The world is dark.
Those four words had been my motto for as long as I can remember. And it's not just because I wanted to be edgy. I held those four words close to my heart because it's the truth. The world was dark.
Everywhere I looked, there is always chaos. War? Famine? Death? It had always surrounded us. We were never free from the grip of darkness.
I looked around me, devoid of any emotion. Why should I even feel? If I opened myself up to emotions, I would only end up getting hurt. The world was dark, and so was this night.
My heart couldn't feel anything, but body still could; the chilly air that wafted around me still made me shiver. The damp grass beneath me gently cushioned my weight against the ground, tickling the exposed skin of my leg. My hair that I let hang loose down my back swayed softly, dancing sensuously with the wind.
In front of me was a black lake. No...it's not really black. Water was colorless after all. It's not black, but it reflected the black sky above. This lake perfectly reflected what I felt inside. Nothing. Just an endless void of darkness.
Why was I even here? I didn't know. I didn't know anything anymore. Each day that passed, it was always the same. I wake up, I go to work, I eat, I sleep, I wake up... and the cycle continued. Each day was an exact replica of the other, with each copy chipping away at my humanity. Dreams long forgotten; the fire of passion long extinguished. I lived but did I really? Why did it feel like existing just because I couldn't vanish?
The endless cycle that had turned me into a robot continued... on and on it went. Until now.
I didn't know why but I found myself sitting in front of the dark lake, contemplating. Somehow, my feet brought me somewhere I hadn't been before. And for a short while, it broke my pattern.
Still, it didn't re-ignite the dreams nor the fire. I was continued to stay in this cold, dark core. My eyes continued to look but not see, my ears to hear but not listen.
I was still trapped.
This detour was nothing but a slight relief, an occasional change in the ritual of my life.
As I sat, I heard a voice. "Look up," it said, its voice quiet... haunting... enchanting.
I looked around, trying to search for its source, but there was no one. As always, I was alone. Still, I looked, scanning the place where I was. But again, it spoke, this disembodied voice. "Look up," it said again, more urgently this time.
And so I did. I stopped looking around, stopped trying to search for people who weren't there. Instead, I looked up, and gasped at the wonderful sight.
The sky, unlike how the lake reflected it, was sprinkled with a thousand stars, glowing brightly against the darkness; the sudden brightness momentarily blinding.
As I looked up and watched the stars, I realized that it wasn't so dark anymore. That somehow, this small glitters above me managed to chase away the darkness. No... it didn't chase away the darkness. It turned the darkness into something beautiful. Majestic.
I didn't know how much time had passed, but I just continued to watch the stars. At one point I realized, I was already lying on the grass. I had already forgotten the black lake in front of me, and instead, focused on the beauty of the stars above me. And as I watched, slowly, the night sky began to brighten.
Little by little, the black became dark blue, and the dark blue became sky blue. And as the sky brightens, the little stars began to fade. Until finally, all but one star remained. The brightest star of all.
The sun.
And as I laid on the grass, staring at the now clear sky, I realized, the night had passed. I sat up, feeling a bit dizzy from the sudden change of orientation. I closed my eyes and massaged my temples a bit, trying to relieve the dizziness.
When I opened my eyes, I froze. Gone was the black lake. In front of me now spread a gorgeous, beautiful lake. The water was so clear I could see the fish swimming in it.
With a sigh, and with a smile, I thought to myself... The world wasn't so dark after all.
