Precious Jewel

A young man walking through the woods. The sun is bright, but the foliage offers shade and comfort from its intense heat.

As the boy walks along, he imagines himself in a battle, fighting hand to hand with a bitter foe. The patches of light are flashes of gunfire. The rustle of the wind is incoming artillery and the bird’s overhead are the fighter jets screaming while dog fighting.

The boy is consumed by his fantasy as he marches the grounds. He comes to a rise in the terrain and sees a small valley spread before him, a place where he can be unheard, a place to explore and a place to hide.

He sprints down the hill and under the brush, his heart races as he propels himself further into the trees. Left and right, he dodges, imagining a rain of machine gun fire coming from the enemy. He hooks left then slows his pace, a meadow!

“This could be covered in mines!”

He lowers himself to the ground and starts a slow crawl to the other side, all the while trying not to set off any of the pinecones.

Halfway across his minefield he pulls out his imaginary sniper rifle and sights down the scope. Picking off the enemy one by one, he eliminates hundreds of foes. The boy jumps to his feet in triumph, startling the birds in the trees to flight, and the animals to run. The thunder of the wings and the pattering of feet resound in the forest, then all at once…

It Stopped.

He held his breath.

His heart was pounding in his ears, but it was only for another moment until the silence descended like a heavy fog. The boy gasped quietly and turned around. The silence surrounded him and entered him gripping his heart with fear.

With no other thought the Boy fled, tearing off into the brush with all haste. No more dodging incoming artillery, no more Machine guns, he knew that he had to flee.

As he climbed the rise, he glanced back.

“What was that?”

Soon he started jogging back to try and distinguish what could have made such a silence.

Then he fell.

The boy opened his eyes. He had fallen into a pit some ten feet deep. He quickly stood up and found that he had not broken any bones. Relieved he tried to climb his way out.

He grasped and struggled, pulling at roots, and sliding back down. Jumping and clutching at rocks, only to have them break away beneath his grasp.

The sky began to turn dark.

Frustrated and angry he imagined that he was in a shell hole, and he had to wait until reinforcements arrived to get him out, and so he sat down grabbed a stick, held it to himself like he was holding a rifle, and waited. Two hours passed with no sign of help, and by now the boy was hungry sleepy and desperate. So, he started to cry out for help, hoping that someone might hear him.

That’s when the night life started to wake.

The boys fear intensified as the night drew on and his voice became hoarse. His hope was fading, and he was weakened by lack of food. And in one last scream he passed out.

The boy once again opened his eyes, but what he saw was not the same as before. He was looking at a wooden roof over his head, and he was lying on a bed! He quickly sat up and assessed the room. It was small with a desk to the left of the bed. On the right was an old dresser with a lamp on it that didn’t have an electrical cord. At the foot of the bed was a pole with arms at the top. His coat was hanging on one of the arms. And between the desk and the wall at the foot of the bed, was the door. Light came from underneath the door, and it was warm and inviting he opened the door to find another room much bigger than the first. But this one only had one piece of furniture, a single chair in the middle of the room.

The chair looked very ordinary nothing fancy, but it was the pillow that was on it that caught the boys’ attention. The boy walked around to the front of the chair and glanced at the pillow and to his astonishment, a bright light shown from the pillow. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he saw that the light was radiating from a large jewel. He reached out his hand and plucked the jewel from the pillow. Cradling it in his hands he smiled. He had found something to define his existence and he just had to take it to show his friends.

And he did just that.

He took the jewel home and showed everyone he knew. They seemed impressed but they weren’t excited. No matter who he talked to, they all acted the same. So, he began to lie.

Simple at first, claiming that he saw something, or felt guidance. But his friends still never changed their views. They couldn’t be excited for him, or with him.

So, slowly, he learned to deceive those closest to him, he tricked them into thinking that the jewel was changing him into an amazing young man. And that, they were excited about it. Which encouraged him to deceive more. And the years went by, and he made his life look a certain way. To the average watcher, he looked very well off, he was working a fine job and learning to grow and progress in life and his friends all loved him. But no one knew his heart.

The days went on, and the boy learned fast how to control what people saw in him. And many people fell under his spell. Except this one store owner. You see, this store owner helped the now young man, he gave him advice, and he offered him clothing and even many different hats. All to assist the young man in his deception. An all the while the store owner only wanted one thing, to see the jewel.

