We walked with obedient orderly steps towards granite blocks laid upon the floor and willingly place ourselves into shackles.
Before our eyes are flickers of light displaying grandiose scenes of beauty, love, magic and mystery.
We sit transfixed, forgetting the weight of our heavy chains.
After an unmeasured period of time, the scenes playing out before our eyes began to change.
There appeared less of what we once loved being displayed. Now, graphic horrors dance across our retinas and we cannot avert our gaze for we do not have the means to blink.
We stare ahead and observe the macabre before us.
And in a moment, as if in an act of divine mercy, the scenes of heroism and fantasy have resumed to tickle the vestiges of our imagination. We breathe a welcome sigh of relief, forgetting what we had earlier been subjected towards.
It did not last for long. The gruesome and grotesque once again flickered before us. Taunting us with depictions of cruelty and violence. Daring us to raise a finger in objection and anger.
But we cannot, for we willingly attached the shackles onto ourselves.
And so the scenes continued.
But one day, something unusual happened.
There was a man who dared himself to look elsewhere.
The man stared at his feet, his hands, the ceiling. Anywhere but to stare ahead like the others were. Continuing to take poison through their eyes. No longer objecting but carrying hope that someday the scenes might change and the movie shall return back to the way it once was.
The man chanced a glance ahead at the wall and wrenched himself away. He knew what was in front of him. That sudden squeeze of the heart said all that he needed to know about what he was being subjected towards.
With a lick of his lips, he found his voice and dared to speak.
“I don’t think this is supposed to be like this.” he timidly announced. His gaze travelling over the row of figures around him. Searching for their acknowledgement.
But no one responded to his utterance. Not a single person to his left or his right moved to face themselves towards him.
They continued to stare forward. Witnessing the rapidly displayed images of horrific brutality that acted to desensitize and harden their souls.
The man sensing the danger of their collective ignorance, summoned a greater courage and began loudly rattling his chains. Hoping to catch their attention.
The sounds faded into silence for once again, no response was offered.
He peered down the line of silhouettes.
And with a shout of fury he cried out.
“WAKE UP YOU FOOLS!”
“WAKE UP!!!”
But the room only echoed with his voice. Sending a palpable energy that sunk into the marrow of his bones.
And a terrible sadness began to overcome him.
A cold melancholy settled into place. He could not see the expressions of the faces he kept company with. Not one head had turned to acknowledge his outburst.
With a rattle of his chains, he bent forward and placed his head upon his knees.
And sobbed with deep tremendous grief.
When he had exhausted the supply of tears running down his cheeks, it was then that the man made a startling discovery.
One of the shackles on his wrists was loose. He pried it open with his fingers and watched the heavy cuff fall to the floor with a loud thunk.
The man stared at his left wrist in disbelief.
And then began to free himself of the chain attached to his right.
Thunk!
The scenes continued to play and all remained oblivious.
The man then did something that he has not done for what felt like an eternity. It was something he had only the vaguest recollection of doing.
He raised himself up from the granite block and stood on his feet. Stretching out his spine and taking in a nourishing breath.
With uncertainty and disbelief, he realized himself to be standing. Blood pooled into his legs causing him to wobble as he worked to orient himself.
And that was when the silhouette next to him had turned it’s head.
“What are you doing?” it asked, with a hushed whisper.
The man thought for a moment and smiled.
“I am standing.” He declared. A note of muted astonishment in his voice.
The silhouette did not respond but continued to look in his direction.
“Join me,” the man said. “I can help you get the chains off.”
He bent down and pried at his ankles. Removing the last remaining hindrance to his freedom. His head swirling with the ecstasy of his discovery.
“Sit down, please!” the shadowy silhouette fearfully whispered.
The man kicked away his chains and inhaled deeply into his nostrils.
“No.” He said, responding with calm conviction. “I will not.”
And he slowly began to turn his head to see what was behind him.
It was both familiar and frightening what he then saw.
Absolute darkness.
As his eyes searched the void, he felt the urge to sit but chased away the phantom of this intrusive thought. Willing himself to resist the comforting assurance that was promised.
His mind raced with questions.
Why was he here? What was this place? Where are the images displaying from? Why isn’t anyone listening to me?
What now?
He stared into the darkness and his eyes began to adjust.
At first he was troubled and then amazed by what he recognized.
In his excitement, he stood in front of the whispering silhouette and reached out an open hand.
“Come with me, you must see this!”
But the woman sat silently. Ignoring his offering. An unblinking face contorted with determined resistance.
She was staring straight through him.
The man stood for a long moment and rubbed his eyes. No longer was he enchanted by the images on the wall. No longer was there a fog that clouded his vision.
The row of figures sat motionless and unresponsive.
The man moved his feet. Shifting his weight with measured steps.
And began walking towards the darkness behind him.
Never to return.
