Light Reign

Part 1 | Stormy Tears

“Reign. . .” softly whispered a voice. The sound of the voice echoed through the breeze caressing Reign’s face as she sat on the shore of her home island. Reign tossed her head back and gazed at the stars above in awe, while a single tear slipped down her cheek. She felt a slight chill graze her shoulder --startled, she jumped at the scare. Her big brown eyes peeped through the coils of her curly hair, and over her left shoulder to check for anything unusual. Nothing new, besides the view of the town a short walk away. She heaved a sigh of relief and turned her attention back to the stars and the freshness of the outdoor air. The sound of the crashing waves soothed her aching heart. Her grandmother had just passed away, and Reign ran to the beach after school to escape her parents. They were not dealing with the loss well.

The wind blew again —this time it knocked her backpack over, scattering her schoolbooks, papers, and pencils. She heard the voice again, but it was firmer ... and louder, ‘Write.’ Reign snapped her head in all directions searching for the source of the voice she was hearing. She quickly reached to gather her things and run, but a small tattered black book caught her attention. The book did not belong to her, but it appeared to be lodged with her things.

A small gasp shaped from her lips. Where did this book come from? What was it? She slowly reached for the book anxiously anticipating to hear the voice command her again, but all she heard, was the sound of crickets and island festivities in the distance. She put her things away and sat back down to open the mystery book. ‘What should I write?’, she thought. When she opened the book, all of the pages were blank, seemed untouched, and smelled of sweet coconut rice.

Dark clouds formed overhead while the air around her chilled her soul. She felt a mystical wave surge through the book and ignite her pencil —visions of strife in her life flooded her mind. She saw flashes of her mother weeping over a desk littered with past due bills; her father grieving over the empty crib of her older brother; her grandmother’s casket; and even bullies circling her in the school yard. Reign shook her head violently, blinked back her tears from forming, and pinched herself to wake herself from the unexpected intrusive nightmares. The pinch, sent her into another vision:

Part 2 | Am I dreaming?

Trapped within four thick walls,

Rapidly filling with smoke,

Can’t tell if it’s a dream,

Or a joke.

So many thoughts at once,

Feels like I’m choking on my thoughts

Gotta breathe

Gotta take it one step at a time,

Cause I feel the rhythm

and I know I’ve got the rhyme

But all this motion is making me sick,

This room feeling like a boat and I’m getting seasick

Not sure how to feel about it

Keep forgetting to breathe

If I take my time it’s easy . . .

Or is it?

I don’t know I think I’m thinking too much, but. . .

I think I’m thinking too much . . .

If I close my eyes,

I hope it will all go away

But it gets dark under these eyelids,

I’m getting used to the shadows

They remind me of home

A place in my mind that’s blank and dark. . .

But is there light?

And if it was what would it look like

If I open my eyes,

Maybe I can see,

all that exists within me,

Part 3 | Write The Vision

“HELP ME MUM MUM!” Reign screeched from the top of her lungs. The turbulent winds shook her faith. Reign had never been more afraid in her life! These thoughts were plaguing her how did this book know what she was going through without a single word written in it? Scared and confused, Reign slammed the book shut in frustration. She had no idea what to write! All she could think of were the memories that upset her. She had seen enough bad experiences in her life and did not wish to spend her solitude wallowing in her grief. She witnessed first-hand, that thinking, speaking, and encouraging negative energy —would only breed more of it; therefore, she refused to write about her strife.

Reign crossed her arms and legs into pretzels and pouted. Her tummy roared at her. ‘Pretzels’ She thought, before closing her eyes and taking a DEEEP breath, and exhaled loud and slow. What if. . . what if she wrote what was unseen instead, of the life she had seen? If things could be different, how would they look? Could she really write her future, instead of her past? A small rock carried by the wind, plucked her in the center of her forehead, interrupting her thoughts. ’The wind is right.’ She thought, ‘I could never tell the future...’ Rainwater poured on her head as if the gods had all spilled their wine at once scoffing with her. The water that drenched her, gave her the illusion of drowning.

“I —CAN’T —BREATHE!” Reign gasped through shallow breaths through the rainwater pouring down on her. Panic clouded her mind —she couldn’t focus on anything other than her inability to breathe. She felt as if she were dying in her thoughts.

“Live. Do not be afraid. I am here to guide you.” Whispered the voice in the wind. Reign slowly blinked and opened her eyes. The air swirled and sparkled around her —streams of bright multicolored lights danced from the book and twirled with the wind —like magic.

