�You have a message.� Bridget the receptionist announced to me, �Tawnya wants you to call her. She said it was urgent.� I rolled my eyes.

�Thanks Bridget.� I took the piece of paper that Bridget had jotted Tawnya number on and headed back to my desk. What did Tawnya want? I unfortunately count her as a friend and thus being so, I feel compelled to call her. I hesitate for a moment. Do I really want to bring that chaotic, backstabbing, duplicitous bitch back into my life? I pick up the phone and dial the number. I must be a glutton for punishment or a fool, or possibly both. The phone rang and on the fourth ring, just as I was about to hang up, she answered.

�Hello?� her voice, soft and sweet, made a pool of acid form in my stomach.
�Hey Tawnya. It�s�� she cut me off.
�Hi Chris! How are you?� Tawnya cheerfully said.
�Oh not bad. How about you?� I prayed she would get right to the point.
�O.K. I guess. I just received 30-day notice of eviction from my landlord. So, I was wondering if you guys were still interested and since you�re still looking, if you would like to find a place with me?�

I thanked God that she did get to the point but I wasn�t prepared for this. It�s true that Chris, my husband, and I had been looking for a place for quite sometime now. We had been evicted in April of last year and haven�t found a place yet. It is also true that we considered getting a place with Tawnya, in hopes that we could finally get her to straighten out her life. I didn�t want to commit us to something that I don�t even know if Chris would be interested in doing.

�I would have to ask Chris if that would be O.K., but I don�t foresee any problems with that.� I replied.
�Can I call him?� she asked, �I need to be out in 2 weeks, and so I would like to know what he thought.�

I rubbed my forehead. She has a habit of dropping things like this on us. How does she expect us to find a 2 bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment in 2 weeks? Well stranger things have happened in my life, so I shouldn�t count this minor miracle out.

�Sure, here�s the number.� I gave the number and the room extension. �He may have just woken up so he may not be very talkative.�
�Thanks hon. I�ll talk to you soon. Bye.� Tawnya hung up and I again was left with the emotional void that I�m always left with after I talk to her. Oh well, that�s what I get for counting her as a friend.

The dog sat there patiently. He stared at me with those dark soulful eyes. Those eyes contained no judgment, no hatred, and no prejudice. He was a golden Labrador retriever. He had a red collar with a blue dog tag. Suddenly, he stood up and sniffed around. He tilted his head back and forth as if he were confused. Unable to see what he was sniffing for or looking at, I watched. Boredom overtook the dog and he sat back down and continued staring at me, from time to time he would look up to the sky. He was taken with an itch and began to scratch behind his ears. I watched. I decided I had to leave the dog and go to lunch, so I clicked save on my document and the dog pulled a disk from under his collar.

The feeling of stable grounded Earth exuded from his demeanor. That may have been due to the fact that he was clad in the hues of the Great Mother. He wasn�t drop dead gorgeous but something about him was mildly attractive. �Hey, It�s great to meet you.� I smiled and shook his hand. He didn�t have a bad grip and his hands were exceptionally smooth. He smiled back and returned the sentiment. Then, he was shuffled off to the next cubicle to be introduced to another one of his new co-workers.

The sound of the power drill reminded me of an angry baby elephant. In my mind, it transposed an image of an overgrown suburbanite jungle. The rulers of this jungle, humankind. They murder, steal, lie, cheat, and love all in the name of survival of the fittest. As I am pulled out of my ponderance by the song of an exotic bird, wait no, that is my phone. I hurriedly pick up the receiver. �Thank you for calling Rancho Villa Escondida. How may I help you?�

Two roads diverge in a yellow wood and I took the one less traveled and that has made all the difference. What they don�t tell you is that although you chose the road less traveled, eventually those roads could converge again and become one for the rest of the journey. That�s what happened to me. I took the road less traveled for I was following the faery lights. As I got deeper into the thickening yellow wood, I heard a voice telling me to continue on the path on which I was set. Not seeing any other choice, I did as I was told. From time to time as I followed the dancing faeries, the voice would return and tell me to keep on the same path. I began to wonder from where that voice had come. I looked around me but there was nobody present. I looked above me � nothing but the canopy of the trees. I looked to my feet on the path but the only thing there was dust. So I continued on the path but I swore the next time I heard the voice I would discover the source. The woods got thicker and darker. A chill formed inside me. I was sure I was going to freeze to death from the inside out. �Come home. Follow the path you�ve been set upon.� The voice whispered. I stopped and asked who they were and where they are. �I am He who has always been with you.� The voice continued, �I am the One who led you to the fork. I�m the One who asked if you had faith in me enough to take the less traveled and more dangerous road.�

