Looking Back by Melanie Nilles
She looked back at the road. It had straightened since she set out walking it. All the curves had vanished, the dips and holes leveled out. The obstacles she had struggled so hard to overcome, sometimes until she reached the verge of giving up, had vanished. Behind her lay nothing but a straight road to where she stood. The land was flat and barren, as if none of the tears and pain and moments of wanting to give up had happened. Ahead lay deep valleys and tall spires and wide and sharp curves peaking out occasionally through mounds of boulders and dense foliage. The growl of predators rose from hidden places. And yet she must go on. "You can stay here," a sweet melodious voice said. "Take it easy, never hurt again." She could indeed. It would be so much easier than all the sweat and blood and tears and the risk of failing to reach the end somewhere ahead. "Where would that get you?" a deep, rich voice countered. "You would be stuck in familiar, borin...