Public high school
Nothing to look forward too
Teacher's lectures, science experiments
English essays
The same monotonous day
Nothing interesting or excitingly new

The rain fell in clusters
Upon my fragile cheek
The clouds danced in a pattern
An endless slow dance
The sky beckoned rain
As a slight mist shrouded the school

It did not occur to me
Until I stepped foot into the school
And was engulfed in a sea of cliques
Of five, ten, and twenty
Shrieks of laughter and screams of delight
Echoed through my ringing ears

But then it dawned upon me
That something was wrong
For their faces, not one could I decipher
Blurred, muddy, completely black
Their voices I could hear, clear as the daylight
Yet their faces, mouths, noses... were covered in darkness

I reached out with my hand
And it touched cold, hard flesh
This was too realistic to be a dream
Yet to insane to be real
An uneasy feeling lurked inside me
Just waiting to spring free

But what was the blackness?
Why had they all become so hard to see?
Feeling dazed, lost, confused
I stumbled down the hallway
Towards the main office
Trying to find a shelter, some sort of freedom

My hand grasped the metal knob
And with a twist I was inside
I didn't even hear the gasp spring from my lips
As my mind was too stunned to think
For all of the faces inside the room
Were blurred, darkened just as much as the rest

Stumbling out into the even dimmer hallway
I blindly made my way through the crowds
Somewhere in the distance
I heard my friend's laughter
I pushed my way through, fighting to breathe all the while
Making my way towards the restroom

I reached the bathroom
And fumbled with the door
I pushed myself inside
And rushed over to the sink
I splashed my face with water
To try and rinse away the pain

But it was only doubled in strength
When I met my face in the mirror
For staring right back at me
Was the same face I had observed before
Unable to make out... a dull, lifeless mirage
Of painstaking guilt, darkness, evil...

Uttering a scream
That split through hollow air
I rushed out the door
And into the pounding chaos, unbreakable madness
Numbly making my way
In no particular direction

But then it hit me
Like a speeding bullet
A faint glimmer in the distance
That seemed to revive my eyesight
For even through my tears
A sudden ray was seen

A ray of light... similar to the Sun
It walked as a human, talked like one
Yet it was different from us
Different in so many ways
And then it laughed
And I immediately knew it had to be a she

Her clothes were dark
Her hair tied behind her back
She blended right in
With the rest of the body
Yet she glowed like a lightbulb
Everywhere she went

But I couldn't stand the pain
The agonizing wounds the darkness brought me
There was something different about her
For her face was not a blur
It was clear as daylight
Shining like a star in the midnight sky

I wanted what she had
Yet couldn't find the strength to move
Deceitful voices inside of me
Slyly whispered in my ear to stay back
I tried calling out to her
But my voice cracked and fell

I tried running at her
Arms open wide
But my feet remained on the ground
Glued in place, my eyes obscured
My world was slowly becoming a nightmare
Shadows taking over my long forgotten peace

Overpowered by the rest of the crowd
I weakly collapsed
Silently waited for death
Waited for something to come and take me away
Nothing seemed worth it anymore
Nothing but the light covering her body

My eyes slowly closed
My breaths were short, staggered
I didn't want to bear the pain
Please! Please! Take me right now!
But I felt something else
A presence seeming to speak

It gripped my heart
And told me to hang on
This wasn't over yet
Life was worth so much more
It took me some time
To realize it was... her

She had walked over to me
Her footsteps silent
Quietly looking down at my frail form
Then she smiled and held out her hand
I couldn't quite function
Or comprehend what she was doing

Why me? Out of the entire student body
Why did she care about me?
Why couldn't she just leave me?
Leave me to disintegrate
Wither away into a corpse
I was nothing... I didn't deserve even her smile

I weakly lifted my hand
And felt her smooth skin touch mine
With quiet words she told me
It would all be okay
She told me I was empty, completely lifeless
Her words were haunting and full of disparage

But then she squeezed my hand
And uttered something else
Something of life, of power, of joy
That it wasn't over yet
There could be more
More to my shell of a life

I suddenly felt my face
Come into clearer focus
Her smile widened
As she uttered two words
Two words that could solve my problems
Give me a solid reason to wake up each morning

The light
I was right
From the very beginning
She was wrapped in the light
And that was what made her different
Different from me and everyone else

Hand still in mine
She gently pulled me closer
And I suddenly felt whole
Like my life was finally assembled
A scattered jigsaw puzzle
With the pieces finally coming together

She had given me the light
The light I had been searching for
That I had always needed
It was now finally mine
So that I could also share with everyone else
Now that my tears had dried

I reluctantly let go
My hand dropped to my side
As I glowed radiantly
To show throughought the world
Together we walked, side by side
Reaching out to the lost... the broken, the unsaved

A smile never left my face
As my breathing returned to normal
And my soul felt free
My heart set loose from imprisonment
In the end, I was given a star
And was left feeling like the Sun