Light and Dark - June 18, 2010

    This was my realm. This place of gray and darkness. I had always belonged there. It was a place where I would always retreat to when things didn't go my way, as they never did. It was a place where no one was. It was a place where not a single living thing was allowed to breathe and flourish. Only I, its creator could walk free and watch everything perish under me. It made me feel good. It made me feel powerful. It made me feel like there was a place where I could control everything and no one would bother me and put me down. I relished in the sound of cracking leaves and dead tree limbs under my feet. I welcomed the darkness that kept me safe from the outside world where light would hurt me in the form of physical pain and useless people. But now someone was entering.
      I stopped in the middle of my numb walk down the gloomy path that I took often to relieve of my pain. I stared in horror beyond the tops of the tree trunks and at the usually gray sky. How can this be? I thought. How dare a stranger come into my desolate domain? The sky seemed to open and in came a youth about my age, I guessed, and he was falling fast. I stayed fixed to my spot and watched sullenly as the boy landed with a thud on the ground. My first instinct was to shade my eyes from him as he rubbed his backside and groaned because of his rough landing. He was too bright! His hair shone golden even if my rule in my realm made everything gray and dull. His eyes shone a hopeful green which I hated since it was too full of life. His clothes were still colored, too. I was overwhelmed by this abomination in my realm. "Get out!" I cried. "Get out of here! Don't come back! Get out!" When all he did was stare at me curiously with his flourishing eyes, I turned and ran as fast as I could.
      I felt that my rule was being underminded. I felt betrayed. Yet again things weren't as they were supposed to be. Everything always went wrong some time and the place that I was supposed to retreat to was going to be tainted by light, something I usually spat at. I sat down and rested at the edge of one of the many trees here in my realm. Soon, I felt the youth's presence and I tensed. He sat down next to me. I made no move to shoo him away or disappear again so he decided to speak. "I don't know how I got here but what I do know is that you're alone here, right? Aren't you lonely?" I hesitated then I nodded. What was the point of escaping the light anymore? It always came back to haunt me anyway. This boy was just another light-filled thing that would hurt me. The boy continued. "Why doesn't anything grow here?" He asked. "It seems so...desolate." I blurted,"It's because everything that has light comes to hurt me! Every good thing that happens will come and hurt me! It's better to believe in darkness!" I turned my head away as tears threatened to overcome me. Suddenly, the boy grabbed my arms and forced me to face him. "That's not true! If you know you're not alone, nothing will hurt you!" Then he hugged me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I sobbed in relief and a feeling I didn't know how to describe. What is this? I thought. What is it I'm feeling? The boy murmured, "It's happiness, Ana. You're happy now." I gasped. How did this boy know my name? Then just like that, he was gone.
      I sat at a battered desk in the middle of a battered room with no sounds of endless fights going on downstairs. I wiped my tears from my eyes and I was back in my realm again. Only, in front of me, a single flower was blooming and my realm was flourishing. When I blinked I was back in the room again, and that single flower was in my hand. I stared at it for a moment and uttered one word. "Happiness."

-Lady Stormparade