Life was Death, Death was Life

He dropped to his knees and kissed the ground. He could taste the freshness of the grit as he licked his lips. Stuck in the unknown tunnel and lost, Sam thought he was a goner for sure. Left in the throughs of death, Sam was sure he was hallucinating when he saw the dim light ahead.

Stranded in the middle, lost in time, Sam felt as though he was underwater. The darkness pressing against his chest was the only knowledge Sam had to know his body was still desperately clinging to life.

Like an animal, he had scavenged the dirt floor for anything that would pass as food. Sam thought about what he might have been eating, knowing that some things were dead, and had been for quite some time, he shuddered at the thought. Slowly descending the stone steps, Sam masked his eyes with his hands, trying to block out the brilliance of the sun.

Halfway down, Sam succumbed to tears and lowered himself into a sitting position. He was so close to returning to the land of the living, but his frail body was rebelling against him. As unconsciousness took him, Sam tried to clear the fog in his mind long enough to look at the tree growing near the stairs. Clawing his way to the surface to catch one last glimpse, Sam realized just a little too late, that the tree was dead. His body betrayed him too soon leaving his soul to cross over into the world of the dead. Oddly, he discovered he felt at peace.