Shrapnel

Meticulously crafted, this particular world was created from the sun’s sparkling beams of light and slivers of the moon. A fallen star was sewn on, followed by the colors of September leaves and the warmth of a summer campfire. The underlying fabric was woven using threads of Intrigue, Fascination, Infatuation, and Hope, with remnants of Longing and Loneliness leaving bittersweet traces of their influence tucked away inside, out of sight. A tapestry ornately decorated with beads of passion and buttons of smiles, laughter bubbles floated through the air so thick with Optimism and excitement that you could see its purple, smoky hues dancing with the sunbeams. The idea of this world was flawless and beautiful, so the creator wanted everything to be perfect… but sometimes, striving for perfection can lead to chaos.

Light stretched across the sky, illuminating everything and filling the world with rainbows of Joy and drops of peaceful, nourishing rain. The clouds reflected sparkling light, their humidity making droplets of pure water look like small diamonds sewn onto cotton candy.

There was no plan; Hope and Destiny never had a plan, at least not one that they felt the need to make known. The world was built with pure, blind Faith that everything would be as it should… and Faith was absolutely correct, even if the way things should be weren’t exactly the same as what the envisioned outcome foretold.

When Faith has reason to falter, emotions become overpowering, overwhelming. Self-control and inner peace may not always be strong enough to make it through the cold, crisp night. Though starlight looks like diamonds and far-away galaxies like Hope, any rain that may fall in the chilly, dark night feels like icicles ripping apart the warm orange glow of Happiness.

The construction of this world continued through nights filled with desire and longing, and days filled with strength and loneliness. Supplies began to dwindle as Doubt took the place of Confidence, but Perseverance ensured that giving up was not an option. Hope lent a hand in making things happen, keeping negativity at bay. Hope, however, was not strong enough to overpower Loneliness, Doubt, and Longing, so they won out in the end.

Just as the final touches were being added to this breathtaking creation, the sun peeked out over the horizon to shed light on the enchanting and ethereal beauty of this world. As the darkness began to fade and renewed Hope and Determination came into sight, music began to play again, sending this world on its way into Happiness and completion. Just as this prismatic endeavor tried to reach for everything it was destined to embrace, Disaster struck in the form of a bomb.

This bomb originated from outside of the world, creeping up slowly with plenty of warnings that Denial did well to keep hidden. An emotional conspiracy. Just as the world had been built on Love and Hope, the bomb came together through Fear and Pain. It was planted inconspicuously in a cruel act of Deception, bringing with it broken shards of Trust and shreds of Hope like angel’s hair clinging to the remnants of Inspiration.

Black, poisonous plumes of smoke and red hot chunks of Disappointment consumed everything.

Constructed of words, Hatred, Fear, and Frustration, the explosion shattered the world, leaving in its wake craters of Despair. Shrapnel of Sorrow, Depression, and Despair ripped through everything, slicing apart the ground, the beams of sunlight, and the Passion. The bomb left aching wounds, gaping widely at what was left of the optimistically purple, smoky sky and begging for Mercy. “Kill me or save me,” gasped the bruised and broken world.

“Kill me or save me….”

Hatred descended into the world, covering everything with a dark cloud of Insecurity and betrayed Trust. A fiery needle attempted to stitch up the wounds harshly, but Hatred was fickle and the needle was hot. The stitches could not hold the wounds together, so Hatred began to lose control. It eventually consumed itself, imploding into a sweltering mist as it could no longer sustain anything, not even its own existence.

Sorrow descended and sent down a spiral, a whirlwind filled with salt for the wounds to attempt to disinfect them from the immense betrayals and to clean the now discolored and bruised world. Unbearable pain commenced, searing and burning with no healing in sight… only eternal fire and pain. As Sorrow naturally would, it curled itself into a tight ball of futility, a never-ending barrage of salty, stinging tears eating away at its hope.

So sensitive and beaten down became the Sorrow that its salty tears turned into acid, burning away the vast Depression and leaving nothing but a stifling residue of decay behind.

