Innocence will never see light, in the shadow of the past.
Prologue
The way I see it. It's a vicious cycle.
For far too long I have looked at it from a distance, and seen myself suffer as the victim of collateral damage.
Perhaps, it did start out like that. But at some point, standing on the periphery, I have been sucked into the whirlpool of consequences that follow as aftermath.
The ripples. The shore is never safe. You always run the risk of being carried away. That log may have withstood a tempest, but it will keep getting dragged , moss and erosion continuing, until one day when it sinks.
And lately, I feel I will need to sink.
Cobwebs
I wasn't the perpetrator of the crimes committed, nor was I the aggravator in this story. No there were those bigger heroes and heroines. I was standing there for far too long, itching to let go. I did not want to clap. I did not want to cry. I just wanted to collect what I could save, and go away. Produce a new show, where characters that I took along with me could enjoy an occasional smile. Take the stuff of things that life is made of, and celebrate.
Cobwebs were never my thing. I never wanted to yield into them.
But, maybe the people of yore are right about the stars- Destiny cannot be tamed.
Something that was started by the creators will probably need to see an end at my hand.
I am looked upon as the survivor, but maybe I could save everyone the drama.
The Caretakers
Foolish..oh how foolish, to assume the role. But I will thrill myself. I will come out from the seams of the side- curtains. I cannot watch this horrid play unfold. Because today, I stand as a witness with a plot worth of uncanny deeds. If the directors are waiting for my entry to save the falling hero, what if I disappointed them all. The audience may rejoice, shed a single-tear, leave disgusted, applaud even - but I would have exacted a reaction.
I think to myself:
What keeps a story going - Hope? Well, I will take that 'Hope' away.
If I am to come riding into the sun, save the damsel in distress, ease the well-wishers of my safety from the treacherous, and relieve the caretakers of further demonstration of love and affection. Today, I will do it all with one brilliant stroke of mastery. I will set the pace now,
If the kingdom will not see its knight, will it crumple and fall?
Clarity
I see all else around me clearly. They depend, they depend on me to make my entry. What if I don't come? A small part, indeed; yet, the event will play around me now, won't it? What will the damsel do if I don't rescue. Nothing to lean on? What will those worried folks do- if the root of their worry is taken away, because if the knight is erased, the damsel has no hope- they will have two less to worry about.
Oh, and them caretakers- with no one to relent, or regret - they shall not care for, anymore. They will not have to. They will be relieved.
Why din't the writer think of this end? Isn't it more befitting?
Epilogue
And when all else fails, know that there is answer in the absolute truth- and that truth hides in the crevasses, knowing what you've always known. We are in a sense, all, each other's consequences. You made me the knight. And today I grew tired. I chose to end this in the most effective curtain-fall.
The book may someday be re-written. And however, it will be told, my part will not be remembered as diminished. But I seek solace in fact that I won't be there to know. Hero or otherwise, I would have seen that the end did come.
