The lonely man sits by himself in a shadowed corner. His life has become a twisted horror show, clouding his once bright eyes with defeat. He looks into a mirror, shocked by the specter he now sees.
He sees a man struggling with his past, a painted picture of misery. He has lost all that he holds dear, knowing that nothing will be the same again. The scars on his body testify to his life’s many and constant struggles. He has faced down drink, pills, ropes, needles, and knives and yet he still goes on. He cannot bear the shame of his defeats, so he hides it all behind his walls of lies.
The people in his new life never suspect his deepest motives. That everyday he must decide if his life must end. He smiles, laughs, and jokes with them upon the surface, but deep inside he’s being ripped apart by the storm. If he lets them see the truth behind his lies they would gladly help. But he cannot trust them, love them, or lean on them yet.
Everyone he has trusted has failed and hurt him in some way. So now alone, he must deal with his anger, pain, shame, and grief. Even he can no longer see past his masks to the tears that he cries.
He looks away from the mirror, thinking again of his old life. The people he misses, the pain of laying alone at night. When our dreams become nightmares, and pleasure becomes pain, we come to understand this stranger’s shame; a shame that comes with a shattered past and broken homes, from losing all you’ve ever known.
Each day he looks at his new world, wondering where his life went so far wrong. He wakes up, hoping that the days had only been a bad dream. But a momentary reprieve from his pain is not to be. He has to swim through the seas of endless sorrows, and crosses to cross those deserts of despair. I know so much about this stranger, his wants, his fears, dreams, and desires. I know his past, his present, and his immediate future. I know his thoughts and his entire life, because this pitiful stranger, this lonely man, well, he is me. | MDKS