Lost in a Void

⍨ Animosity ⍨

In all light, there is sudden blindness. It's a luminescent globe that brings the spot to our vision, following our gaze. Never leaving; stuck. It's an alluring weapon that brings about demise, always aiming for the kill. There is no elation in light, only anguish, and angst. It draws the breath from our lungs, slowing our beating hearts.

A fumbling faith.

A choking breath.

A gasp for hope.

At noon the train would come, its wheels hammering over the parallel tracks, weighed down by the emotion of its riders. An indigenous flag hovered above a girl's head, a beacon for all the world to see. Black, red and yellow hung to her thoughts. The girl would be taken away again from familiar faces. This time by choice, not for the pigment in her skin; chocolate.

The girl had never been a fan of the world. Its constant spinning, its endless troubles, and the burning light.

Light draws attention, like a flare in the darkness of night. It obscures itself through beauty, tricking all those who stand along the edge, seconds away from danger. Never falling, yet never safe. It omits life and death, hope and doubt. It cheats the world of its joy, giving humanity everything they want despite giving them nothing at all. Light took her away from her family; her tribe. It stole who she was.

As the girl buried herself in the complexities of light, bewilderment and disorientation dwelled within her. Yet it never reduced the heated rush that boiled her blood and induced searing pains, like blades running along her side. The glimmer of defiance that she held against light was a fool's quest and her stand would not come to a neat conclusion.

The stand would neither be detailed nor executed in a way suited to the expectations of the girl. It was a death sentence for even the wisest. It was disappointing that there could be no variation for the arrangements to be halted in their passage. This was simply a minor default that the girl would have to push through; a bargain. In this predicament, the girl was not oblivious to the dangers but had come to a point where she would go to egregious measures to be successful. Success would only come if chaos was reaped upon the world.

Reading on the worn bench her rear grew numb. Emotions of every sort created patterns within her head. Anger, appearing in each one. Light was a common occurrence in the play of her emotions and the girl had been told to let go of it but she was stubborn. She would induce her own death to be cleaved from light's grasp, to watch it shrivel away in the depths and become nothing. As soon as she stepped onto that train there wouldn't be an anchor holding her to the place, and its people.

The only time the girl ever felt akin to the world was when it was dead. Driven away by the constant urge for sleep, for rest. It was when the lights had disappeared and the stars coruscated, outlying in the vast skies. It was when she saw the emu in the constellation, a reminder of her history and a reminder of her childhood. But now even that she had lost.