Sunday, 26 January 2014

Chapter XIV The Locked Draw

Chapter 14 is in replacement for chapter 13 which was deleted because of too much sorrow. It was not originally intended to become part of this story but I think it will serve the purpose of helping to describe the state of Lucy's heart.


The Locked Draw


It was locked in a drawer. At night I would hear it rattle, rattling, trying to get out. But the drawer was locked. I held the key but couldn't bring myself to let it out. I was scared, not of it, but what would become of it. It had been harmed before, I couldn't risk it again, and so it remained hidden from the eyes of the world.

Night after night I would lie in bed, staring through the blackness, listening to it knocking and shaking. Eventually sleep would come and I would forget, until the next night when again it would start thumping and pounding.

"IT" is my heart.

Once upon a time, when I was a little girl, I had a heart like any innocent little child's heart, it was unblemished as a gem stone, as pure as gold, and as quick as silver. Then I started to grow up and watch the world around me. I saw the rot, and the greed, and the cruelty. The gems in my heart started to shatter with every harsh unneeded word, just a chip, and a sliver when kindness would cry. Each little chip and tiny splinter I saved in my jewel box, and when the box was full (it did not take long) I put them in the Locked draw.

Then the gold began to melt. As I grew older I was taught about the world. People killed people. "Why?" I would ask. People destroyed trees and animals and the earth they lived from. I learnt about wars and violence and pain. "Why?" I could only ask, I did not understand. I discovered the answer was "Money" and the gold melted from my heart. When the last drop had fallen, I gathered them up and put them in the locked draw.

Now I only had the quicksilver left. Luckily it was able to slide and move with all the blows it was dealt, sadly, sometimes it would slip. My heart was shattered, battered and bruised. I had seen badness all around me, always trying to creep inside, and destroying the world I live in. Peoples' greed still craved for more shiny coins and more paper money and so they ignored the death and destruction, and the disasters that their greed was causing. The planet was dying and they didn't care.

Even the silver was slowly seeping out from my heart. I tried to run, to hide from what I saw. The evil managed well without me and trouble didn't go away. I caught the silver drops as I ran, and put them away in the heavy draw.

Now I lie each night, listening to my shattered and broken heart. I cannot bear to let it out.

Maybe one day they will mend the world and I will borrow the glue strong enough to mend my heart. Until them I must listen to it cry out for a greedy, dying world. As I sleep I dream I have a heart, as precious as a gem, as good as gold and as solid as silver.
And when I wake I live with one of cold metal and solid rock.

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