Can I tell you a story? It's not a very pleasant or particularly nice story, but it's the truth, and therefore must be told. A story that must always be spoken out and passed on.
This is my truth.
Once upon a time there was a little princess. Now don't get me wrong, this is in no way a princess story, it just has a princess in it.
This particular princess woke up one early morning, finding herself lying on the same small bed in the very same room that she found herself waking up in every morning. She had barely slept that night, and was extremely exhausted. But no matter how tired she was, she wasn't able to fall back to sleep. It wasn't that she couldn't, because as soon as she closed her eyes she would doze off, but there was something preventing her from falling back to sleep.
The room she found herself in was quite large. There was a window on the wall beside her bed, and a desk in the far corner. A chest sat at the foot of her bed, which was where she kept most of her games. There was a wardrobe and a TV, and just about everything you can think of to keep a young girl happy as she sat in that room alone. Most people would say she was certainly a lucky girl.
But if you took a closer look at that room, you would see a looming darkness hanging over all that resided in it. Cobwebs lined everything, and insects had overrun the place. There were large creatures like rats with red eyes that scurried around the edges of the room, waiting for a chance to devour the girl. All the furniture and toys were lined with inches of dust and filth, and the bed was stained with blood. Only when you bothered to look past the mask of the room did you see it's truth entirely, but no one save the girl had managed to do that.
That was her truth.
The little princess had not been out of that room for a very long time. She had spent every morning she can recall waking up the that exact bed. She hadn't seen anyone in just as long. In fact, she was in there for such a long time that she even forgot what it was like to be free.
When she went about her day, she could hear voices coming from the walls. There were people merrily chatting away, being jolly and enjoying their lives outside. Everyday these people would meet just outside her walls as if to taunt her. They were there when she woke and there when she slept. She was forever haunted by them.
Oh, how the little princess longed to join them! To run free of her prison and join in the laughter and dance. To be free of the room and just live! But it was not to be so.
There was one door in that room, only one. No one got in, no one got out, save for one. There was a creature, black as the night and painted as a silhouette. He had the key to that room, for the door could only be opened with the right one. He was the one who put that princess in that room so many years ago, and he was the one to keep her there. He would come in to that room, and using the knife he carried with him, he would cut the girl.
The princess is like the room. At first look, you see only innocents and sweet beauty. Only those who bother to look deeper would see the many scares lining her body from when the monster had visited, the knife wounds that laced her body and became apart of her existance.
She lived in fear of the monster. She could not escape.
Today, once again, when this little princess woke up, she heard the sound of footsteps outside her room. Thudding footsteps like heavy boots and chains. An inky blackness spilt through the crack between the door and the foor, and the key lock jiggled.
The monster was coming.
In a blind panic and frenzy, the princess jumped out of bed and began banging on the walls. She screamed at the top of her lungs, yelling for someone to come help her. The people outside, still merrily chatting away, heard her. They always did. And although it was in their power to save the little girl, for they too held keys of their own, they did not. They began talking louder, drowning out the princess's cries with their own shallow conversations. They pretended not to hear the girls screams, for it would interrupt their happy existences, and people are more concerned with their own plastic happiness than the screams of a princess.
So despite the girls efforts, no one came, and the monster was allowed to walk back into that room. And using his rusty knife, he cut the girl once more.
Now once the monster had left, and the girl sat bleeding on the bed sheets, a man walked into the room. The princess was so over joyed! Someone had come to visit her! Would she finally be rescued?
But this man would not be the one to save the girl, for he was one who never bothered to see things as they are, and just saw the mirage of how things appear. He too, found more importance in his plastic existance.
So the man sat down on the bed next to the bleeding girl, and said this:
"Little Princess, why are you not happy? You have an amazing room, and your life is practically perfect. I don't understand why you're so miserable. You say you're mad at the people outside for not saving you, but they have nothing to save you from! All these monsters you speak of are in your mind. I do not see any scares or blood! You are creating monsters for the amusement of it all! Please just stop so me and the others outside can enjoy our lives."
And with that, the man turned and left, leaving the princess sobbing and bleeding on her bed once more.
After so many years of living this way, with the monster, people outside, and the frequent visits from the man, another someone eventuall came. This time it was a little prince. And for the first time, the little princess had someone to visit her.
The little prince lived with the princess for a while. He would sit and tell her how strong she was. He was one who bothered to look past outside masks and saw things as they really were. He sat with the princess as she bled on the bed, and wiped her tears as she cried.
For the first time in the princess's life, she had someone who was protecting her. Someone who was taking care of her and defending her from the monster's evil knife. She had never felt more complete and full of joy in her life.
The little prince began to tell the princess about how much she should run away from that room and get free. He gave her the strength and courage to do so. She thought that because now she someone who would support her and protect her, she could do anything.
So the princess ran away. She ran out into the world and experienced freedom like she never had before. The little prince had to go away for a while, but he promied he would come back for her, and she was overjoyed.
True joy was still witheld from the girl though, as she was so bound by fear and pain, she was unable to experience happiness as you and I can. Her days were haunted by the ghosts and spectors of the room she was reminded of.
