I walk in a world where, like in a game you need to always be behind someone and also have someone following you. So like an endless Congo line people move through the world. Some lines I walk down are fast and some are slow. Some I walk in silence, in others everyone sings in unison, or chat loudly.
If I wish to change direction or line I have to quickly find a gap or have eye contact with someone who will let me in. It’s rare but happens that two people want to change into each other’s lines and they end up spinning in a half circle, grabbing each other’s arms, letting go when in the other line. Sometimes I recognize someone I know and join their line to catch up, or I wave at them when passing.
In the city it becomes denser and navigating in any direction is tricky, where one needs skills to maneuver through. You pass people on the sidewalk, alone and without a line that have lost or given up on their direction. It’s sad but everyone walks on, and every now and then one of the lineless gets up and rejoins the line.
I pass many familiar places in the city and I love seeing all the tight knit lines move in different directions. One line hits a dead end and stops, with much arguing and discussion. Eventually those at the start of the line break down the wall and continue impatiently. I pass many of these overcome roadblocks, some have been ground to dust, and others you still have to step over. It’s a way of life, a secure network in which you navigate within solid lines, never questioning where the beginning or the end is. It’s worrisome if it gets late, you need to make sure you can still find a line that goes past where you to want to go, almost like a bus home.
I pass a line of dancing people; some members are dancing so energetically that they almost dance out of the line, almost. Another line is a singing progression, slow sad melodies, whereas another is upbeat and loud.
All of a sudden I find myself between lines, not following either. I’m face to face with myself. Only not like a reflection, this person moves separately from me. She smirks and tells me that I should hurry up and reach the end of the corridor, because at the end, once I reach the opening to the answers I will have to confront her/myself. I will have to kill her or she will have to kill me, because I want to go out, she wants to go in, however only one can pass into the other dimension.
I snap back into the reality and quickly join the nearest line, one moving the fastest away from her. A few line switches later I look back and don’t see her, I breathe slowly again and continue on my normal route through the day. My path through life which has no beginning and no end. It just goes on and on in an infinite cycle, for once I’m dead someone else will walk in that line.