Chapter 25 - LOST IN THE WILDERNESS FOR ETERNITY?

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Ryan and Stephen woke up in the wilderness

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Ryan and Stephen woke up in the wilderness. It was dark, cold, and foggy, not night time just a dark and cloudy day, the fog made everything seem eerie and cold

''Where are we'' Stephen said ''how come we're not dead? I thought we were granted death and freedom?''

''Maybe it was another one of your father's cruel tricks'' Ryan said bitterly ''trick us into thinking we're dead and free and the next thing we wake up to find we aren't dead and we aren't free''

The two boys started to walk in the wilderness. At times it was peaceful and nice. At other times it was dark and creepy. Trees stretching on forever and so silent. No signs of life except for them. No other people, no animals, no birds. Just trees and bushes. It was always dark and overcast with dark clouds and fog. Every now and then they thought they saw a shadow or a figure in the distance, like a person or a ''creature'' was standing. But every time it would vanish again as they got closer to it.

''Look there has to be a way out of these woods'' Ryan said after they had been walking around for what certainly felt like an eternity but they had no idea how long it had actually been. All sense of time was no longer there, it felt like they were just in one never-ending moment on a loop, it would repeat over and over like that bit in cartoons where the background animation repeats over and over. They passed the same tree millions of times or a different tree that looked the same. In the end, all the trees looked the same, none of them had leaves on them. There were no flowers, no grass, and no greenery in these woods. Everything was bare because it was eternally winter here. Then the snow and the hurricane came, The boys tried to shelter but there was nowhere to shelter. They were cold and wet and some of the trees started to fall on them and crush them but instead of dying they just felt the agony of being crushed and then the tree would vanish and they survived to carry on suffering. 

''Are we really going to be lost in the wilderness for eternity?'' Stephen wept, thousands of years later  

Then they came to a hidden doorway in the middle of a meadow

''SECRET GARDEN'' it said on a sign above the door. The two boys entered the garden. To their delight it was sunny here, there were flowers and birds and a pond and squirrels running up the trees.

They walked around the garden in joy. There was another doorway this on said '' open this door and walk this way to freedom''

Both boys looked at each other and felt reluctant to open the door. What if it was another trick or what if the doorway led somewhere even worse? Maybe they should stay in the secret garden? it was nice here. But even if they stayed here forever it would still get boring no matter how nice it was. A voice read their minds

''You can't stay here you have to go through the door'' the voice told them ''freedom awaits you on the other side I promise you'' 

Scared but deciding they had no choice, they had to find out what was behind the door, if freedom really awaited them, the two boys opened the door and walked through it.

There was a long long tunnel, they walked and walked, they had no idea when the tunnel would end but one thing gave them hope. At first, the tunnel was dark and the further they walked more and more light started coming into the tunnel. Now they hoped that the light was taking them to freedom but they still weren't sure if it was just another cruel trick and another false hope. They carried on walking towards the light...

NOTE - THIS  IS WHERE I AM CHOOSING TO END IT. THIS ENDING IS  DELIBERATELY AMBIGUOUS. AS THE READER YOU CAN DECIDE YOUR OWN ENDING, I WILL LEAVE IT TO YOU TO DECIDE IF RYAN AND STEPHEN EVER FOUND FREEDOM OR IF THEY WERE LOST IN THE WILDERNESS FOREVER. ALL THREE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS KIND OF GET AMBIGUOUS ENDINGS, IT'S NOT CLEAR IF JAKE WAS REALLY BETTER OFF WITH THE OTHER GOD, AND IT'S NOT CLEAR IF LIAM WAS TRULY HAPPY WITH THE LORD OF THE BOYS OR IF HE JUST FELT FORCED INTO IT AND TRIED TO MAKE THE BEST OF IT. 

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