The Room – A Short Story

Darkness and light collide. The warrior has lost all fight.
The spirit is broken, the fire is cold. There is no escape.
An ember lies buried in the ashes, waiting to be lit.
Her wings are torn, her heart destroyed, no life within her eyes.
Will the phoenix rise from the ashes, stronger and brighter than before?

~The dark one was here, and I was his target. He had come to conquer. He had come to destroy. ~

I collapsed to my knees on the cold stone floor, clutching the sides of my head and screaming in pain. A shadow covered the single arched window in the cathedral room, blocking out the last little bit of light. I was in utter darkness. The voice inside my head raged, growing louder and louder. Tears streamed down my face and my sobs echoed off the large ceiling. I could hardly breathe.

He doesn’t care about you. My head throbbed as the words reverberated through my skull. He doesn’t want you to be happy.

Every muscle in my body trembled with the war raging inside me. These were all lies. Deep down my head and heart knew this…yet there was something within me, pulling me to accept these words. Just give in.

You could have had it all. The life you always dreamed of could have been yours.

The memories replayed in my mind’s eye. Happy memories. Love, joy…the life I desired, the relationships I longed for. The dream I had always wanted, just within my reach. So close…yet so far. It drifted away like smoke on the wind as soon as I reached for it. It was over. Is this how it would always be? A joke to be played…raise my hopes only to dash them on the rocks at the last moment?

What you long for will NEVER be yours. Your dreams will die. The words pierced my heart like a dagger and I clawed at my chest as the pain shot through me, halting my breath.

They have all betrayed you. Nobody wants you…HE doesn’t want you. The knife in my heart twisted and what little will to fight it I had left died, unable to break through the darkness. There was no way out.

Just give in. Stop fighting.

No matter how tightly I closed my eyes or covered my ears, I could not block out his words. They flooded my mind and heart, thwarting every attempt to fight them off. My legs and arms trembled and my heart felt as if it would beat out of my chest. I let out a scream and collapsed in a heap on the stone floor, my body convulsing.

Just give in.

Tears soaked the cold stones beneath my cheek. “Oh, God…help…me…” My sobs wracked my body until every muscle screamed for relief. I rolled over onto my back and shouted up at the dark, far away ceiling, “God…get me out of here!”

There was no reply. No relief. No sound of any kind except for the breath of the dark one in my ear. I closed my eyes and started to sink into unconsciousness and despair. Too weak in body to move, and too exhausted in mind and spirit to fight. It was over. I wanted my life to end. I wasn’t strong enough to withhold the onslaught of the dark one.

“For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Through my closed eyelids I saw a light, dim at first, but steadily growing brighter. I sat up and looked around. A soft white glow streamed through the small window in the ceiling. It filled the room, sweeping out the darkness that had once dominated it. In the center of the light I saw the figure of a Man. He walked toward me, His hand outstretched. The light seemed to emanate from Him, shining from His chest and face and falling out the ends of His long brown hair.

He bent over me. “Come, my child.” His voice was soft and gentle, yet carried authority. “I will be your shield. I will show you the way.” He smiled at me. “All you need to do is trust in Me.”

Without taking my gaze from His face, I reached up and took His hand. He pulled me to my feet and gathered me into His arms.

“The pain and hurt will never go away in this world,” He said. “Neither will the lies of the dark one.” I pressed my face against His chest. “But if you keep close to Me, I will protect you.”

I looked up at Him. “Lord…why didn’t you lead me out of here before it got so hard and I turned to despair?”

He rested a gentle hand against my still throbbing head. “I was always here. I was always waiting to take you out, but you were not ready to follow Me. Everyone comes here and stays by their own choice.”

I bowed my head but He lifted it so that I could see His face. “Are you ready to trust Me to lead you out?”

I nodded. “But…out to what? What is there for me now? My world has crumbled.”

“Your world may have crumbled,” He said, “but Mine still stands; and there is nothing that can pull it down.” He grasped my shoulders. “Come. See the world I have built for you.”

He turned and guided me to see behind Him. The dark cathedral room had disappeared…we stood on a high green hill underneath a clear evening sky. A path stretched out before me, winding down the hill and through the forests, valleys and mountains beyond. My destination. My dream.

I was not there yet, but I knew that it would be even more glorious than the world I had created for myself. Because He was leading me there; and He would never take me to an ugly place and leave me there.

“This path will not always be an easy one. There will be some rough spots in the road, and the dark one will try and halt you on your journey. But hold onto Me and I will get you through.” He looked down at me and smiled. “I have a great story for you to live…and it does not end here.”