The wind slipped through the trees in the park, whispering to Robert. “Come to us,” the voice said, “come to us.” He looked up from picnic table under the moss-covered gazebo, and saw that there was no one there except his parents, and his sister and brother.
“Did someone just say something?” He asked.
“No,” his father grabbed another hot dog from a nearby plate, “no one said anything.”
Robert looked up at the green leaves, dancing gracefully in the humid summer air. He was certain he had heard something. Liz was talking to their mother about something she had heard on the news, a store that was supposed to be built soon, gossip about the other girls at her school, and stunts she had seen David perform on his bicycle. David had already left the table – he kicked a soccer ball around the nearby trees. His father searched absentmindedly for the relish with his hand across the rough wooden surface of the table, while geese honked in the distance.
“Come to us.”
He stood up. Images flashed through his mind; images of serenity, peace, and satisfaction. Of lazy days like this one, continuing on for eternity. He could sense it, just beyond his sight. “I’m going for a walk, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said, mostly to himself. His family barely heard him; his father gave a slight nod as he poured the sweet relish.
More images came to him, visions of the future he wanted. A picnic, not with his family, but with his girlfriend. Then, walking along the trails by the pond in the afternoon. Whispers in her ear. Kisses. Watching the stars. Her love in the silver moonlight.
“To this future we can take you.”
He barely noticed the gray dust as it flew around his feet on the trail, leaving light marks on his dark red sneakers and stonewashed jeans. His vision was set firmly on the future presented to him. He hadn’t chosen this future; it had ridden on the wind and carried him away. More visions and images filled his head. A leader of a great cheering crowd. The father of a whole nation, ultimate arbiter of all matters of importance. An object of worship. A legend. A god.
“Come to your destiny. Come to us.”
His feet followed the voices as if his body were a train running on its tracks. Every time he wavered in either direction, they would resist, and he continued to walk forward the same as before. The voices continued to whisper, calmly, seductively, quietly on the wind. Finally, the path led him to a clearing on the top of a small hill; he had traveled much further into the park than he had ever before, and with a speed he hadn’t realized he was capable of. Below, he saw large black metal spires rising from the scorched earth, thin silvery-metallic hands on long robotic arms reaching into the sides of large tea-colored factories that seemed to breath in the air around them through giant stacks, and a sky blue pyramid with a perfectly smooth surface at the center. His eyes saw an alien and industrial city. He shrunk back, just a step; for a second, he heard nothing but silence.
“We are waiting. Come to us.”
Once again, Robert felt an invisible pull, a magnet tugging him forward. He began making his way to the pyramid, step after step down the hill. He smiled with a certainty that everything he ever wanted awaited him.