�I don�t remember hearing you ask a question at the fork.� I stated. The voice laughed lightly.
�I didn�t ask you directly. Instead I asked your soul for your soul couldn�t lie to me.�

Then the voice had left. I was stunned by the conversation that had taken place and it took me awhile to realize that my questions had not been directly answered. After pulling myself back together, I continued on the path. The road got darker and darker and more treacherous with each step. Wolves howled from just beyond the trees. Fear filled my entire being. I was sure I was going to perish.

�You will not perish for you are on the path I set you upon. Nothing here can harm you unless you stray from the path. Let go of your fears for they are the only things that can harm you. Come home. Stay on the path.� The voice was soothing and assuring and suddenly disappeared once again. Feeling secure once again, I followed the Will o� Wisps. The coldness slowly began to disappear. The wolves no longer howled. The woods began to thin and sun began to shine through the leaves. Joy filled my heart for I had made it through the woods. I continued to follow the lights when I notice my road joining another road that meandered in from a flowery meadow. When the faeries reached the spot in which the roads became one, they started to sing and dance in circles. A magnificent bright beam of blue light came down from the sky above and landed where the faeries were circling.

�Come home.� I heard a warm fatherly voice call. Suddenly a beam of bright white light shot from my body and joined the blue shaft in a blinding flash. When my vision was restored, standing before me was a man. He was neither young nor old. His beauty was ageless but the wisdom in his eyes was as old as the Universe. He smiled at me. I slowly walked toward the man. I felt no fear of him; instead I felt an overwhelming love and sense of awe. When I reached the mysterious man, I fell to my knees and started to cry. He put his hands on the top of my head and started to play with my hair. �For what reason do you cry my son? You have taken the road less traveled and you�ve lived to tell about it. Even more so, you are now on the other road you could�ve chosen. Did you not realize that I was with you the second you stepped upon your path? Did you not realize that you could�ve talked to me anytime you wished? Do you not realize the amount of courage and faith you have shown to me?� The man asked. It was the same voice that I heard while I was in the woods.

�But why did I have to take such a perilous path? I could�ve perished. There were wolves waiting to devour me.� I looked up to the man with my wet eyes. My cheeks were stained with tears.

�You were never in any real danger. Like I said the only danger was your fears, because fear hinders faith. As for those wolves you hear, do you see that field of flowers down the other road.� The man pointed behind me and I turned to look at the field. �The wolves were really howling from there. They are hiding in the flowers.� A wolf stood up and started to jaunt through the flowers.

�Then they devour the people on the easy path? That makes no sense? Why should the wolves be on the easy path?� I puzzled.

�Because most of the people, that are on the easy path, take the simplicity for granted. They can�t imagine that there could be any danger in such a beautiful landscape. They become slow witted and lose faith while walking in paradise. Whereas the ones on the road less traveled perceive the possibility of danger and remain on their guard. They know that if they are going to make it through they need somebody to help them.� He stopped playing with my hair and picked me up off the ground.

�Who are you?� I asked the strange man. He laughed again and lifted me off the ground. He carried me as he began to walk.

�I am the One who has come to bring you home.�

As I slowly walked through the hallway, I looked at the pictures of days gone by that filled the walls. As I walked slowly through the hallway, I passed through the many stages of my life, birth; childhood; teenager; young adult; coming out; true love; and death. Through the hallway I walked slowly, remembering each and every moment, each and every laugh, each and every tear. As I walked through the hallway calmly, knowing that it was all behind me now, I look toward the person waiting for me at the end. He left me years ago and promised me that he�ll meet me again. He waited in this hallway for years and longed for me as much as I longed for him. As I ran through the hallway, I yearned for my one true love. The love that had left me years ago and will never leave me again. As I reached my love at the end of the hallway, we embraced each other with tears of joy streaming down our cheeks. We will never be parted after we walk slowly, hand in hand, into the light.