Eventually she was lured back into the room by the monster, and the little prince was no where to be found. The little princess was alone once more.
Not only was the princess dealing with the pain of the knife, but to have a taste of freedom and companionship just to have it ripped away from you is true evil. She mourned her loss of the little prince and sank into a deep depression.
The years passed by slowly and the princess grew up. Fed up with the pain, she devised a plan to get free once and for all. She waited until the monster came to unlock the door again, and attacked him head on. She was able to stun him for long enough that she could escape out that door. She vowed never to come back.
So finally the princess was free. She left the monster, his knife, the people outside, and the man alone in her past. She met new people in a new and beautiful room who actually cared about her. She finally had a life she wanted. Sure, there were other monsters out in the world that would hurt her, but nothing as bad as that one.
But because she was not protect by anyone, the princess was terrified of being brought back to that room. She didn't live in constant fear, but if she passed the man on the streets, or got hurt by some other monster, the nightmares would come back. There was no one to protect her, and she was alone.
Eventually, the monster did come back to hurt her. He tried to no end to drag that girl back to that room. Each time the princess bested him, but it was not without sacrifice, she was cut more deeply than she had been when she was in that room. Fresh blood pooled from her wounds as she lay on her bed crying for days. She sank into misery so deep that she wondered if she could ever smile again.
She knew it was all worth it though because she was finally free! She could dance and sing and be herself without fears or chains. She had never been so happy in her life.
Despite all this, somewhere deep down inside her, it seemed she could never quite get free of the monsters grasp, he always ended up finding her.
So the princess continued to live in fear. Finding it too hard to put the pain into words, she could never properly explain the room to her friends, so she managed alone.
The monster started trying other means to get her back. He used the people outside to say terrible things about the princess and spread horrific lies about her. He turned people against her, and had people constantly spitting on her. Her own family and friends took up war with her.
The monster ended up using the little prince, as he soon became uncaring towards her. The prince had changed. He began fitting in with the rest of the people who used to laugh outside her room. He seemed to have forgotten about the princess, and it broke the girl's heart. She had always found strength in his promise to return, but if that was a lie, where should she draw her courage from?
The monster took away her favorite places, her good memories, her family, and her friends. Each time someone did something against her, or the monster took away something else, the knife would come back.
One evening, when the princess was once again lying on her bed suffering from more knife wounds, she heard someone call her name.
"Little Princess," it said. "I am here. You are not unprotected, for I will defend you."
The girl looked around to see who had spoken to her. She saw a man come out of the shadows in her room. He was a king. She was instantly frightened by him, but there was something disarming in the way he carried himself. He sat next to her, without saying a word, and touched each of her scares. As soon as his fingers touched her flesh, the scares turned sparkling gold, and they no longer hurt, but looked beautiful. He touched her bleeding wounds, and they too, turned gold. He touched the blood, and it vanished into the air. He then held the little princess close and whispered, "I love you, Angel."
The princess, amazed that she didn't hurt anymore, asked, "Why do you come now to heal my wounds? Why do you tell me that you love me now when I needed to hear that so long ago?"
To that, the prince replied, "I do not just come now, I was always there. I heard the people's chatter and felt the knife. I touched the blood and felt the terror. I cried with you, and rubbed your back as you slept."
"But I could not see you."
"Ahh, but could the man not see your scares and the evil in the room, claiming it was all in your imagination? You have to be willing to look past the illusion princess. I was always there."
With those words, the little princess saw herself sitting in the room again. This time she was not alone. Through all her screams, the king was there with her. She watched herself get cut, and with each drop of blood from her came two from the prince. She saw the man come in and tell her the monster was pretend, and she heard the king whisper kind and loving words into her ears instead. She saw herself crying into the early hours of the morning as she bled on the sheets, and the king was there crying with her. Lastly, she saw the monster come, and each time he did, the prince stood up, and defended her against the knife. He was, and always will be, there with her.
She began crying, and she remembered his name. A beautiful name full of power and mystery. It contained all the wisdom and knowledge in all the skies, and it, as well as the king himself, was perfect.
The man held the princess long into the night, and promised that he would never abandon her.
Since that first night, he has showed her the world. He gave her forgiveness towards the people outside, the man, and even the knife. He showed the little princess a new way to live, and she had never been more free.
The monster still did come back. He still tried endlessly to bring the princess back to that room, but each time he cut the girl over again, and she lay bleeding on the sheets, the king would touch her scares and turn them beautiful. He would bleed with her, cry with her, feel the knife with her.
The princess became respected because of her scares. People became in awe of her story. She was able to tell many people about the love of the king, and many people learned to see him through her. She lived a life of freedom that most peopl can only dream of, and she became the leader that she was supposed to be.
She no longer had to be afraid of the room and the monster, for the king was always there with her. It still hurt, yes, and sometimes the king was hard to see and seemed to disappearm but when she needed him, he was always there.
Even when he didn't appear to be, she knew he was always there with her, protecting her from the monster.
The princess was no longer afraid and unprotected, but she was able to finally say,
I AM DEFENDED
and this was her truth now.
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Thank you so much for reading~! I really super duper appreciate it, very much so.
Please remember to comment and/or vote, it would make my day very spectacular. XD