I was always the odd one in my neighborhood. No one noticed me and everyone ignored me… to be honest I mostly did the same. I never opened up to anyone or even tried to get close with anyone… I preferred being alone, the one thing that always got me going… was arts, particularly painting. It was my only friend and it always helped me pass by time. It was always the only thing I excelled at.
I did very well in school, was a straight A student everyday in every subject. But when it came to being social I struggled. I was the wallflower and I couldn't get myself out of that case. I was even the odd in the school dance competition. I ended up coming in fifth.
I lost myself in the darkness that was visible only through the small lamp. The dim light output was just enough to see some of my art, but not clearly. It was time to stroke out and make some sort of sense. But I just kept sitting in darkness and thinking about what had happened. For five days now, I haven't eaten or drunk even a drop of water. It was as if nothing in the world mattered anymore. Nothing was as important as my art and my sketch pad. The dim light coming from the lamp was the only thing that kept me connected to the world I lived in.
I was alone in the room, and all was silent. I was staring at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a mess… five days of not sleeping had made me weary… I couldn't even think straight anymore, it was just myself, with nothing to connect to, no one to call my friend.
Everything made sense. Everything that I could never understand, everything that I could never comprehend. All of that made sense now. It was all meant to be. The loneliness had really hit me hard. My job, my relationships and my life… it was all a giant mess. Everything I had understood about a thing called life was actually a lie. My reality lied to me and then I began my journey to a land that was unknown to me, hidden within the foot prints of a lie.
The door opened and light started filling up the room. There stood my father in a body that was wasted by time. He was visibly tired, as did I. We both looked at each other and once again silence filled the empty room. We looked at each other, the silent and the content. I had stayed hidden in a corner of my room for days and days, staring at art and sketching and picturing the things I couldn't see. He came with food, water and the most precious medicine of all… hope. He came with an empty stomach and started feeding me 'harmony'. We ate and talked. He didn't leave.
He never left my side, just like I never left his. He never allowed me to back my till alone in the darkness that I was immersed in. He managed to pry out some sort of connection between us and the times came when the darkness around us subsided and the corners of my room gained life.