Short Stories: The Road That Was

Although intended to be written as a children's story, this short story is one which focuses on the lives of children and adults alike with their journeys in life. The focus is for the reader to stop and pause upon completion of reading this short story and reflect upon their own level of satisfaction in their lives and think to themselves if they are in the position of where they want to be. There are always options and sometimes the road ahead that was always unknown may simply be the road that was meant to be.

In the distance, amongst all the fog and rain, sat a bunny rabbit named George. George didn't know where to go in life, or what to do with his time so George spent most of his time hopping around, usually not knowing where to go or what to do. George didn't have any friends, and every time George saw a human, he felt very scared because they would chase after him and want to catch him. George thought that the only way for him to be happy would be try to escape his life, to find a new place to live away from the city. It was on this foggy and rainy night in the inner suburbs of the city that George thought to himself that it was time to travel. He didn't know which direction to travel. George knew that he was unhappy with where he lived and as long as he was living there, he would always see the humans, feel scared, and be unhappy with his life.

Suddenly, George thought to himself that there is no point in him sitting in one spot thinking all day about where to travel or which direction to travel in. For George, it was about finding another home, a place where he felt happy and safe. It was at that moment that George starting hopping away slowly towards the direction of where the sun was shining through the clouds. Once he started hopping, George began to feel happy at the thought that he was moving to a new place, some where that he had never been before. Because he was so excited, George just kept hopping and hopping, faster and faster. On his way, George came across lots of rubbish on the roads, lots of pollution and lots of people in the streets. This meant nothing to George the bunny rabbit. All George wanted to do was keep hopping. The more George started hopping around, the more he noticed that the streets were becoming quiet. There were less humans around, less rubbish and less noise. For George, this made him more and more happy because George was scared of humans, and the further away he could be from them, the happier he was.

Finally, after traveling through the rain over two days and one night, George realised that he really had no idea where he was going. When he thought of this, he started to feel scared because the environment around him was new and different. This made George feel uncomfortable. For George though, he thought that even though he is uncomfortable, it was still much better than feeling unhappy and scared like he did before he started his adventure. George continued hopping along for another few hours and decided to take a long break. As George stopped and sat in the grass, he noticed that the clouds were disappearing and the bright sun was shining even more. At this moment, George felt very warm from the sun and decided to have a rest and sleep on the grass.

When George woke up, he noticed that there were more rabbits here than where he lived before. He noticed that there were some rabbits near him and some rabbits far away. George felt uncomfortable because some of the rabbits that were near him started looking at him and wondering who he was. They started coming closer and hopping around near him. In response, George did the same thing and started hopping around too. These rabbits suddenly started hopping away from him. George did not know what to do so he decided to follow them.

George followed these rabbits slowly and then noticed they were hopping away faster and faster so George decided to do the same. He didn't know where they would take him if he followed them but he knew that he could feel more comfortable around these rabbits than he did around the humans and other animals that he saw in the night time where he lived before. Once the rabbits stopped, George sat next to them and noticed that he was on top of a green hill covered in thick green grass. He looked over the hill and saw open fields with the sun shining on them. Everywhere he looked, he saw more animals. He saw rabbits, cows, horses and many other animals that he had never seen or heard of before. For George, they all seemed very happy in the sun, playing, eating and having fun.

It was at this point that George decided to go and share the food with the other animals and hop around them in the sun where the grass was green, where the air was fresh and clean, and where all the animals sat relaxing with one another. No matter which way George looked, he noticed every animal was happy, especially the rabbits. George realised that this is where he now wanted to live his life.

As the days went by, George looked around and noticed that all the animals were still very happy, there were no humans, and the grass was still green. Each time it rained, the ground would get wet and the animals would go under the trees for shelter, the birds would hide in the trees and the rabbits would go in their burrows. When the sun came out, so did the animals. George noticed that when the sun came out after the rain, the grass was more green and the animals began to eat more.

This was the life that George had been looking for. George didn't know where to go, or where his journey would take him. All he knew was that for him, he was happy. He didn't have to be scared of the humans because there were no humans where he lived now. The animals were much more happier and nicer to him than where he lived before. For George, this was home. He knew he made the right choice to take this journey, to travel as far away as he could, away from what made him unhappy.

George lived here with the other animals for the rest of his life. The longer he lived here, the more he noticed other animals coming to live here too. He also noticed that all the new animals were once unhappy, but the longer they lived here, the more happiness they felt. George didn't know why his old place was so busy with humans or why it was so dirty with rubbish and pollution. He didn't understand. The best thing for George was that he knew if he didn't try something new and take an unknown journey in life, he would still remain unhappy and lonely without any friends. It was the new road that George made for himself in life that led him to the happy place that he now lived in. It was because of this journey that George could now make new friends, feel happy, feel comfortable and feel safe.