You’ve been going down the path for hours now.

Well, you’re not quite sure it’s been that long, but it sure feels as such. The walls have not changed; a simple beige wallpaper decorates them. It’s been laid out flat, no bumps or tears in it as far as your eye can see. You’ve run your hand against them long enough to prove your eyes right.

It feels like you are in someone’s home, but that’s not possible, the hallways cannot go on for this long.

You remember vaguely turning a few corners here and there.

A right, a left, two rights…maybe three?

Whatever, you say to yourself, there’s no reason to attempt tracking the path. You’ve already tried going back the way you came. The halls change.

That right corner you turned?

It smoothed out, curving a bit more to the left than you last remembered.

Curious, you think, how the walls never go up or down. There have been no stairs, nor bend in the floorboard to indicate that you’ve gone farther down, deeper into the earth. You travel through a never ending pathway, no way back the way you came (and a seemingly never ending way forward).

Your stomach aches; when was the last time you ate? Drank a glass of water?

Your heart is beating so fast you can practically hear the blood pumping through your veins.

Maybe it has been hours, you worry, could have been days for all you know.

Your feet ache. Your joints are stiff. Your head is pounding.

You lean your back against the nearest wall and slide down until you are seated. You cross your legs and put your head on your knees. You hug yourself just a tad too tightly.

Soon enough, you’ll start feeling truly trapped. You will start getting paranoid. Feral, to the point of clawing at the finely glued wallpaper.

Eventually, you will break your hand in a poor attempt to break the wood apart and will resort to slamming your head into the walls over and over and over—

In this moment, however, you hope tomorrow will be a fresh start you need to continue on your way.

Hopefully tomorrow you can find the strength within yourself to keep moving forward.

(You know deep down you won’t)