The Countdown

Thump...thump..thump
You can hear my heart beating
You can hear it beating in my chest.
My life flashes before me, as the countdown to my life closes up
I’m petrified, but that won’t alter reality
Days pass like hours, hours pass like minutes, and minutes pass like seconds
I wonder. Will I see my loved ones again?
Will I be remembered?
Will time erase all traces of my existence?
I say a silent prayer. Time is passing by.
I cling to life, try to stop the countdown, but I’m pushed away
3..2..1..OVER

The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride

“Mirror mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all?” she said while looking at her reflection in the mirror. “Of coarse no one else but me. I have it all,” she thought. “I’ve got the money, the friends, the fame, and most importantly, I have the looks.” A deep breathy laugh fluttered over her lips, as she was twirling a lock of her hair around her index finger.

“They all want to be me..and why wouldn’t they? Am I not the most beautiful?” she said.

However, in the darkest corner of her room lurked a shadow, which she had failed to see due to her self-absorption.

“My beauty shall last forever. I will make it last forever,” she continued. The shadow crept closer and closer. Behind the headboard of her bed, around its leg, to the chair she was sitting on, behind her mirror, and then it stood still.

“It will last until eternity,” she said. As soon as she uttered those words, the shadow leaped foreword and spun around her neck. She tried to breath, but she couldn’t. She tried to scream, but no voice came out of her throat. The shadow tightened its grip, as her struggle grew weaker and weaker. Finally it let go, as her lifeless body hit the floor, and a thud was heard throughout the house.

The Hope on the Horizon

Darkness sometimes sweeps the lives of the oppressed. It envelops them whole in an endless void of nothingness. No dreams, no laughter, no chances exist; nothing but the suffocating and ominous aura of those who had given up. They gave up everything; their dreams, their happiness, and their lives with no fight, while lamenting their helplessness. They wish for someone to release them from their misery. But, when will that person come? Who will be their savior? In the midst of their lamentations they had lost sight of the golden rays of the sun that crept out in the horizon; illuminating the darkness that surrounded their lives for so long. But, blinded by their own darkness of heart they failed to see that glimmer of hope that appeared everyday with the rays of the sun. They failed to see the obvious.

Opposites

As the sun sets in the west; it rises in the east.

As death claims a life; a new one is born elsewhere.

As a tear trickles down a cheek; laughter is heard in the distance.

As a war cry echoes; a cry for peace sounds.

As we feel sorrow; we feel happiness.

Those are opposing things that cannot exist together, yet they cannot exist without each other.

A lifelong dream

She heard the cheers and applauds of the audience as she descended the flight of stairs that lead her to the stage. It was her first live performance. She was intoxicated with the fact that she, out of all the performers was chosen to perform in front of thousands of people. “This is my moment; I shouldn’t make a single mistake,” she thought. She was ready; until the curtain opened, and the spotlights shone on her. She froze, and didn’t know what to do. She forgot the words of her song; beads of sweat trickled down her spine. The audience hushed now; waited for her to start singing; anticipated her every move. She still didn’t utter a word. But, suddenly, a child came out of nowhere and rushed towards her on the stage while holding a rose. He stopped right in front of her, handed her the rose, grinned and said, “I want to be just like you when I grow up.” He turned around and ran back to where he stood, hidden among the audience. That little act of innocence from the little child brought her back to reality. The reality that she was here to perform for a reason; to make her lifelong dream come true, and that is to perform with all her heart for an audience who will listen and savor every note and sound that comes out of her mouth; and therefore she sang, the song that soothed the heart, expressed what cannot be expressed, and that healed the broken heart.

A split second of eternity

One of the strangest things about life is that sometimes you get the feeling that you are capable of living forever. This feeling manifests in many different and odd ways. It could be by seeing your child smile for the first time; seeing the sun rise across the horizon; feeling the night breeze on your face; smelling the sweet aroma of a flower; or even by seeing a stranger smiling back at you. However, it’s not the fact of living forever that counts; but the bliss and fulfillment that takes place in that split second of an unattainable dream.

The Harsh Truth

I opened my eyes to a pitch-black night. My whole body was enveloped in darkness like no other. I tried to feel my way through, but I stumbled and scabbed my knee on the sharp rocks. I stood up and started walking again, but I tripped on yet another rock. Again, I stood up and tried to focus my vision, in a failed attempt to glimpse something that could be my guide.

Suddenly an apparition appeared before me. “Who is it?” I asked my self..I looked harder, and there she was. “Its you” I called with a relief. “Finally someone I know”. But, as I was saying that she suddenly turned away and started walking to what seemed like a flicker of light..“Wait. Where are you going? And what’s that over there?” I called. She didn’t answer, and on and on she went not heeding my calls.

I ran after her trying to follow her into the light, but I bumped into something invisible and fell back. I stood up and ran towards the light, however, I fell back again as I hit that invisible wall front of me. I banged on it with my hands, kicked it, and threw anything my hands grasped towards it, but that thing did not budge nor break.

As fear started to creep into my heart, I started screaming and calling for that apparition to listen to me. “Please listen to me” I called. No answer. I fell on my knees as the tears started trickling down my cheeks.

All of a sudden, the apparition turned around and looked me straight in the eye. “STAND UP” she yelled. Dumbstruck, I just stood there looking at her face. “STAND UP” she yelled more forcefully this time. I stood up, dazed and not knowing what I should do. “Look at yourself” she said, “your pathetic”. I gave no answer, as I didn’t know what she was talking about.

“I don’t understand” I answered back, “Why am I pathetic?”..She snickered and said, “Look at what you’ve done to yourself. And you say you don’t understand!!”. I stared back with the same confused expression on my face. She started talking again. “You!! Called upon this darkness to yourself, and then you had the guts to ask others to help you get out of it”.. “You built your dreams, and then you’ve set the walls that blocked your way from achieving them, while blaming others for standing in your way”. “This darkness you see around you was created by you. That wall you hit just now was built by you”, she said. “That light over there is your only chance. You either break the walls around you with all your might and run to that light before it fades; or just give up now and drown in your own darkness of mind. It’s your choice. Fight for what you want or just give up this instant.”

At that moment it struck me. The painful truth that I had pushed away for so long, had tore away at my heart as I realized my own stupidity. All those years that I spent lamenting my unfulfilled dreams were a result of my own lack of real determination. I decided then and there to fight. To fight for my dreams or die trying. I raised my head to look at the apparition, but she was already gone with no trace of her ever being there.

I fought with all my might to break that wall and to dissipate the darkness that shrouded my mind for so long. Again, and again, and again I fought. Not giving up, until that wall was shattered, and that flicker of light shone brighter and brighter. Finally, the light enveloped me whole into its womb to give birth to my new self.

The new self that believed in dreams and that they do come true with perseverance, patience, and courage.

Remember this: Fight for your dreams or die trying.