"Bob, hey, you ever get tired of living like this?"
"No John. Not allowed to. You know how things work. We're nothing but balls rolling down a hill now. We don't get tired, it's all kinetic energy till we come to the end. No slowing down, no stops. We march forward, John. That's what we do."
What Bob doesn't know is that this hill is flattening out. I guess it's better than before. Before, we were more like people on bungee ropes, carelessly jumping off cliffs. Things would eventually slow and when it finally came to a stop, it didn't just stop. No, this is something Bob doesn't fully understand. In the time it took for us to fall so far, the world above us has changed. Ideas, material goods, people that were once mighty and important are relegated and new ideas, new desires, fresh people rise from seemingly nowhere. Well not really from nowhere. We're blind to there slow rise and by the time we notice them, they are giants and as cowards, we run away.
"What you getting back? You saying you're tired of this life? John, what's got into you? You keep thinking like that and you'll find yourself in a bad way. We can't risk veering. How much gas do you think we have left?"
"I have plenty of fuel in the tank, Bob."
Like I was saying, our fall doesn't just stop. It stops. Of course it stops. Everything and anything can come to a momentary standstill. This standstill is what hypnotizes us and the when the movement restarts, we are dumb to the fact that, yes we are moving, but we are going back to where we jumped from. It's a cruel device in that it tricks us into thinking that we are still making progress. But when the ride ends, we realize that it has simply throttled us back to our old world.
"You know I was thinking Bob, maybe it's time I get out of this place. It just doesn't feel right anymore. The music is muted. The food and drink are bland. The people are the worst. Where's the honesty? Where's the fucking sunshine and rainbows, Bob? Not here. Not anywhere near here."
"Rainbows and sunshine? The shit that comes out of your mouth sometimes. Come on, man, don't you remember? We were tired of our lives there, so we came here. Now you want to go back? Show some backbone will you?"
He is right, you know. I was tired of living the way I was. I felt trapped in the current of the modern lifestyle. I had appointments everyday. Had to meet people I didn't want to. And did things that I don't even like, just to do them. And the worst of it all was that if I refused to oblige, than I was the scoundrel. I became the backwards rebel. Rebel? There is no rebellion here. No revolution. These times don't allow for it. Everything is in such a tight, intricate network that undoing one string is going to do nothing to affect the whole. Worst of all, we make this network. This web has become our home and if one continues to do something to muck it up, well that when the spider comes to eat you. So when we get fed up, we jump off the web, thinking we are jumping for our freedom. But its transparent strings are attached to us and with a twist of fate, we are hurdled back to where we came from but in a worse state than when we left. Always in a worse state. Was it worth the trip? Having that short span of freedom from jumping off the web, was it worth it? No. That's why I cut those strings suspending Bob and I. Turns out, we just end up making new ones.
"By the way, what do you mean by sunshine and rainbows, John? Have you lost your mind. Don't you remember all the shit we had to go through up there? All the red tape, all the running around in circles just to much an inch forward? Up there, being slow and backwards was the only way to move! Now you want to go back? No way. Get your senses back, will you."
Bob has always been the strong-willed type. But he lacks vision. He doesn't see the changes occurring here in this world. We grew strong by staying mobile, relying on speed, and staying flexible. We could change our ways on the fly. Everything was done real time. No need to wait for something; just had to get it done. But in the human mind, in the conscience, there is a limiting factor to our progress. At times, the decision that would give us the desired result would be against what our conscience thought was righteous. That was the beginning. Soon, those of the similar mind would being to converge and the largest of the groups would become linked. Another web is beginning to form. And I think Bob is entangled in it.
Anarchy. Chaos. Entropy. I do not like any of those things. I crave order. I devour order. I need order. But these webs form sticky lines which repress any forms of change. These webs are made of good ideas that become warped and twisted until they become backwards. Now, if our world can identify that this once good ideas have gone sour and move to rectify it, I would have no problem living in this web. But that is never the case. The strong become leaders and their ideas become laws. The idle pretend to care and the opposition gets eaten by the host of the newly formed web.
"Things are just not making sense to me anymore, Bob. We run away from a world just to make another world like it!"
"John, you've always been a runner. You're a hard worker. You always help build the nest, but by the time it's done, you scream that we are making a monstrosity and run. You keep running like that and no ones is going to be able to keep up. I'm surprised I've been able to. But if you run from here, I'm not going with you. I got family now. Wife and kids. They're not runners like us. This world works for us. It's the best we've ever come across!"
Bob has been my best friend since I can remember. Bob would take a bullet for me and I would do the same for him. Bob is right. I'm a runner and Bob is losing his feet. I'm gearing to get the hell out of here. But I'm coming back to get him.
"You're my best friend, Bob. Don't tell the spider I left until I get a good head start on her."
