The Beast

In the darkened void I find myself falling. I fall without sight or sound to depths unknown. Within this void I hide but I am not alone. While there is no sound I can still hear its voice. Low and soothing like a lullaby from the lungs of a creature no one knows.

"I was too much." It says. There is sadness in the words. A sad understanding of what I've become.

"You were sick..." It continues. Knowing the wrongs and setting them right.

I feel the void cradle me in unseen arms, cold yet warm. I am not alone.

"They told others, they could not handle my issues." I mutter. My voice feels strange. I hear it as my own but I hear it also as many.

"True, they could not." It replies. The arms release me in favor of my hand. A finger beneath my chin to lift my head.

My words escape me. I have so many questions. So many faults untended. So many lives untouched.

The voice speaks again with conviction.

"But that doesn't make your existence wrong." I want to believe it. I want to know it for the truth.

"You have a right to decency." Do I? I'll never know. The unseen hands lift mine. I try to stand, not knowing I'd sunk to the floor.

"What's important, is that you will learn from this." I can see it now. Like a shadow in the dark.

There is no emotion in the face before me, as it is not a face I've ever known. But there is comfort in the endless eyes and sharpened maw so close.

The beast lifts my knee, placing a foot beneath me.

"It is an unfair way to be taught." It explains. I believe it now. I try to stand but I feel weak.

"But it's over now." I feel strength return to me. Slow, like the smooth rotating hands of time. As it passes, I grow stronger.

I am standing now. The beast before me is a blur. Hands reach to center me, to guide me, lest I fall.

"Whether they change," it says. "or not, is irrelevant." A hand gently dusting the dirt from my form. I can no longer see the face I'd never known. I see nothing once more. And once more, the voice speaks.

"Keep fighting." I don't remember how. "Get mad if you must!" The voice is passionate. Not with fury or anger, but with will. A will to continue. I feel something new. Something painful. Something pleasant.

The hands caress my face and direct me elsewhere. I can see a light. Soft and simple, yet powerful within the void.

"Focus on what is ahead." The voice tells me quietly. I can hardly hear it now. Tears fall. The feeling is stronger now. It's powerful.

The voice is gone now. There is only me as the hands vanish, releasing me upon the light before me. This feeling.

"And step forward."

This feeling... is hope.