Miscellaneous

The Pain of Leaving

Plot: A literal personification of your worst fears hunts you down as you try to leave them in your past.

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The pain of leaving, so it goes, doesn't hit you until you're gone. I never believed such a sentence until I felt the pain of leaving myself.

All you ever loved stays behind in your wake, as you move on to begin again. All you ever loathed continues to haunt you slowly, quickly, daringly, until you're far enough to see the light you desperately run to.

You run, I see, fast enough to stop time. Combat storms. Translate universes beyond. To the light blinking at the end of the tunnel. Bright and brilliant, and nothing you've ever seen before.

I stand before you, dangling a flashlight overhead, so glaringly radiant even the sun must look away. It attracts you. It draws you in. I wait.

The pain of leaving comes in waves. The first is guilt. For those you left behind in search of new beginnings. And those you've forgotten on your journey to new worlds.

I see it in your eyes, the flashing regret, the unfaltering indecision, as you try to outrun your demons.

I stand in a cloak of night, ready to steal your intentions. I make myself known. You are afraid.

The second wave is denial. It crashes with a force, so unimaginable, when you least expect it.

You wonder if leaving was the right choice. You wonder if you've chosen well.

Alarm flashes across your face and you run in the opposite direction. Back to your origin. Leaving the promise land. Leaving hope.

I lunge upon you, grasping you as we fall down together. You try to fight back, but you're not strong enough. Nobody can defeat their demons easily.