{"id":4445,"date":"2025-03-21T13:50:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4445"},"modified":"2025-03-21T14:05:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T18:05:53","slug":"an-awakening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4445","title":{"rendered":"An Awakening"},"content":{"rendered":"

The writing prompt for this piece was Write about a character coming out of a long hibernation (either literal or metaphorical).<\/em><\/p>\n

An Awakening<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

YAWNNN!<\/p>\n

My eyes slowly opened. It took a while for the fog to clear from my brain and the fuzzy scene ahead of me to clear up.<\/p>\n

As I looked around me, I noticed that things had changed since I had fallen asleep. I remember being lost in the woods. I remember the fear of what was in the woods. There were wild animals, who I was sure were looking for a tasty treat.<\/p>\n

There were hunters, some out for sport, some out for necessity, some out just to protect themselves.<\/p>\n

How did I fit into all of this?<\/p>\n

Of course, with no mirror to reflect my visage to me, how had I changed, and for how long was I asleep?<\/p>\n

The cobwebs in my brain began to loosen themselves. More memories came back to me. It wasn\u2019t the woods I had been in but a room of some sort. Three walls were white, and the fourth wall had a definite locked gate. Was it a cage or a prison cell? Why was I there? Someone must have put me here. I remember hearing a voice and felt a sharp sting on my arm. The next thing I knew was waking up here.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not in a cell anymore. It appears I\u2019m in an unknown forest.<\/p>\n

What is happening?<\/p>\n

I steady myself and discover that I am not being restrained. I am mobile. As I move forward, I hear the speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet rid of them all,\u201d is shouted out. \u201cFind them before they get to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

What could that mean? Who is talking? Where am I?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not like us,\u201d the voice continued. \u201cIt would be better if they\u2019re gone permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was followed by a large cheer from just beyond the woods I found myself in.<\/p>\n

I was going to go forward to see what all this was about when I heard a voice behind me call out, whispering loudly, \u201cNot that way, Follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I turned to see someone in a green suit. I would have said it was Peter Pan, but I knew better.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure why I trusted him, but I did as he said.<\/p>\n

He led me further into the woods and then out into a clearing where several other people were sitting on the ground, looking just as confused as I was. This green-clad person pointed to a spot next to one of the ones on the ground.<\/p>\n

I sat.<\/p>\n

Before I could say anything, a voice said, \u201cThere is no hope for them. They don\u2019t follow reason. For them, this world is a plaything, not a place to inhabit. Let them be, and they will destroy themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

More things became clear in my mind. Despotic rulers, climate change, hatred, bigotry, and lies.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow me,\u201d said the green-clad man, \u201cand we will go to a better place, a better world, one of hope, one of trust, one of caring and empathy, one worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was about to get up and join the others and follow this idealist when I stopped. I called out, \u201cIf this world is worth fighting for, then let\u2019s fight, not abandon those unaware of what\u2019s happening. Let\u2019s educate them and build our world here, not somewhere else.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what made me say it. It might even be why I was put in that cell before being rescued. But it made much more sense than giving up and running away.<\/p>\n

As luck would have it, I wasn\u2019t the only person that felt that way. We all did. We chose not to leave with that green-clad man. We would be the hope for change.<\/p>\n

Last I heard, the green-clad man returned to that group on the other side of the woods and called out to their leader that he had failed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The writing prompt for this piece was Write about a character coming out of a long hibernation (either literal or metaphorical). An Awakening YAWNNN! My eyes slowly opened. It took a while for the fog to clear from my brain … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-4445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-stories","category-story-writing","tag-writing-prompt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4445"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4452,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4445\/revisions\/4452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}