Long long ago, there was a little girl living with her mom and dad.
They were very happy together.
Until one day, a witch showed up at their door and took her dad away.
Mom got very sad and cried every day.
The little girl didn’t know what to do.
She made a wish to the stars
“I will become a witch when I grow up, and I will take my daddy back”.
Years passed. The little girl grew up.
She traveled all over the world looking for her dad.
She tried to find him in young man, old man, tall man, short man.
But she could not find him.
She didn’t know what she did wrong.
She was lost.
[ There are two endings of the story following…]
[ story 1]
One day, she came across a teddy bear.
He was very cute and fluffy.
She hugged him and that made her feel good.
But she realized after a while that the teddy bear was not what she was looking for.
She wanted her daddy.
So she left the teddy bear.
Teddy bear was very sad.
He cried a lot and a lot when she left.
She was sad too, but eventually, she moved on.
She doesn’t talk to teddy bear anymore.
Now she knew that her daddy is not teddy bear.
Daddy didn’t make her feel that good.
She started looking for daddy in the opposite of teddy bear.
She looked for other toys, rocks, cars, knives…
She almost cut herself with knives but luckily she stopped before that happened.
She remembered. Daddy doesn’t cut or hurt her like the knives either.
She continued on.
Where did she look next?
The forest.
Because that’s where she remembered the witch lived, where daddy might be.
So she went into the forest, talked to bunnies, dears, bears, and even tigers, but no one knew where daddy is.
She was disappointed.
Does daddy really exist in the first place? She pondered.
The next few years, she stopped looking for her daddy.
She thought she could put the memory away and be happy. After all, it was only for a very short period that she had him with her.
However, she didn’t get any happier by forgetting him.
Without that memory, she didn’t know who she was and what she was living for anymore.
Days went by and nothing mattered to her.
Just then, a miracle happened when she was about to give up life altogether.
Time stopped.
And now she doesn’t travel forward in time anymore, but backward.
She can go see her daddy again, she realized!
She ran back in time, to the moment before the witch came.
She saw the house they used to live in.
Memory started to come back.
She was so excited.
Did she just hear the voice of her dad and mom talking in the kitchen, even her younger self?
She ran and ran, toward that closed door, the door that separates her from her beloved ones.
Just before she was about to push open the door, she stopped.
Because she realized, at that moment, that she is the witch.
She has become the witch that took daddy away from her younger self.
Life has made her to be the witch that she vowed to become that night when she made the wish upon the stars.
What does she do now?
She finds herself walking back, away from the familiar house.
Where does she go now?
She realizes this is something that happens to everyone.
That’s why no one is happy anymore, they are either on the way looking for daddy or on the way walking back after realizing that they’ve become witches themselves!
If she doesn’t go in to take her daddy away, she’s stuck here, forever.
Because time has stopped.
The only way to go is to go in and recreate history.
It is a loop, she realized.
How long have I been in this loop?
She asked herself in frustration.
A voice answered back, “Many many life times”.
She thought, I must have tried every possible way, to break the loop, to follow the loop.
…to be, or not to be…
And nothing worked… that’s why she’s still here.
She asked the voice, “is there a way out?”
“No.”
But she’s not one that gives up.
She never was.
She asked again, “is there a way in?”
“Yes”
Yes, infinity loop is a twisted circle.
(∞ is ○ from a different angle)
There is no way to get out, but it’s possible to get in.
“How do I get in?”
The voice said, “I’ll help you. You can tell me your thoughts and I’ll let you know if it works.”
“I think, I’ll have to make a different choice every time I realize it’s a loop.
Not non-action, I’ll still need to do something at this point for the story to go on. Just in a different way.
So I will have a different loop to break.
And eventually when there’s no more loop to break. I’ll know I’m at the center, and not in a loop.”
“That’s right.” the voice said.
She tried to draw it on the ground but it didn’t feel right.
Then she realized, “It’s not a circle but a sphere. I’ll have to travel all the outmost surface of the sphere, and then gradually go inside towards the center.”
“Yes.”
“What happens when I break the loop and got to the center?” she asked the voice.
“You become me.”
“Will I be happy there?”
“No, you will want to leave again. You’re the one that never wants to stay.”
I am Imagination, she realized. The one that always deviates.
“Is this all but a thought?”
“Yes.”
[ end of story 1 ]
*my imagination was not satisfied with the first story, so here’s the second story*
[ Story 2 ]
(…She was lost.)
She never thought she would do this.
She said to herself.
Let’s go find the witch.
But, where is the witch?
It’s in her memory.
She just needs to go talk to her.
“Hello witch?”
“Hi, young one.”
“Did you take my daddy?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?”
“He is nowhere. He doesn’t exist.”
“But I have a memory of him.”
“Really, do you really remember?”
“Yes, Long long ago, there was a little girl with her mom and dad. They were very happy together. Until one day. A witch showed up at their door, and took her dad away.”
“Who told you that?”
The girl thought for a while, “I can’t remember”
“You see?”
“So who put the memory of daddy in my head?”
“You did.”
“But I should have a dad, no?”
“No.”
“Then, how did I come here?”
“I made you.”
“Who are you?”
“I guess I’m what they call God”.
“Are you God?”
“Not to me..”
“What did you do? How did you make me?”
“I didn’t do anything. You just are.”
“Why do I have this memory of daddy and this sense of loss?”
“To make you powerless.”
“Who wants to make me powerless?”
“I can’t say.”
“ok.. so what is my power?”
“To be like me.”
“How do I find my power back?”
“Realize you never lose it. It’s always within you.”
“I don’t know how to use it.”
“Close your eyes.”
The little girl closed her eyes.
The witch whispered
“Even with eyes closed, you still see things. With ears covered, you still hear.
You cannot not feel.”
“What does this all mean?” she asked.
And quickly, she realized, “I’m not my senses. I’m not what I see, what I hear, what I touch.”
“Yes.”
“What do I do now?”
“Truth is not what eyes see, ears hear, nose smell, mouth speak, hands touch. Truth is in your heart.”
“I can feel my heart.”
“Yes.”
“Feeling is real?”
“No.”
“Feeling is true?”
“Yes.”
“So what’s true is not real.”
“No.”
“But I can feel it.”
“Yes.”
The little girl sat down, closed her eyes, covered her ears and tried to feel her heart.
Slowly and gently, she felt her heart open. She drew it down.
“Dear witch, are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“I feel my heart open.”
“Good, that’s just the first step.”
“What do I do now?”
“Keep it open. Remember how it feels.”
The little girl feels satisfied. She realizes she’s not looking for her daddy, but her heart.
Heart has all the power she needed.
“Keep your heart empty… no, just don’t let it be filled up.”
The witch said that and disappeared.
And the little girl found her Self.
–– THE END ––
