Short Stories

Descriptive Writing - Isolation

I am left in these four walls day in and day out, my presence holding the same weight as it always did. Isolation once was a comfort from the world outside, like a cold pillow on a hot summer night or a hot chocolate when the bitter winds nipped their cold teeth at your fingertips. Isolation was once a solace, an option I chose, the invisible safety net wherein I could recharge my metaphorical batteries and bounce back like the Duracell bunny.

Nowadays Isolation is different. He has a soothing voice, the same gentle comforts, but something about him is... strange. I hear the strangled shout in the back of my head, a voice Isolation muffles with his everlasting hands. I don't like it here, in this cube, this box of nothing. I can feel myself melting away, Isolation is the black hole sucking the life from me, deteriorating the years of self-confidence, undermining Bravery and Courage.

The voice is telling me that my fortress of safety isn't what it seems and it's right, but Isolation's voice is louder and he convinces me to stay. If his voice alone can't enrapture me into his mirage, Anxiety and Insecurity back him up, echoing him with stinging whispers and small words. But they are always just words, never strings of explaining and reason, they are ropes of misdirection that dig into the weaknesses of my heart and brain.

Courage tries to help the voice, tells me Isolation speaks only lies, that if I ignored him for once, I would finally escape. Courage tells me that Confidence is caged by Insecurity and that I must steal the key from Isolation, where he lurks in shadows of memory and the corner of my room when I am alone in this empty house. I do listen sometimes, I take the key so easily from Isolation he doesn't see me leave, stolen goods in hand. 

Confidence sticks around to congratulate me, he pats me on the back and presses a small gift against my hands as I step into society, walking towards the world. Then Confidence leaves me and it is just Courage and I left alone. But when Courage is left unsupported, Insecurity cackles as Anxiety pesters Courage, shattering him slowly. 

I stand in a world, loud like fireworks, but the only things I feel are the injuries that Courage takes for me. When we stay outside this long Courage gets so weak, like a biscuit with a crack, I think he will hold together, but as I reach out to him he snaps instantly. I must return to Isolation Anxiety says, or I will hurt Pride too. So I do. I return to the four walls and run to Isolation with tears in my eyes, begging him to revive Courage, to save him. I give him my life in return for the few moments that Courage allows me, because when Courage surges through me, I get closer to feeling truly alive.