Echoes in the Eyes

If I look into a mirror I see the sad, blue eyes of a worn out person. If the eyes are the gateway to the soul then what you see would make you turn away. But please, stay, I promise what you see is not the exact truth.

Step through the doorway into my soul and you will first come upon a rickety bridge with some wooden planks missing. Holding the pathway, steel-linked chains, which slightly sway, yet no wind is felt. There is a light, far away, at the end of the pathway, you feel hope looking at the light and attempt to get to it.

The first step squeaks under the pressure of your foot. The sound echoes in the darkness and you swear you can hear a child crying faintly beneath you. Fear grips your hands as they tremble holding onto the chains, but you continue toward the light. It begs you to continue despite the desire to turn back. Turn back. Every step worse, more screaming, just turn back. Please why do you continue?

"He's dead! NO!" Echoes...everywhere.

Your feet touch the firm ground, behind you the bridge sways side to side as a small child hangs on. Her white hands grasping on to wooden steps, the once blue eyes stained red and puffy staring back at you. The fear that built up on the bridge quickly disappeared only to be refilled with angst and doubt. Ahead, the light still shines and looks upon you still, longing for you to grasp it. From the darkness, a figure clad in armor appears. It walks toward you before stopping. Its' leather gloved hand motions you forward, a slight sense of calm washes over you. As you both walk together in silence, a forest opens up. Snarling echoes throughout the trees, dark creatures can be seen darting ahead. You stop as the leather gloved hand grasps your shirt. It gives you time to survey your new "friend".

The figure stood about five feet tall, it's head hanging against its' chest as if exhausted from the short walk. The broken armor, hung loosely on the body that wore black undergarments from head to toe. From the helmet, you can see the breath exhale and you realize it suddenly has gotten cold.

A shadow runs from the trees, you see it at out of the corner of your eye. As you slowly turn, an ugly creature with greenish, yellow skin, holes for noses, and bleeding red eyes scurries toward you. It's teeth scrape together, sounding as if a teacher scrapes her nails on a chalk board. It jumps at you bloodied hands outstretched toward you. Stepping away you trip on something beneath your feet and fall to the ground, covering your face to protect yourself, expecting at any moment to feel the creature upon your skin.

Snarling and screams fill the darkness, but are soon silenced. The smell is unbearable and the stickiness is absorbed by your skin, but you open your eyes to see the knight barely standing before you; hunched over on his sword. Around her the creatures of the forest, dead. She had taken his helmet off, though it was cracked in half and was of no use. She had pulled her black hood off and the red long hair, drenched in blood, lay upon her backplate. You wanted to console her, but a voice in the forest draws you away. Her blue eyes fall upon you as you drift away. Her half smile burned into your memory as the voice brings you down a dirt path.

It becomes colder as you continue down the path and you find the short sleeve shirt you are wearing is not the appropriate attire anymore. Rubbing your hands on your bare arms, you continue onward and the forest transforms into a dark desert land. The sky is filled with stars, the milky way, and calmness. There is peace, the first feeling of no fear or dread. On the horizon, the light beckoned you on and for once you felt the path would be easy.

"INCOMING!"

A soldier appearing from nowhere grabbed you and threw you to the ground. Behind you an explosion, cement exploded into the air. You looked around and the peaceful desert was a flame with a gun battle. Soldiers screaming in pain lay in the distance and occasional red flares exploded in the now cloudy sky. The soldier that saved your life, stood up and motioned for you to follow behind a wall. All the emotions you have felt built up, feeling the need to explode, like the missiles above. The blue-eyed soldier wearily smiles at you.

"Home is that way." The soldier remarked while pointing toward the light; it was being covered slightly by the smoke.

"Come home too?" You ask. The blue-eyed soldier looks at the ground, focusing on a slow moving beetle.

"I've lost something, I need to find it first." The blue-eyed soldier teared up and looked at you. "I'll be fine. Go home." She said wearily, before standing up and walking into the smoke. Tears fill your eyes as the emotion overwhelms you as you begin to run toward the light. The warmth is on your face, the light is in your grasp, but suddenly you find yourself falling.

Frustration took over and you let out a yell, for you have found yourself in a pit with no way out.

"I just want to leave!" Your voice doesn't echo, it falls flat against the mud walls. On the opposite wall, the blue-eyed soldier sat with her back against the wall, helmet on the ground, in full gear, with her rifle, muzzle pressed under her chin. Her eyes were closed and she breathed slowly.

What do you say? Is there anything? You try to climb out, scale the wall, scream, but nothing happens. Should you help the soldier? Can you? Defeated, you fall to the ground and stare.

"Peace, I dream of peace." The soldier remarked. "I fight demons everyday." She pushed herself up and offered her hand. "You can't get out alone. I'll help you." You sit on the edge of the pit and watch the soldier below. You could help, but how? Around, the trees walk away, taking their vines with them. The weeds refuse to grow and the only living creature is a dog that sleeps beside the pit as if to comfort the lost one below.

You look into my soul and you would get lost and run away. Enter my mind and you will find the wild west, the dragons fighting Robin Hood, and the lost memories burned into my soul. I wish for peace in all these realms, that one day the chaos of war and trauma comes to close. Yet, my soul was the sacrifice I would make again for you to be able to go home and stay in the light.