Between Us and Tomorrow

It was inconceivable. The moments we had survived, the horrors we had endured; we stood like statues before a braced door…the only possible exit from living hell. Though the key rested in my hand, I couldn’t bring myself to place it. Not a single breath was heard while we stared wide-eyed at the possibility, the future we had fought so ravenously to reach. It was finally in our grasp the choice to leave this place of death where the stains of former dreads still resided on the walls, floors, and in some areas, ceilings. What would greet us?

Those we once confided in as friends became our competitors, for not but to appease the mangled ideal held by Despair. A singular desire to show the world beyond: even we, the youth, would feed on the corpse of brothers and sisters if it meant we could leave this damnation sooner than the rest. The idea held by Despair was that everyone would fall into the pit of hopelessness and desperation to achieve what we most desired: freedom and safety. The loss of confidence was the undoing of trust; the loss of trust was the undoing of safety, and the loss of safety was the undoing of life. Finally, the loss of life was the undoing of hope itself.

Yet we few stood after it all, survivors. Not a word passed between us, not a muscle twitched, yet thoughts ran rampant in our minds. Thoughts planted by Despair at the end. “You fought so hard to reach a worse future than you are living. The world beyond your prison is dead; the life you knew before is all long gone.” Those were the thoughts left with us as we saw Despair’s end, yet proof was in short supply. The deciding factor lay beyond the door, but once we opened the lock, it would never close again, as was the design of this safehouse turned prison.

The weight of our world rested on this final choice, stay confined to our graves within this building that seemed to have all we could ask for, or risk it all to seek a better, more expansive future? If we stay, we have given into hopelessness as Despair wished we would. Yet if we go, finding what lies beyond to be worse off than we had expected, desired, and hoped…what then?

To live is a choice, to hope is a choice, to envision a future not yet seen and continue fighting as we have is a choice. The world will not give us what we want. We must work to see our dreams, visions, and desires realized. What if beyond the door is worse than where we are? We dream. We hope. We imagine a brighter tomorrow and create what lacks. With one deep breath, a flame rekindled within our hearts, and a nod to those with me, I placed the key against the bracket, and the door began shifting, opening before us.