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Veni Vidi Vici.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Yes, that’s what I thought, but it wasn’t that easy. It approached me, fast and hard, like a bullet, ready to plant itself in its next victim. Killed or not killed, it hurts. So much. But they can’t see it. It lodged in my heart and won’t come out. My body grew used to it, and eventually stopped caring. Soon, my brain numbed the pain, and it manifested, ate away at me. I look around at the battlefield, but I’m the only one who has been shot.
Why? Why did it have to be me? Now, I’m stuck with this festering wound, devouring me, piece by piece, limb by limb, until I can’t think anymore. Until it swallows me whole.
They don’t understand my pain, instead they keep shooting and shooting. Friendly fire ricochets off the wall that I have built around myself. I can’t let them hurt me, I won’t...
Suddenly, a glisten in the corner catches my attention. I take the object in my hands, and make beautiful flowers. Red flowers. It helps to distract me from the bullet pain, and makes me cry from the wonder and delight. I try to hide the flowers, in case someone wants to take them from me, and well I hid them. Months turned to years that these flowers spread, when in the midst of the battlefield, a beautiful light shone over.
Blinding me, I stand up. I want to see it, but the wall around me didn’t go. I punched and screamed, for the first light in my life had come, but I missed the chance to see it. I sat back down and curled up in a ball. It was growing dark in this barrier, and soon, all I could see was pitch black. The gunfire had grown more distant, while I covered myself in dusk and lethargy.
Seconds to minutes, to hours had past, and I stayed there, until I felt the light once more. I didn’t look up, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to see it. Soon, my body tingled with a fever, and I finally rose my head, and there it was. Right in front of me. My wall tumbled down in reverence, and the luminous glow picked me up. The bullets rained back down, but it protected me, and took all of the damage. Warm, wet beads tumbled across my cheeks, and the radiance filled my soul and body, making me stronger.
Soon, the soldiers no longer shot at me. My wounds healed, and the bullets fell out. They all tried to warm up to me, but I didn’t need them. All I needed was the light. They could shoot as much ammunition as they pleased, but I knew that I was protected, and that I could also protect.
That light was my living, and the soldiers were my death. I had pulled away from them, and entered the embrace of the warm sunlight radiating from them. Thanks to them, I can be myself. I adore them.
Veni Vidi Vici.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
I knew I couldn’t alone, and thanks to them, I am okay. I am full of life and joy, and couldn’t have survived this long without them.
The flowers have blossomed even more, but their thorns didn’t hurt me anymore. The cuts from the thorns have disappeared, and I am healed.
I am me.
Veni Vidi Vici.