the occasional crickets.   The silence was only interrupted by those creatures and the light hum that slightly rustled the leaves that dangled from lowly branches.   These wooded trails were to calm to be accompanied by another, he wanted to experience this natural wonder of his own accord and on his own.    For so long he strove for this sort of independence and he had hoped as he often did that if he complied with his mother's wishes that she would permit him even just once to make the journey alone.  As the days passed on this was not the case.

So it was on a lowly winter afternoon, before the snow had truly begun to fall that the boy gathered together his outdoor attire and meticulously put it on in as silent a manner as he could lest he awaken the ruler of his house.   Even as he tied his boots he did so with the fear that even the most strenuous tightening would release a noise that would warn the woman of her young son's escape.   After all was fasted, buttoned, and zipped he moved his gloved hand to the door knob and twisted it calmly, and as he pulled the door open it creaked, and then creaked once more, and then a third louder time for good measure.   As these simple sounds echoed out into the quiet home he waited to hear her footsteps overhead but they did not arrive.   For now he was safe.

When the door was shut, and he had strolled on a ways he took a moment to take in what he had accomplished for here he was now safe from reprimand, but only for the time being.   Eventually her alarms would stir her, or her sleep would have been enough and she would notice his boots gone, and his coat, and himself absent from the premises.   He had to act fast for it was only his wish to experience it alone only for a moment and be back without worrying, or bothering his mother.

The morning birds were silent that morning.   And in the cold weather there were no crickets to chirp forth, and event the air itself was still, and the baren branches had no leaves to rustle had the wind been active.   The barren world before him was not what he wanted.   He strolled on regardless, with one foot then the other.   It was true that he was feeling fullfilled, but this was not what he had wanted to see.   It was as though everything were on another plane, in some place beyond this earthly world.  The cold had killed it all, and he was now alone in the presence of everything that he wanted, but not as he wanted it.