Outside of the Box
Living life stuck in someone else’s box. Discovering light outside of someone else’s box.
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There once was a young girl, who had a smile so big that her eyes disappeared when she was happy. One who loved to read and live in fantasies, and one who embraced her growth even at a young age. She was described as joyful and bright by those around her, spreading a euphoric glee to everyone in her presence—a presence refreshing enough to put anyone in a better mood.
The young girl grew into adolescence and became intrigued by the different people she encountered in her life. Many of them were dull and she would use that opportunity to give them some type of light; or if they had limited light, she wanted to make their light shine brighter. She flourished off these interactions, encountering only growth and happiness for herself. Everyone was so sure that the young girl would only continue to grow and extend her positivity to others. Until she came across a young man.
The young man was illuminating, his light was bright enough to blind someone. When the young girl looked up at him, her eyes began to bleed and she could feel the painful burning of her outer eyeball melting away.
“Look away!”
Everyone yelled at her but she just could not help herself. She continued to stare and embraced the pain she felt—letting the burning sensation in her eyes fuel the adrenaline that ran in her veins.
He looked down at her and smiled, his smile even more illuminating than the rest of him.
“I’m the god of light.” He said to her, “Let me help you find more light.”
The young girl was intrigued. She couldn’t look away from him. Perhaps it was the power he had as a god. She continued to stare at him as he leaned down to kiss her cheek, leaving a lip-shaped burn mark that stung. She continued to stare at him as he took her hand in his, her skin turning a bright red from the heat, as he led her to a glass box. She continued to stare at him as he pushed her into the box and sealed the door, his light refracting onto her through the glass.
“This is where you will find more light,” He said as gestured to a hair tie beside her. “Use it to tie it up. You won’t be able to experience all my light with hair in your eyes.”
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She kept her hair up, she stayed in the box. In fact, she did every single thing that the god of light would tell her to do. When he brought her new clothes, she would change into them even if she didn’t like them. When he told her not to do something, she didn’t do it. When he told her to talk, she wouldn’t stop chattering. When he told her to stop talking, she was as silent as a mime. At times, it felt like the light was controlling her; sometimes he would tell her not to sit down or not to stand up. She wasn’t able to talk to her friends and family from the box, nor could she see anything beyond it—all she saw was the illuminating light of the god. She wanted that light for herself. It was good for her.
Blinded by the light of the god, she didn’t notice her own fading light. It was becoming difficult to spread her own light since she was stuck in the box. The only person she interacted with was the god of light, and his light was far beyond that of hers. At times she would feel strange as she slept, as if something was being sucked out of her. She didn’t want to believe that the god was taking her own light, she knew he wasn’t.
Years had passed and the younger girl was being whispered about. Her existence had faltered along with the smile that once existed on her face. She was no longer the way she used to be, and while everyone had believed that she would stay bright into her young adult years, there was no light left in her. The only light she had was that of the god of light. She ached for his light to shine through the box she resided in. All her days would only consist of anticipating him, his presence, and his light.
The young girl’s friends and family tried everything to get her out of the box. They used hammers to try and break the glass, they used drills to get through the top, they would yell at her to open the door. But the young girl’s reaction was always the same. She looked at them blankly and told them there was no door. She could not leave. They would cry in response and eventually, were forced to give up.
The god of light would tell her the same thing everyday. “They just want to take away your light,” He would say to her. “I will give you light.”
So she stayed there, not only was all her light gone, there was darkness growing inside of her.
One day, while the god of light was away, a little bird tapped its beak against the glass. It was small and frail and just by a quick glance, the young girl was able to tell that it was hungry. While the light had been gone from her, the kindness was not. She had a few scraps of food that the god of light had left her but she wasn’t sure how to give it to the bird.
It tapped against the glass harder when it saw the food. The young girl was helpless, there was no door for her to leave from and give the bird its food.
The bird tapped harder. She was becoming frustrated.
“There’s no door,” She said timidly, ashamed. Why was she ashamed? She didn’t want to leave, did she?
The bird tapped even harder.
“There’s no door!”
The bird aggressively beat its beak against the glass. There’s no door, there’s no door, there’s no door.
The young girl screamed and covered her ears. “There’s no door, he’s trapped me in here!” She cried out.
The tapping stopped and she slowly looked up.
There was a door. There was a door right where the bird was tapping.
The young girl got up and was astonished to see a door that was in front of her eyes all this time. Even when the god of light wasn’t here, she had never seen it. Or maybe, she was just too blinded to see it.
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She looked around to make sure he wasn’t there, she looked up and down as if he were hiding. She took a step forward out of her own will. Then, she took another, and another. She was walking up to the door without being told to, and without any type of light illuminating her way. She was doing it on her own, through her own free will.
With the food in her other hand, the young girl twisted the knob of the door—shaking as she did. She braced herself for some type of explosion or for the god of light to come and melt her away with his light. She opened the door.
Nothing happened. Now, the outside world was no longer in the presence of a young girl but rather a young woman with no light left in her, except in her eyes.
The young woman’s heart raced as she stepped out of the box and gave the bird her food. She was considering going back into the box when she saw what was beyond it. Something she had been blind to for the many past years. She discovered a world that continued to grow on without her. A world that had many lights in all shades and forms, a world that continued to glow as she faded. The young woman was enraged.
There was no light that was brighter than the light of her world. Not even a god’s light.
As the young woman continued to walk toward the world she had been isolated from, she could feel her anger continue to grow. She heard someone yell back at the box. And while she expected her eyes to burn from the light of the god, she was instead greeted by the sight of an ugly man in rags.
“Come back here! They will take away your light.” He cried out. The more the young woman looked at him, the more she realized how lifeless and lightless he was.
“You’re not the god of light, you’re a false god. You have no light.” She said,
The glass box shattered, the shards of it piercing into the false god’s skin. The young woman felt heat inside of her, as if a spark was going off. She turned toward the false god and upon seeing him laying there, helpless, she felt a flame inside of her. She walked towards the false god and touched him, quickly setting him aflame.
The young woman had discovered her own real light. The fire inside of her grew larger and larger as she continued to fuel it, to make up for the years that she had lost her light.
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