Story of stories

Clear

The world comes to a sudden stop.

The panic sets in and the walls begin to close in. You see the people walking down the street completely indifferent, completely unaware of what is going on in your mind. It all slows for a second and the panic and worry set on your face.

The mask topples to the ground and you are left vulnerable. You wonder if the contentment on every person's face is a mask too. The people act like machines all programmed to run the same, talk the same, and act the same. They never share emotion or tell you what they are thinking. It is almost as if there is a void inside their head. You long to explore the peace in their head.

You want to take a piece of the void and put it in your head so that it could calm the crazy thoughts that run through your mind. The machines walk faster hoping to get away unnoticed. You pick up your mask and begin to run.

You run past the machines hoping to escape the shadows of your true thoughts and panic that can not be hidden. The machines are lucky, their lack of thought and worry doesn’t follow them like a shadow haunting their every move.

The voices in their head are nonexistent and it is filled with silence. The silence consumes the machines so that they can have a normal life. Is being a machine normal? Is being consumed in silence with no thought and worry normal? 

Are you different because you feel everything? The screaming rips you apart slowly like it enjoys chipping away at your mask that you try so hard to keep on your face. The colors in your head swirl and spin and your breathing quickens.

You long for a place to hide.  Finally you get away from the screams and the color and the machines in the shadow of a dark alley. You just desire to steal a piece of their void, a part of the black color in their minds to dull the vivid colors in your head.

All of a sudden the light dims and the colors stop swirling, the screams quiet as you sit in the darkness consuming the dark peace as much as you can.

You look up to see the blank stare of a machine who is programmed to skip over your existence and forget the look of pain on your face. The machine continues down the street just like how it is supposed to.

They all do not notice and refuse to care. Your head leans back on the brick wall and for a moment it clears. For a moment it is all gone. The colors are dull and the screams are quiet and the panic fades and the spinning and swirling slows. You see the void and you want to crawl into it and escape.

You enjoy the peace but is it worth losing everything? Is a moment of peace worth losing who you are and everything you have? A countdown begins and you can feel the silence lifting “6” the colors begin to brighten “5” the spinning starts “4” the panic creeps in like water trying to sink a boat “3” the screams appear as a whisper “2” they get louder and louder almost back to the agonizing pain and volume “WAIT” you scream.

You rip off the mask and bury your head into your knees and whisper “Please, please let the screaming stop. I want it to stop.”

“Stop stop STOP STOP” you cry out in a shrill voice pulling your hair almost to pull the voices in your head out yourself. “1” “no please” you beg the pleading in your voice is clear “2” confusion sets in “3” the screams become a memory leaving only silence in its place “4” the panic subsides like water being drained from a tub until you are left with an overwhelming amount of peace “5” the spinning comes to an abrupt halt “6” the colors turn black. You raise your head from your knees and you hear nothing.

You get up from your hiding place to enter the world once more as you turn to leave a crunch is heard from underneath your shoe. You walk away leaving the shattered mask near the brick wall. You realize that the machines have seemed to disappear and you feel content.