Celestial Love (Anthony Rizzo)

.1. Find The Light

Anthony

Darkness. It can be pretty terrifying to most people. It is said it's not what you do know, but rather what you don't know that scares you most. And so it's what you don't see in the dark that is the most terrifying, not the darkness itself that scares you.

There's points in everyone's life where you become surrounded by darkness. For some people it's the loss of a love one, for too many it's abuse or neglect at the hands of people who are supposed to protect them. At some point in everybody's life there is some kind of darkness that consumes them, that surrounds them to the point where there is no light.

For me, my darkness was when I was diagnosed with cancer. I was just a kid, not even 19 years old yet when I was diagnosed. It happened so quickly. I was in Boston, far from home, far from the light I was used to. I was left in darkness for so long because for so many cancer means the end and I didn't know what it meant for me.

Luckily for me it was just the beginning. I was in remission after six months of chemo and I was on my way to bigger and better things. But my grandma was battling breast cancer at the same time I was and her fate wasn't the same as mine. Sadly too many people enter that darkness that cancer brings, never to find the light again.

Sometimes people are that beacon of light. They're the way out of the darkness for others and I think that's pretty cool. I try to be the light for as many people whether it be through baseball or through my cancer research or just finding a way to put a smile on someone's face. Even if it's a temporary flash of light, that should be good enough to find the strength of keeping a light around.

My battle with cancer happened in 2008, now it's 2017 and I'm almost nine years post treatment. I'm feeling great, living it up in the best city in the world doing everything I can to not just be light but to spread or reflect it too.

I walk out of my apartment late this April night as the baseball season was just under way. After winning it all last year I was excited for a chance to do it all again. There's no better feeling than winning a championship. Cubs fans had waited so long for that and to give it to them was thrilling. And now we can do it again.

I turn the corner to my favorite ice cream shop ready to get myself a little treat. It was pretty late and not a lot of people were out letting me walk around without any problems. The literal darkness fell over the city as the lights show us city goers the way. There's nothing quite like the windy city at night.

As I was about to head into the ice cream parlor I hear faint crying in the distance. And not like this person was physically hurt, but they were defiantly in some kind of pain. You could hear in the way their cries never quite went away. It was a constant heart wrenching cry that comes from a collection of things piling on top of one another and not one instance. This was a nicer part of town and not many homeless people make it this far. Whoever this person was shouldn't have been on the street. Whatever it is that is keeping them out here must be hard. So I decide to back up and follow the soft sniffles to see if someone was in trouble.

As my feet hit the ground I find my steps get heavier as I get closer to the source of the cry for help. My heart shatters as they seem to gasp for a breath. Finally I find someone curled up in a ball outside of some really really nice penthouses just outside of the city, not too far from Watertower where I stay. Her knees pulled into her chest as far as they will go. Long dark brown hair spills out of a cute light pink hat surrounding her body. She had her purse and a light jacket telling me she most likely lived here. But I wasn't sure what to make of this, all I know is that she needed help and I might help.

So I move over to her slowly, careful not to startle her. I could feel how tense she was and I didn't know what to do.

"Excuse me miss" I start as she freezes. The sniffles stop like she was trying to hide here in plain sight. She pulls her knees in tighter almost like she was afraid of me. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just, I wanted to see if I can help in any way" I try.

"It's too dark" she responds barley above a whisper sending chills down my body. I look around and it was pretty well lit up out here. But maybe it was inside of her that was dark, the kind of darkness that under these lights will still surround you.

"Maybe if you look up, you'll find a light. And maybe not the light you're looking for, but the kind of light bright enough to help you find what you're looking for" I suggest.

She finally lifts her head from between her knees and tosses her hair out of her face. She starts to look around for that light before her eyes end up on me. Her big blue eyes looked like a crazy scary storm as she stares right into my soul. I feel my breath hitch in my throat as I stare back at her porcelain face. Her big pink lips quivering as she struggles to get her breathing under control.

"Are you okay" I ask and she nods her head. She wipes away the tears and almost instantly she was able to collect herself. It was kind of scary how fast she was able to put on this face when something was obviously wrong.

"Yeah... I'm-I'm fine" she tries but I wasn't convinced.

"Can I ask you your name" I question.

She pauses for a second, not sure if she can trust me or not. But I see her eyebrows relax a little and I know she was starting to trust. "My name is Celeste. But most people call me Callie" she says and I smile.

"Celeste. That's quite a beautiful name for a very beautiful woman" I admit as her lips pull tight. A small smile fights his way onto her face making my heart beat harder.

"Thank you. And you're Anthony right" she asks.

"That's me" I admit.

"I'm sorry if I scared you I-" she trials off. Her face falls as whatever caused her to break down out here returns to her mind, and the darkness that comes with it.

"You don't have to explain yourself" I assure her. "I was just on my way to get some ice cream, I wasn't doing anything of any importance. Would you like to join me" I ask.

Her eyes grow in concern as she turns to the apartments behind me. She looks back at me before letting out a sigh. "I don't think I can" she claims and I furrow eyebrows. Like it messed up her plans she had or she wasn't allowed to?

"It's my treat. I don't want to leave you like this out here by yourself and I'm really good company. I promise" I say with a inviting smile.

She shakes her head as a soft sigh passes her lips. "Alright. I think I could use some ice cream right now" she admits.

I reach my hand out to help her up from the cold hard ground. She placed her hand in mine and I see a huge rock on her left ring finger. I'm not sure what her problems were but she could probably buy them and sell them with that ring.

Once she was on her feet she dusts herself off a little. She was about half a foot shorter than me but very very nicely dressed. From what I can tell she had a lot of money so I'm not sure how she ended up on the streets like that.

"Thank you for checking up on me Anthony I... not a lot of people check in on me. I really am sorry if I scared you" she apologizes.

"No need to apologize. A little ice cream will go a long way" I smile.