Escaping Reality

The darkness thrilled me, taking my innocence and driving my mind out into the chills of the summer night. An overwhelming surge of rebelliousness pounded in my fast heartbeat and a lively grin lingered on my glowing face. The last time I had smiled felt like a lifetime ago, and it was as unfamiliar as my surroundings.
Once I had swiftly escaped my royal prison and fled through the high, guarded gates I was free. Free at least this night, before I needed to return to the castle.
Leaping, bounding, prancing down the kingdom’s narrow ancient streets, my long, hooded black cape flowing with each movement, I could barely contain myself from crying out in happiness. I had escaped!
And they said it couldn’t be done.
Luckily no one was conscious of my presence. Every soul was sleeping in their peasant beds behind dark soundless windows. They dreamed of a different life far away from things which made sense, whilst I lived my own glorious dream in this new gloomy and mysterious world. The village animals where nowhere to be seen. Not even the cluck of a chicken or bark of a dog could be heard.
I forced myself not to think of going back, because if I did I would crumble into a never ending melancholy feeling, a feeling of the deepest blue. All my joy would be swept under a carpet of dreaded misery and of near future. A future full to the brim of forced marriage and laws with chains to comprise my real self, not the mask they expect me to wear for the rest of my wealthy life. All that mattered would be taken from me, as they all planed my future with their twisted opinions.
No, I did not think about what was to become of me.
Instead I let myself drink in the beautifully alive surroundings; thought there was no living thing in sight.
I ran under the clear night sky, grinning up at the twinkling stars – which were the only source of light. My flowing dress danced around me. For once my life seemed worth living.
Then I stopped suddenly.
A figure silhouetted by shadows leaned against the brick wall of the building ahead of me, puffing on a cigarette. The building the figure leaned up against was that of a downtown bar, but it had closed up a long time ago. I desperately tried to blend into the silent background and scamper away but the figure had already noticed me.
The figure started to gravitate towards where I stood. I panicked, backing away in fear. I stumbled over an uneven piece of brick path, falling to the hard, dusty ground.
‘Don’t be afraid.’ Spoke a young man’s voice as the dark figure reached me. ‘I won’t hurt you.’ He stood tall over my collapsed body and offered his hand.
I didn’t take it but I stood up all the same. ‘Why are you here at this hour?’ I said in a whisper.
‘I should ask you the same thing.’ The stranger replied and took another puff of smoke from his cigarette, blowing it away from me politely. I watched the smoke billow away softly, like a sleepy child nestled cosily under their covers.
The smoke hypnotised me for a moment as it swirled and drifted around the guy’s robust body, though I still couldn’t make out the features of his shadowed face.
‘That is none of your business.’ I said, trying my best not to reveal how nervous I felt.
‘Taking a nightly stroll I assume,’ His mouth curved slightly upwards. Raising the cigarette once again towards it, he observed nothingness beside me. Then he was speaking again, ‘wanting to get away from it all...’
I started a little. ‘How would you know that?’ I asked.
‘Because,’ he said, and there was a sad look in his eyes, ‘I’m doing the same thing.’ His voice was pained as he spoke. He looked away from me, hiding his face even more than it already was. The young man walked over to the outside of the bar again. He sunk down the surface of the bar’s wall, leaning his back against it until he was on the ground. He tapped the ground space next to him, wanting me to sit and join him.
I hesitated a moment before walking over and sitting down next to him, surprising even myself for doing so. I made sure to stare in any direction but the stranger next to me.
The stranger blew more smoke into the cold air. ‘What is troubling you in life then?’ He questioned lightly.
‘Like anyone would care,’ I said with humourless laughter.
‘I care,’ I heard him say the two words with genuine concern, and somehow I knew he meant them. ‘Besides, it’s not every day I see someone with eyes as sad as yours.’
I looked up at him. At this height and angle I could see his face in the starlight. His dark wild hair framed his handsome face. His strong jaw was covered in dark stubble and though he looked only a little older than I was his deep eyes seemed a thousand years old.
‘My life is being controlled by other people,’ I confessed to his attentive ears. ‘And I have no choice, no freedom. I can’t take much more of it.’ A tear drop slid down my cheek without a sound. I wiped it away furiously. ‘I’m crazy to share this with you,’ I added, ‘I have no one to trust anymore. Everyone wants something from me.’ I began to sob, tears racing each other to the ground all at once.
There goes my happy mood.
‘There there, you’ll be alright.’ The young man breathed soothingly into my ear as he placed an arm around me. His words smelled of alcohol and smoke and understanding.
The warmth and weight of his arm comforted me as I shook uncontrollably, crying quietly into my hands. Then he did the most curious thing. He recited a poem gently into the darkness enclosing where we sat, whilst breathing out cigarette smoke.

‘“Hide away, keep calm my dear
For worries are only the beginning.
Be strong lonely wolf, conquer your fears.
Because your enemies have won
And nothing can be undone
So surrender your woeful feelings.
Know that life pities none
So keep fighting young one
And hope for a different ending.”’

And so there I stayed buried into the arms of a complete stranger, pouring out my emotions from a never ending source. And all the while he repeated the same words over and over…
‘It’s okay, you’ll be okay...’ He would try and reassure me.
‘... No, it’s not.’ I would whisper hopelessly, though I realized I didn’t feel so alone anymore.
It was the strangest night I could have hoped for, and the young man stayed with me all night until reality came back again. The stars disappeared one by one. The gloomy night lightened to an early morning grey. And just like the puffs of smoke exhaling from the stranger’s lips, everything worth living for drifts away and eventually disappears.