Jake rose wearily from his bed, first looking at his clock, which read 6:00AM, and then looking outside to see that the entire sky was dark except for a few small gaps of light. It was a Saturday morning and he planned to take an early walk through the woods just a quarter mile from his home. The smell of a vanilla candle stained the air. “Must’ve forgot to put it out last night,” he muttered to himself. He gathered his camera, phone, and a few snacks for his walk and headed for the door. His old, black, and torn sneakers laid next to his school bag, ready to be used for yet another walk through the woods. He stepped outside and the cold air of an October morning made the hair on his neck stand. The halloween themed thermometer was covered in dew, but Jake could see through the glass faintly: 46?. Finally, Jake started a playlist he had made the night before and started walking down the side of the road.
A thick fog hovered above the cold, wet grass. The tall black trees stood close together at the treeline and slowly spread out deeper in the woods. The tops of the trees blocked out practically all of the light. Countless journeys throughout his life made it easy for him to navigate the winding trails. The fog made the woods gloomier and darker than he had ever seen before. He passed a familiar tree with the words “into the darkness” carved into the bark. Every time he walked into the woods he would pass this tree and try to guess who had carved it, or why they had. Jake let his thoughts go as he continued up a slippery slope with music blaring into his now pink ears. Memories of his past three years of high school ran through his mind: all of the friends he had made and lost, the problems he had overcome, and the problems he still hadn’t managed to find a solution to. Though he had solved many problems, there were still so many things that he wished he could understand and overcome. Jake stopped at the top of the hill to let his calves rest, as they had started to burn. He removed his favorite windbreaker and placed it aside as he ate a breakfast bar and drank some water.
After a short break, Jake’s calves were ready to endure the last quarter of his walk. It was now 6:45AM and his favorite place in the woods was only a short distance away. Again, he thought of the tree that he had passed near where he had entered the forest. “Into the darkness...” he pondered. Finally, just after finishing the closing song in his playlist, he reached a perfect waterfall. The water flowed excessively through a gap between two huge boulders into a magnificent pond. The gloomy fog hovered, dancing across the surface of the pond. He looked up, realizing there was a great hole in the forest’s ceiling. Some of the clouds had cleared and the sun now made the water glisten. Jake grabbed his camera from his bag, trying to find the best angle from which to take a photo. A lone tree stood on the edge of the pond. This became the far left edge of the photo, as he twisted the dials, perfecting the settings. He snapped the photo and sat down on a rock to have another breakfast bar and to give his legs another rest.
As he gazed from the twinkling water up to the sky, he had a realization about the tree which he had seen earlier. Up until this point in the forest, there had been no light, only darkness. His previous thoughts of his life came to him again, but he now saw them from a different view. He still had no idea who would have carved “into the darkness” into the tree, but he now knew how he could apply it to his own life. “Sometimes you have to walk through the dark, and you encounter challenges along the way, but, in the end, after your work and struggle, you find something great.” Before leaving, Jake searched and found his knife in the bottom of his bag. He approached the tree along the edge of the pond and began to carve. After a few minutes, Jake stepped away and smiled, for he had now understood that the problems that he may have and the friends he may have lost are just the darkness leading up to something wonderful like the light. He took a photo of the tree and read his words aloud, “light up the darkness” and started his journey home.