Drips and Drabbles

The Things We Cannot Hide

It was here. It caused this. I walk among shredded walls and broken glass. Everything I once cared about had been destroyed, my family had been dragged away one by one. My life is torn apart, there are scars that will never heal. My friends have turned away, in fear, or in disgust. It has taken everything, I am the only thing left, and now it has come for me. I slide down onto the ground, the debris cuts into my skin, but I am numb. I feel my mind drifting away, the familiar sharp claws against my arm, my body is devoured. I don't remember much. I wake up, the beeping of my life support causes my headache to grow, the wounds have been sewn up along my arm. I lie to cover up the truth, I lie so I can leave this place. They wheel me out of the hospital and I walk home, the gloomy day adding to my fuzzy mind. I collapse in my room, the wallpaper peeling, the train causing the walls to shake and I hold the container in my hand. As tears run down my cheeks, I look up. The dark eyes of the beast stare back. I see my future; darkness, pain, despair, loneliness. There is no escape, not from this. The beast is back. I put the joint between my chattering teeth and breath in. The beast grows, it grows and grows and grows, it fills my house and life. I am standing in darkness, alone. I scream. A window shatters, a voice pushes away the darkness. Light and warmth fill the room and the beast flees. I feel warm and safe, arms wrap around me and I cling to them like a child. The voice is fuzzy but I can still hear her before I drift off. "I'm here. Everything is going to be ok."

Twelve months later I stand at a podium looking out at a crowd of friends and family. Tears spill down my cheeks, but I am not afraid. Not any more. I tell my story, how the darkness in my life was pushed away by the light of Christ, how I was saved from the beast. At the end people stand, my fellow addicts, friends, and family look at me for who I am now, and not a sum of my mistakes, I see pride and not disappointment. I am handed a certificate signifying the end of my recovery program at Teen Challenge. Where I found hope, a meaning for life, and my Lord and Savior. Who pulled me from the darkest pit twelve months ago.

There is always someone here to help.
https://www.teenchallenge.ca