Flare

The light is blinding. Unaware of my surroundings, it numbs my senses as I do my best to shield my eyes from the unexpected inferno. If only I could find the switch, or dull the flare… I’d give anything to mute this piercing fireball.

Finally! Relief at last. I sink into the abyss of my dark surroundings, with my eyes still pulsating in recovery. “Why is the lamp on the ground?”, I ask myself, as I begin to perceive the environment inside my dark living room. Gradually my face grows grim.

Everything in the house is gone. The TV.. the furniture.. the appliances.. everything.. well, except for the old lamp left haphazardly by the crooks. Empty to the core, the house has been ransacked. I gaze into the nothingness with a blank stare, unsure of my next movement.

You’d expect someone in this situation to panic and sound the alarm, run down the street screaming, and call for help. But I do none of this. Instead, I stand motionless, wishing for the solarflare to return and blind my sight. Although false and fleeting, at least everything in those few seconds was still complete and void of any reality of the painful truth. How foolish was I to criticize such a minor inconvenience?

If only I could have that moment back.. if only.

-TH