The Light

The girl looked down at her hands, shaking. She fell to her knees, her breath coming out in short, shallow gasps. Her dark hair fell in front of her face, hiding the teardrops that fell down her porcelain skin. At her knees lay her soul, of which she had broken and shattered to pieces. She felt the emptiness inside her body. It was only made of hollow bones now, with no feeling inside. No life.

What have I done to myself? She wondered, gazing down at the beauty that she had destroyed. The beauty that was once inside of her. It was no longer there.

The dim lights of the empty room – save a table and chair – flickered, and stayed that way, blinking on and off, on and off. The girl knelt there, as outside the sun gave way to the night, as it swallowed everything in its path. She felt as if that darkness was inside of her now, creeping into every part of her.

She closed her eyes, her hands folded in her lap, her head bowed down as if to pray, her soul still lying at her feet. She gave in, and let the impenetrable, eternal darkness fill her. She had nothing left to fight for. She let the pain seep through her bones. Pain was not a feeling, but at least it made her feel alive again. So close. It was so close to being alive.

But as the darkness started reaching towards her heart and mind, she suddenly realized how much she wanted to be her own. How much she owed the world. Did she want to give up now? Will she let herself rest at last, after years of her endless struggle?

In her minds eye, she could see the darkness – like a long, black tunnel, stretching out for miles – but then she saw something else. A glimmer – or was it just a sliver – of light at the end, so far that she could barely make it out. Before she knew it, that light was brighter now, bigger, coming closer and closer. She could see it. Feel it. Until she was right in front of it. The brilliant, luminescent light completely enveloped her, squelching all of the darkness in her.

She slowly opened her eyes. A warm breeze lifted her hair gently and brushed against her cheek. She saw her soul on the ground, so fragile and beautiful, all at once. With the light that now shone inside of her, there, in that empty room of broken hopes and dreams, she picked up her soul with ever so gentle hands of gossamer, and began to put it back together. Ever so slowly, ever so carefully, she began to mend it so that it be hers once more.

The end.