Anger descended in a glow of rage and attempted to use the damage Sorrow had done to repair the gaping canyons of consciousness. But Anger was clumsy, heated, and mean. The shrapnel it gathered to try to clean up was immediately flung back down into the wounds, renewing the pain once more.

Anger quickly realized what it had done, seething with furious blood-red fury. It could no longer reason with itself or justify its actions, and witnessed the gurgling wounds in the world develop fresh bubbles of bloody droplets, blending into the larger wounds and unable to coagulate… and thus, unable to heal.

So uncompromising was Anger that it turned against itself, destroying its own essence from the inside, consumed by its own rage and wishing it could’ve saved the prismatic, glowing world before it had been too late.

Desperation descended in one last attempt to hold on to the once beautiful creation, in vain. “Kill me or save me,” the world sputtered in blood-riddled gasps. Even begging could not save this magnificent creation, could not save the effort or the Hope. As Desperation tried and tried again, repeating the same endeavor and blindly sobbing a wish that things weren’t as they seemed…

Warmth.

Finally.

Numbness descended in its narcotic, fuzzy Wisdom. It saved the world, allowing a calm Healing to enter and use its own soothing, cool needle and thread to stitch up the gaping red lacerations. Numbness and Healing worked together for some time, carefully repairing the damage to the best of their abilities.

Though the scars would be unsightly and amazingly prominent, the pain itself would subside a little more with each passing week. Eventually, the scars would begin to fade, and the creation would be accepted by its creator again, despite all of its deformities.

Yet among all of the chaos that had struck, all of the entities that had reaped what they had sewn and gotten their karmic return… not one of the beings had noticed the Heart of the world, which remained untouched by the war of selves and emotions. Not once was this place perceived, harmed, seen, felt, or destroyed.

This Heart was simply covered under fire, strewn with debris from the collision of Hatred and Despair, the ignorance and selfishness of Anger and Sorrow scattered over its surface. Ignored by Hope for fear of loss, and camouflaged by angry skies and clouds of disappointment.

As Numbness and Healing came into the world and progressed across the surface to clear away the chaos, they stumbled upon a magnificent sight, beauty beyond recognition and amplified by its surrounding wasteland.

A body of water… protected by the debris that had fallen and ash that had hidden its wonders from sight. The water, however, was fully intact and needed only to be uncovered, unmasked. With the hope of restoring the wonders of this world, Healing worked diligently to make the beauty of it known.

At last, after months of perseverance and determination, the view was breathtaking and bright, a beautiful splash of color and light amidst the ruins. The clouds had cleared to make way for the sun, whose beams shone down lovingly to caress the water’s surface, turning it into a sparkling and beautiful view from every angle.

Like tiny diamonds scattered haphazardly across miles of rippling silk, the lake renewed the Hope of the entire world, building a foundation of Joy that could never be destroyed or recreated: True Happiness.

With a background of hills striving to be mountains someday, the incredible truth was that this beauty and joy had always been there – through times of peace as well as times of war; Times of harmony and times of chaos. It was inadvertently protected so that it could be discovered again, beautifully hidden so that it could reach out and touch the heart of everything in the world after such an apocalyptic event with its sparkling victory, utterly fragile and exhaustingly indestructible.

Balance in all the surrounding chaos: the Heart of the world.

Upon seeing how this world had been reconstructed and marveling at its Strength, Creator looked upon it with loving warmth. How could she have cast out this awe-inspiring creation that only she could have ever conceived? The bomb had been no one’s fault; just a result of incompatibility and an outside fear of commitment.

She decided never to allow external factors beyond her control to rip her creations apart again. She chose an existence of Love, Happiness, Contentment, and Harmony. Most of all, Creator chose not to let scars dictate her future and instilled the same conviction into her creations.

Fear and Pain had built the bomb, while Denial concealed its existence. Creator refused to allow those negative experiences to determine the quality of her existence, nor would she stand idly by while her creation suffered. She knew that Love was the answer to all and could heal every ripple of pain and suffering.

It could never deter her from trying again because, no matter what happened, healing through Love was not only possible… with the right nurturing and disposition, it was unstoppable. No matter what happened, her world would always be beautiful… scars and all.