Alone and Damaged

                Hey you guys, this is the first draft of a piece I wrote on impulse, so please give lots of constructive criticism. (: And thanks for reading!!

                You’re walking, staggering actually, through the snow drifts and slush bordered roads, broken. The fierce determination that used to make your golden eyes light up in flame has, over a period of two years, slowly waned. All that’s left now are the tears that had extinguished the fire to begin with. You walk unaided, with only a thin scarf and coat for comfort, unaware of your destination or your destiny. You’re alone and damaged.

                He’s sitting under the palm tree in his father’s estate, grasping the grass beneath it with both of his iron hands. He glances around him, as if for the first time, mesmerized by the amount of wealth he sees. He sees nothing else, though. No friends and no family. They have all abandoned him. His derelict mind understands that we all walk a lonely road in the end. At the end of the line, nobody remains with us. And this is why he lifts the bottle of vodka placed beside him in the grass to his lips, and chugs it down until he can feel no more pain. He’s alone and damaged.

                She’s kneeling beside the bathtub, blood gushing from her wrists. Her vision is hazy, and she’s only aware of the sentiment of false satisfaction she’s been given. She’s been through it all in her life, things nobody else would be strong enough to bear. She’s tough, and courageous, no doubt. But, for even the best of us, there’s a breaking point. She gropes for the marble counter; feeling for the bottle of circular white pills that she knows will give her what she wants. She grabs it, opens it with fumbling hands, and pops one, two, three and then twelve of the drugs into her mouth. She’s about to die a long and painful death. Her arduous life is over. She was alone and damaged.

                You all walked alone and damaged. But that’s the point; everyone is walking the same path. We are all damaged, yes. In our own ways and problems, we are all scarred. But we are not all alone. We are all traveling a single six lane highway, assuming we are alone, too involved in our own problems to realize that there are several souls all around us suffering in the same way. We are each alone and damaged, but together, we are one and damaged.

                 And for most of us, that fact offers a little strength, and a bit of faith to keep fighting.