The young man only wanted to further hide the truth of who he was at heart. Every day, he would return to the store and spend his money on ways to hide. Until one day the store owner showed him what was possible. A way to feel something and hide everything. No one would know. All he needed was to see the jewel.

And so, the young man, acquiesced, and handed the owner his precious jewel.

The owner looked at it and admiringly complemented the boy on his find and he offered to polish it up a bit so it would shine even brighter, but the boy declined his offer. So, the owner gave one final piece of advice. “Follow the light” the boy, confused, took the jewel back and left the store in a daze.

“What did he mean”

“Follow the light?”

“What does that even mean?”

Then the boy pulled out the jewel and looked at it, and to his astonishment he remembered the light that was shining out of the jewel when he first found it, but now, it was dim. So, the boy took the jewel back to the store owner and asked him to fix it.

The store owner smiled and took the jewel and went behind his work bench, and one by one, slowly added different gems and stones. All colors of the rainbow. It distorted the light but made it all very bright and shiny colorful. The young man was happy and felt alive for the first time in a long time, and now he could go about his days and be happy.

But there was a catch.

The added gems sucked the purity from the jewel and made the light fade. It was corrupted by the lies of the store owner, and the young man became something truly terrifying.

One day, after a night of debauchery, he made a fatal mistake, and the jewel was smashed to pieces. Then he was Imprisoned in a cage of his own making.

A year went by, and his friends were gone, and his family had abandoned him.

So, he made his way back to the forest, he wasn’t fully in control of his faculties, but he kept walking. He came to the small valley he had once been in so many years ago, and he walked slowly to its center.

He sat down and looked at his heart.

Hour after hour.

Day after day.

He examined himself. And he didn’t know how to repair the damage.

As darkness fell, the young man saw light through the trees. He was now cold and wet, and he knew that there would be heat. So, he made his way to the light, and saw that the light was emanating from a small log cabin. The cabin he had found the jewel in.

He rushed in and shivered due to the cold but accepted the warmth from the fireplace.

He was so consumed by the cold, that he didn’t notice the old man sitting in the chair. He coughed and the young man started

“I’m sorry I was cold and….”

The old man raised hand to silence him, “all are welcome to the warmth of my fire” his voice deep and caring.

The young man exhausted sat on the floor “I don’t know who I am anymore”

The old man furrowed his brow, “that sounds like a surface statement indicating a much deeper problem.”

The young man hung his head, and without ceremony, pulled the pieces of the jewel from his pocket and set them on the floor.

The old man softly frowned, a deep sadness crossing his eyes. “so that’s where it went, what now?”

The young man hung his head lower. “I don’t know how to get it back together”

The old man smiled, “that is the right attitude!”

And in a flurry, he swooped down and gathered up the pieces, leaving the other less pure gems. And he took them to a work bench. “you’re not going to like this, but it is necessary.” And he placed the pieces down on a large metal plate. And in an instant the hammer fell, and the pieces were smashed to dust. The young man in shock, took off running.

He ran and ran.

Never looking back.

Past everyone he knew, and past the store owner.

He ran.

For hours he ran, with no destination in mind.

He found himself back in the meadow, with memories of machineguns.

He found himself in the woods, dodging grenades.

He found himself lying in the grass next to landmines.

He began to cry.

Deep sobbing showered through his body.

Remorse cascading down his gut.

Sorrow penetrating him to the core.

He fell asleep when there were no more tears to cry. It was a deep sleep, where not even dreams were sent to relieve.

When he awoke, he was back in the small room of the cabin. Just as he was when he was a child. He stumbled to the door, and pushed it open, and in the center of the room, a single chair. But this time, it wasn’t the jewel sitting there, it was the old man. He was softly snoring, and in his hands, he grasped a small box.

The young man sighed, then made his way to the small restroom, off to the side to freshen up.

When he reemerged, the old man had risen and was seated at the workbench.

“welcome back, are you ready to begin?”

The young man nodded and sat down.

“from here on out, you are going to work harder than you ever have before, this jewel will guide you through the rest of your life, as long as you listen to what its saying. When you were a child you didn’t have anyone to teach you how to properly use it, but now, I will teach you the basics, and your life will be better for it.”

The old man manded him the box “here take this and keep it safe”

He took the box, and slowly opened it, inside was the precious jewel from so long ago, brightly shining as before.

“now you will notice, it has cracks now,” the old man said “it’s not easy repairing something so precious, and it will leave scars, but there is hope. And with faith, and a little hard work. You will do just fine.”

The young man looked at the jewel and smiled