She paused. “But if I could. . . if I could write the future, I would write...” another pause. She wasn’t sure how to write the future. Should she command it? Wish for it? Pray for it? Write as if it had already happened? The different ways she could write the future were endless —and overwhelming. The multicolored-swirling streams faded into shades of dark grays the more she overthought what to write. She sat up straight, stretched her legs across the sand in front of her, and took another breath. Checking over her right shoulder to peek at the town once more before turning back to open the little black book. Its’ pages seemed to be immune to the stormy beach, as the pages remained dry, blank, and still emitted that sweet aroma. Reign took another deep breath —she noticed the more she focused on her breath, the calmer she felt. The more breaths she took the brighter the magical lights around her became. Until suddenly, the lights flashed white, blinding her.

She shielded her eyes from the illuminated book with her hands. The light gave her bronze skin to a golden glow, as her eyes widened at the sight of a blue iguana emerging from the center of the book. Her jaw dropped, as the magic mist continued to dance, decorated in vibrant colors; and the iguana materialized from spirit to physical form in fractured pieces —as if it were being drawn by God before her disbelieving eyes. The more the iguana appeared, the more inspired and excited Reign became. Light energy from the book jolted through her fingertips, her eyes widened, and she heaved.

“I am ‘Iggy the Guardian’. Protector of the light. What Vision do you have to manifest Reign?”

Reign’s neck snapped to her left side, while her hand clutched her heart —she was astonished at the sight of a spiritual creature talking to her. Raindrops continued to pour on the beach but omitted the area where they stood. A single beam of sunlight tore through the storm clouds and hit Reign like a spotlight, illuminating her darkest thoughts, and illustrating them around her on the darkly clouded beach. Her eyes shifted from one side to the other, acknowledging the thoughts, but breathing through them. She did not want to be angry or afraid anymore. She took another deep breath. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew exactly what to do.

‘No time to overthink!’ She thought.

Clearing her throat, she quickly gathered herself from the ground to stand with the book and Iggy safe in her hands. Guided by another deep breath, she said, “I am going to heal myself and others— “

“Heal?!” Screeched the iguana. “What kinda story is that to write?!” He laughed so hard, he tripped over his own feet and tipped on his side.

“THE BEST ONE!” Reign huffed.

Iggy’s laughter crackled with the thunder —he continued to roll around the glowing pages of the book, in laughter. Reign was not amused. He rolled onto his side to get comfortable in the center of the book, before slightly waving his tail. Two bolts of lightning simultaneously struck the ground in front of Reign, with the wave of his tail.

“Heyyyy! Watch it Mister!” She snapped, jumping back startled from the abrupt lighting strikes.

“Choose one.” Said the iguana.

“One what?” Reign asked.

“Take a look.” Iggy nodded his head and pointed his tail toward where the lighting struck the beach. Reign nervously blinked and peeked her eyes through her hair. She couldn’t believe her eyes! On the left side of the beach, she saw an enormous chest —overflowing with jewels and gold. On the right side, was her grandmother’s spirit smiling at her. Reign threw her head back to clear her face of her hair so that she could see clearly. Was she dreaming?! Before she could question anything else, Iggy interrupted her thoughts by slamming the book shut —the visions disappearing just as quickly as they came.

“Choose one.” he repeated. "Twenty-thousand dollars or your grandmother's love?"

“BUT I NEED THEM BOTH!” Reign protested, slamming the little black book in the sand and running towards where the visions flashed on the beach. She tripped a few times in the sand, screaming back at the rumbling roars of the thunder. The spotlight of the sun still directly above her, puppeteering her steps.

“I don’t know which to choose!” She cried sinking into the sand in between where the visions of her grandmother and treasure had been. “My family could use money, but they could also use love! How am I supposed to choose?!” The light from the sun’s natural spotlight made Reign anxious. It was blinding! “And how am I supposed to make a decision with all this light in my face?!”

“If life was a mystery, would you solve it?” Iggy asked with a mischievous smirk.

Reign made a face at the thought --and quickly responded, “Yes! Why wouldn’t I?” The beaming sun made her feel vulnerable and exposed. She wished she could slip out of her skin, and into the ocean to hide. She couldn’t tell if she was drenched in sweat, tears or rain anymore. She wasn’t used to the sunlight being on her island —or singling her out.

Iggy pointed to the little black book. “That book, will show you the truth.” He said.

“The truth?! What truth?” Reign hissed. “I know how to write!”

“Ok smarty-shorts! Figure it out on your own!”

“NoOoOooOoOo!” Reign pleaded. “I apologize for being mean... please help me!”

Iggy scoffed, turning on his heels. “Ok, Ok. I’ll give you a hint. You’ve had them both all along, that’s how you can see them; BUTTTT they won’t completely manifest until you’ve cleared your mind.”

“How do I do that?” Reign asked, but Iggy had already vanished into the storm.

“Write.” Whispered the wind. “Write your visions... Protect them... and watch them grow.”

Reign scurried to gather all of her belongings, including the little black book —again, she didn’t know how she knew —but she knew what to do. She didn’t want to waste any more time.. She had to write.