The girl stands alone in the room.
Before her are two hallways,
A decision to be made.
Her gut tells her to go right, into the lighter hallway,
But her friends went to the left, into the dark.
She is confused and unsure of where to go.

She goes left.

As she walks down the pitch black hallway,
Silence surrounds her.
She sees nothing,
Hears nothing.
In her mind, she sees the face of her mother,
Disappointed that she has decided to follow others.
Worried, she walks faster.

Again, she reaches an empty room
Again, she sees two hallways,
Two waiting choices.
Faintly she hears her friends
And runs towards the sound of their voices,
Ignoring the other option.

She enters the left hallway

This hallway is darker and worse than the previous.
At one point, she stops to try and see in the dark.
She fails.
She sees her father’s face.
He seems angry with her for her decisions.
Tears stream down her face as she walks further and further into the darkness.
Suddenly, the hallway turns.
She walks into the wall.
She keeps going.

And approaches another waiting room.
Frantic she can hear her friends no longer,
She runs through the first hallway she sees.

The left one.

This hallway is harder to walk through.
The ceiling is low, forcing her to crouch.
She runs hunched over,
Desperate to reach the end.

As she crouches in the dark walkway,
She sees the face of her sister,
The beautiful young child who looks to her for guidance.
By this time, the girl is so far gone,
The scared, confused look upon her sister’s face does nothing.

Another room,
Two more options.
The girl stumbles into the room
And heads straight for the left entrance.

As soon as she enters,
She is forced onto her hands and knees.
She crawls through the hallway in the dark,
Not caring when she runs in to the wall,
Not even recognizing the concerned faces of her friends, her family,
As they flash through her mind.

The last room arrives.
Barely able to pull herself in,
The girl collapses on the floor.
Too spent to go on.

She turns and sees the tear-streaked faces of her loved ones,
Sadly watching her turning away from them.
She sees her sister,
The beautiful young child who looks to her for guidance.
She sees her mother, her father,
No longer angry or disappointed.
Just sad.

Their love courses through her
And gives her strength.
She slowly turns herself around
And starts crawling back through the tunnel,
Retracing her steps,
Learning from her mistakes,
And returning home once more.