A Small Adventure And A Forbidden Gateway

black and white photography, Fiction Story, West Virginia

I exited the highway and slowly drifted down the muddy road. A few days prior I’d spotted the tunnel. The entrance is dark and foreboding. The Virginia Creeper vines hang across the opening as if they’re daring me to step within reach. Just on the other side the light falls gently on a peaceful looking forest. This is a mystery. My mind harkens back to my childhood and games of dungeons and dragons. What will happen if I cross the threshold? Will the vines try to grab me and pull me up into some primeval jungle? Will I find out the peaceful scene on the other side is just an illusion as I’m transported to an alternate reality by some mystical gateway? Will I find an angry axe wielding ogre waiting to squish me into jelly? My sense of fantasy and adventure begins to run wild. I began to recall hours of solving puzzles and riddles with my college friends in a world where one’s fate was controlled by the roll of a 20 sided die. It was pure escapism. Magical swords, cursed rings and legendary beasts all awaited us on Thursday nights in the student lounge.

The best games were the ones where we bent the rules just a little to keep the story going. I was tempted to temp fate and enter the tunnel for a few minutes. I quickly checked my pocket and found my trusty Victorinox Swiss Army Knife to fend away the vines. However, I remembered that the 20 sided die was lost to a wild roll and an open floor vent in 1988. Unwilling to face any axe wielding ogres without my lucky die, I opted to stay in the real world…for now. I turned my big blue truck back towards the open road and my day job where the vines don’t try to eat you. However, I am a little suspicious of the ficus in the corner of the office. 😉

18 thoughts on “A Small Adventure And A Forbidden Gateway”

      1. I did my research on ogre from it I come to know about the story of Puss in Boots … There is kind of similar story my granny use to tell me … The only similarity is that the way the cat helps it’s master to marry a princess . Here a talking bitch help it’s master to won the heart of her king.

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      2. The ogre are similar in mythology to the Cyclops.

        The story of the bitch sounds interesting. Most of the talking animals in our legends are tricksters. Generally speaking you can trust birds and dogs. 😁

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      3. Hahahhahahah true the way she (bitch) deals with the situation was awesome . The way she terrifies lord Shiva was way more hilarious 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

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      7. I don’t really calibrate it myself. But since you asked, it was the Celtic New Year at first. (My ancestors were Celts and Native Americans) the Celtic culture believed that that’s when the ghosts would enter the afterlife and that all kinds of evil spirits would come in from the other world. At some point, they decided that they could use masks to fool the evil spirits into thinking that all the humans were gone and only other evil spirits lived there. Later, the Catholic church tried to Christianize the holiday by calling it All Saints Day. (November first) the night before was called All Hallows Eve (Hallows meaning that which is holy) but the old ways didn’t go away like Christmas and many of the old traditions are still practiced in ignorance. For example, the Celts would leave food out to bribe the evil spirits into going away. That’s why we give out candy to kids dressed up like spirits ( or super heroes today). If the spirit didn’t get his bribe he would play tricks on the poor Celt like Turning the milk sour or making a mess. So today if you don’t give out candy to kids the kids play tricks on you.

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  4. I remember watching a horror film were demons lurked within the walls of a certain tunnel that afterwards, for a while, I viewed tunnels with great suspicion. This picture has brought back so many memories. Well done, this belongs in a horror film (in a good way). 🤣

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    2. Thank you Sophia ❤ It gave me the same feeling.😀 I would love to have just the right models who could change wardrobes and do some fun photos in places like this.
      Perhaps one day I'll find a girl who is into steam punk and able to do some. 🤔 She could beat the monsters!

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