The thought creeps in like a worm burrowing into an apple. Boring a small hole, it inches nearer and nearer to the center of my consciousness.

Once at the center, this “dark worm” transforms into something more sinister. Exploding into thousands upon thousands of small particles of darkness that cloud my mind. Shapeshifting and morphing, these particles form into a black skeletal hand that slowly and methodically grasps me and traps me.

My new cage is made our of black iron bars, impenetrable and cold to the touch. I can only see inside the cage with clarity, and two to three feet outside. The rest is a thick grey fog.

From the fog comes screams of pain and agony. Pitch black figures enter and exit the fog, looking at me. Staring and snarling these figures want nothing more than to end the light that is within me. All I can do is cower inside my pathetic little cage, the only place of safety that I possess.

The only thoughts I am afforded of that of cynicism, pain and death(that elusive entity). At time I close my eyes to block out these noises. Envisioning fields of green, and the warm sun upon my face. These thoughts are the only ones that stop me from exiting my prison. However, these attempts are futile. The noises and figures do not allow me the luxury of escape, even if it is I who wishes them gone.

I am engulfed in this world until it decides when it is through with me. When it is, the cage lifts and I am exposes to the figures and screams. They cries of agony crescendo until a wall begins to come towards me. The only way for me to escape this wall is to run forward. I run and run, the wall creeping up at a constant rate, I can never run fast enough.

Eventually I am met with a ledge, the only option I am met with is to take a leap of faith. Leaping, with thoughts once again of fields of green and the warm sun, I fall to the ground. I feel around and feel grass, warm and green. I turn my head up to see the sun.

I am in a valley of vibrant green. Mountains shoot up to the sky and shield me from the world outside of this place. Flowers of every color christen the ground, and I am once again at peace. I have broken free from the black cage, from the monsters that try to plague my existence. My only hope is that this is the last time that I will not have to face the perils that the cage offers.

Signed,

The False Prophet