The sensation was nauseating. I could feel it work its way through my veins. I could feel the white blood cells charge and do battle with it. The joints ached due to the war that was underway in my body. In order to dispose of the casualties from either side, my nose ran like the great and majestic Mississippi. I wiped and wiped until it was thoroughly raw and sore. The skirmish began to move and soon it would reach my lungs. My body cried for re-enforcements, so I recruited a can of orange juice from the vending machine at work. I chugged the citrus barbarians, the sooner they�re into my system the sooner I can get past this. My chest was filling up with the bodies of the fallen, friend and foe. I was beset with a cough that sounded as if I were coughing up one mucous filled lung with the other not far behind. My body ached more and more with each passing moment. Was I winning this battle? It�s so hard to tell when the blitzkrieg thunders inside of you. I guess I just have to hunker down and wait. This war has been fought many times in my life and each time I�ve lived to tell the tale, just as I�m telling you now. Yes, that was the dreadful Cold of 2001.

�Installed 4/1/1948� the placard on the overhead beam read. Along with the permit that I found from 1965, I had a sudden rush of history as I cleaned out the storage room, that was evidently an old freight elevator. As far as I knew, no one had been completely in the elevator since the company had taken possession of the building 10 years prior. The elevator was never used; in fact, the cable had been cut to prevent that from happening. As I moved dusty, unused boxes that probably dated back to the early �90�s to the pile of trash, I realized how significant the placard and the permit were. In fact the permit said that this building, which was now 760 N. Bay Rd., was once 755. Not too surprising considering how quickly the town grew up, but still something about it gnawed at my brain.

�I should go find the old records at City Hall.� I mused. Coming from a family that had been one of the founding family�s of a town in central California, I had always been obsessed with history. Especially with places that seem to hold a mystery as this place did. From the first day I stepped into the building, for my interview, I sensed there was something about this building. I couldn�t put my finger on it until a few months later when I sensed something watching me. I talked with my co-workers and they told me tales of strange noises at hours that no one was in the building, not even upstairs. They also mentioned people who claimed to see things when they were here alone and one person who had spoken with one of the �residents�. I didn�t discount these stories since I myself had witnessed many strange things in my life, so have no disbelief in anything. I didn�t scare me much either since I was told that the good ones are downstairs, where I was, and the unsettled are upstairs. From time to time, I caught a glimpse of people out of the corner of my eye at times when I�m the only one in the building. Normally, I just tell them hello and continue on my business.

�This building is hiding something alright.� I said aloud. Suddenly the call bell on the elevator rang. I looked at the button and saw that it wasn�t being pressed or stuck in the ring position. I smiled, told the ghosts that I got their message, and the bell stopped. Now everyday people would just assume that something was up with the electrical wires or the connection, not me. I had long since removed coincidence from my vocabulary due to the fact that the word itself is just too convenient. Many people use it to discount things that they can�t or do not want to explain. Best decision on my part as life has so many mysteries that people just refuse to see.

I continued emptying the elevator with no other incidents until it was completely empty. When it was completely empty, I got in the elevator and shut the door. I�m not entirely sure why I did this. I had the urge to do it and I did. As I stood there, I looked up at the door on the 2nd floor. I was began to feel very dizzy and off balance. It almost felt as if the elevator itself was spinning, which it wasn�t. I looked back at the door and the dizziness subsided. I had a sudden fear that I may not be able to open the door. I pulled open the safety chain-link door and pushed on the outside door. It opened and I breathed a sigh of relief. I left the elevator and decided it was time to throw the growing trash pile into the dumpster outside. Slowly the pile began to diminish and I was stricken with another urge. I wanted to get a rubbing of the placard. So I grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper from the receptionist desk, my desk and went to find a stable chair. I found one and returned to the elevator. I opened the door and stepped inside. I positioned the chair underneath the placard and stepped up on it. As I ascended I positioned the pencil in one hand and the paper in the other. I placed the paper over the placard and held it taut. As I began to rub the lead of the pencil on the paper, the impression of the placard began to appear. As I continued creating my rubbing of the placard, the sensation of spinning welled up again. This time the sensation was slightly different; it also felt as if I were swinging from side to side. Suddenly an image flashed in my mind. The last time someone brought a chair into this elevator, they left in a bag. I leapt off the chair and looked up at the placard. He hung himself. The rope was tied at the exact spot of the placard. The experience left me shaken but it also peaked my interest.