Shattered Shape

It dropped with a loud crash and shattered to pieces, as if it was glass. Numb, at first, I looked at it, not knowing how to react. I stood still, my eyes looking at it without recognizing the poor little shapeless thing. My mind trying to remember what purpose the broken little thing once had had. Time stood as still as I did and I began to feel that something was missing, as if my mind finally remembered what that shattered object had been. That was when the pain came, like a lightning it hit me hard. I took a gasped without being able to breath. I cried out without making a single sound.

Kneeling, I touched a piece of the broken little thing and cut my finger. With growing panic, I looked at the crimson drop slowly rolling down my hand. People walked past me, “help”, I whispered but nobody stopped. “Please”, I tried again but nobody noticed, instead they walked past me and trampled over the pieces. Each crush making the pain in my chest grown stronger.

Rain and tears painted my face and made it difficult to see anything. With every piece I touched a new cut was born, as if to tell me not to bother and soon my fingers were numb with pain and sticky with blood. “It’ll be okay… It’ll be all right…”, I told myself between the sobs without actually believing a word I said. I put the shards in a box I found and just sat down on the street and stared at them. I was cold, utterly wet and beyond comfort.

As I sat there in the wind and the rain a wolf trotted up to me and gave me a look. Slowly, numbingly I turned my gaze toward the beast only to return it back towards the shards. “Go away…”, I told the animal and its only reply was to edge closer and sit down. I sighed, sniffed and remained silent for a long while. Without meaning to I coughed, cleared my throat and began to speak.

“It used to be beautiful, warm and bright. Warm as the sun on the sky, bright as the stars that surround the moon. Now? Now it’s a shattered shadow of what it used to be. Worst of all is… I didn’t drop it. I’m not even sure what happened. It just… dropped.”, at that the wolf barked and bumped its nose against my elbow. I sniffed, “Oh I know… it’s been broken before. It’s just, that I always forget how much it hurts. I always hope not this time, it’ll be okay. I can fall and survive. But time and time again…”.

The wolf looked at me and didn’t make a sound, it just sat there for a time, then sighed, stood up and trotted along. Once again, I was alone in the rain, staring at the pieces. Wishing the pain would go away. Hoping to feel complete again. Craving not to be alone…

I don’t know how long I sat there, as time had stood just as still as I had sat. Just suddenly I noticed a bunny sitting right next to me. A bunny of pure white, with a fluffy tail and long ears. A rare thing for a bunny to have green eyes I wondered but nevertheless there it was. “Who ever you are go away, I’m not in the mood right now”, I told the fluffy one. Her ears quivered, and it turned its head towards mine. It tried to hop closer but failed miserably, instead it crawled closer slowly so that it was almost touching my leg.

“Oh, your hurt too.”, I wondered out loud. The bunny tried to stretch out its right front paw but couldn’t. There was a wound on the paw, glowing brightly against the bright white fur. I wasn’t sure if it was the rain, or if the fluffy creature actually had a tear roll down it’s cheek.

“Come here”, with a great sigh I told the bunny as I lowered down my box and lifted her up. I held her in my arms as I tore a piece of my shirt and bandaged the injured paw. “There that should do it”, I sniffed, “just be careful not to hop too hard and fast. And stay away from the rain and cold. Go home if you can.”

And just as the words had left my lips I felt something warm besides me. Me and the bunny looked inside the box where the pieces had disappeared and in their place was a beautiful, warm, bright heart. We both looked at it, me holding the bunny close. The glow from the fragile little thing was warm and bright, like a new born star. I took my Heart from the box and held it close to my chest. With every breath I took it sank deeper, and deeper until I felt its strong, stubborn beat in my chest again. It was like having a small galaxy inside me. The bunny snuggled at my chest and I looked at the small creature in my arms and smiled, “since the rain doesn’t seem to be letting up I guess you can come home with me”.