On The Fence

The man was sitting on the fence. It was pearly white with streaks of wear and tear. He wasn’t sure how long the fence had been there. He just knew he’d been sitting on it for a while. The fence was right down the center of a huge cornfield, separating it into two distinct sections.

There used to be a lot more people on the fence. He remembered Jack. His face was always pushed into a frown. He’d been on the fence for only a few weeks before jumping down into one of the cornfields. He was collected a few days later by the dragon when he had a heart attack. 

He remembered Rory. She was on the fence for a few months. She was kind, and she even tried convincing the man to get into one of the fields with her. She chose the field Jack didn’t choose.

“Come on,” she said. “You can always switch sides. And you’ll have to decide eventually.”

He shook his head. “I like being on the fence. Less commitment.”

“Well,” she said with a sigh, looking up at the sky. “You’re running out of time, you know. You can’t stay on the fence forever.”

Couldn’t he? He didn’t know anyone who’d been on the fence as long as he had.

He turned to his right and looked down the horizon. To be fair, he had no idea where the fence ended. It stretched as far as his eyes could see. There must be some other poor, lonely fellows on the fence like him. Anyway, he still had time. He was sure of it.

He turned his eyes and watched the people in the first field. They were trying to till the corn but they were doing a terrible job. A lot of them were angry. A lot of them were upset. Some looked happy, though. Or oblivious, maybe? He wasn’t sure. A lot of them carried heavy burdens on their backs. Occasionally, one of them would fall over and die. Then the dragon would come and collect them.

The man always turned away when the dragon came. The dragon wasn’t a dragon like you and I would think of one. It was sickly and skinny, its ribs showing under its skin. It had patches of missing scales and its forehead was caved in like it had been jammed with a hammer. It looked like it had been defeated in a war. Just seeing the dragon would make a lot of people hurry to hop over into the other field.

The man turned. In the other field, the corn was being tilled in a more organized manner. Progress was being made consistently. These people looked more joyful. They would joke around and tease each other. Instead of the heavy burdens on their backs, they had light loads that looked easy to carry.

When one of them would die, the Light would come and get them. The Light made the man uncomfortable too. The Light was a Man in a white robe. He was always smiling. It made the man uneasy. 

Sure, maybe that side looked like the better side. That side came with more rules, though. Or so he thought. A woman named Kate, who had switched to the dragon’s side told him about all the rules.

“They’re impossible to follow,” she told him. “I was raised in that stuff all my life, and it was terrible. I’m so glad I left it.”

“Really? It was that bad?” the man asked.

“Yeah. It was awful.”

The man looked up at the sky. Why commit to something? He still had time. Lots of time.

The sun was setting now. The sky turned from a pale blue to an orange-ish yellow. The moon appeared behind him, a little faded behind a cloud.

He still had time.

The final scraps of sunlight disappeared as the moon hung high in the sky, casting a white glow over this lonely fence. 

Suddenly, a golden beam appeared. The man watched as the Light appeared. He was wearing His white robe, as usual. All of the people on that side of the cornfield gasped and screamed with joy. Some people cried. Everyone ran to Him to hug Him. It was like coming home from work after a long day. The man squinted. They looked so happy.

The Light’s eyes darted to the man’s, and the man could’ve sworn His eyes filled with tears for a second. Before the man could decipher what was going on, the Light walked, with all of the people following Him, into the golden beam where He had appeared. The beam zapped and popped and then closed.

Next, the dragon came. He collected all of the people on his side of the field. The people there were less thrilled to see him. Some of them yelled at him.

“You never said this was part of the agreement!” one man yelled. “You never explained!”

“You promised me something different!” a woman yelled. The man realized it was Kate.

Everyone was angry now. But it didn’t matter. Chains appeared around everyone’s ankles, old and rusty. They were all forced to go into a dark cavern. No matter how much people resisted, they all ended in that dark cave. Good thing I didn’t choose that side, the man thought.

But… what would happen to him? Would he go into the beam of Light? Or somewhere else entirely? Would he stay on the fence? He wasn’t sure.

The dragon watched as his pupils entered the cavern. Then his dark eyes darted towards the man.

“Oh,” he said, his voice crackly, like a radio with a bad signal. “I almost forgot about you.”

He walked over to him, gesturing for him to follow.

“Come,” he said.

The man frowned. “What do you mean? I’m on the fence.”

The dragon raised an eyebrow. “I know you’re on the fence. Come with me.”

“But…” The man leaned away from the dragon. “I still have time. I haven’t made a choice yet.”

“Yes, you did,” the dragon said, exasperation creeping into his tone. “Don’t you know? This fence belongs to me.”

He pointed to an engraving in the fence. It had the dragon’s signature. The man’s blood ran cold. He had never noticed it before.

Dark chains started appearing around the man’s ankles.

He was out of time.