Reflection

Overwhelmed with emotion, I began to cry. She was right, all of this seemed pointless. Would anyone ever understand? It felt like an insurmountable task. As I looked out of the window, I saw people passing by, oblivious to my existence. I screamed, but my cries went unheard. After what felt like hours, she finally woke up. She had always been the one to have the final say. I greeted her with a simple "Hi."

"You shouldn't leave again," she pleaded. "I want us to be together again. I don't want to understand the world. Pain and wisdom go hand in hand, and I don't want to overthink things. Why did you dim a light so bright? We should be like the sun, setting the world ablaze, blinding it with our spark. We can still do all that. Please, set me free."

It struck me as ironic how she kept asking to be unbound when I was the one who felt trapped.

"I love you, more than anything," I confessed. "I would give anything to be like you, to be blissfully ignorant of the world's complexities. I yearn to wake up each day without the need to stand in front of a mirror, convincing myself that everything will be okay someday. I would give anything to shine so brightly that I blind the world. But if I were oblivious to pain, how could I understand the suffering of others? How could I heal those in search of solace?"

"Why do you have to understand the suffering of others, why?" She argued vehemently.

I know that in the end, my growth may not matter, and my words may fade away. But I want to live. Even with pain, I strive to live. Despite the loss of color in my eyes, I want to delve deeper, searching for profound meaning. I refuse to be an empty shell with a shimmering surface. You want us to be like the sun, but have you ever considered that the sun may tire of shining? Even with all the attention, it could feel lonely and sad. To be bright is to know the sharpness of a double-edged blade. It may never be the same again. The outside world can be daunting, but I want to live a life where I can say I wasn't selfish. I will continue to love and embrace you. It is not okay, I know, but I will live, for both of us."

I couldn't help but wonder how I managed to stay alive despite the struggle to draw each breath, as if
my very existence defied the limitations of my own suffocating breaths.
Tears streamed down her face as she listened. I desperately wanted to escape this place, and my
consciousness began to fade.

"Please, help me leave this place," I pleaded through teary eyes.
She stood up and effortlessly walked through the mirror, as if it had never been there. I struggled to keep my eyes open, knowing that falling asleep would mean remaining trapped. Who knew if she would change her mind about helping me?

As she approached, the chains that bound me suddenly fell away. She instructed me to go the way she had come. I darted through the opening, looking back at her one last time before my consciousness slipped away.

"Stuck in time, you'll forever be," I whispered, "but always will I love you." A tear escaped her eye as I
succumbed to sleep.
When I woke up, I heard a beeping sound and found myself staring at a white ceiling. Confusion washed
over me. How did I end up here? Flashes of the room I had been confined in flooded my mind and panic set in. The air felt suffocating, and I struggled to make sense of the noises around me. Then, a voice
pierced through the chaos, it was my mother.

"Stay calm and breathe, my dear," she said with tears streaming down her face. "I'm so relieved you're
awake."

I remembered being involved in a car accident. In that moment of impact, I had concluded that I would die. I didn't struggle for my life, instead, I imagined how beautiful it would be if the car were to engulf in flames, the brightness of it all. Leaving with a spark, dying had felt strangely peaceful.

Suddenly, my mother's voice broke through, snapping me back to reality. "You've been in a coma for two years," she said, her words jolting me into the present. Revelation hit me like a truck. Over there, in that room, it had only been two days. The realization was jarring. It had all been a dream, but deep within me, something told me it was all real. It had all felt so real.
"I'm okay now," I reassured my mother. And quietly, I whispered into the air, "I will always love you.
Always.

............