The Tale of the Stuck

There once lived a boy

Who could no longer live as he wanted to live

So he visited the graveyard on a Sunday evening

And as the sun turned white, and the sky turned black

He struck his heart with the stake of Satan

And the earth's ignited a fiery red

Fiercer than any storm known to man

Rising from the soot hovered a body

No taller than 7'3", it's organs emptied

And as it observed the child

It began to ask:

"Why, how young you are, my child.

What does such a kindred soul desire here,

In the palace darker than the corner the sun never sees?

Could it be that you are lost, with eyes that can no longer see and a heart that can no longer beat? "

"Sir, I am not lost, but the water bellowing below me continues to rise,

My eyes can barely see, and my heart begins to twinge as it beats,

I want to rid myself of this world

And absolve myself of any issue. "

"Why is that my child?

Do you not see, the mother and father that love you so dearly?

The fellow friend who cares for you oh so religiously?

The glowing garden you have helped grow your entire life so steadfastly? "

"I see no such thing, my dear sir,

My parents care only for the money which they get to keep,

And the one whom I hold dear most hates the very breath I exasperate,

This garden you so speak of is filled with famine, and my end will only help to stop it"

"I believe you are making a grave mistake, young one.

There are more than you imagine

That seek the same kind of love and affection you so ignorantly deny

And yet, here you are in my garden, wanting to rid of it all."

"I swear I speak the God honest truth, my good sir,

The world around me is filled with a dense fog

If there are people out there who lay me dear to their chest

I plead that you allow me to see such dense surroundings"

The being looked down at the child,

Spectacles filled with skepticals

It grew out a beastly sigh

And began to speak once more

"Very well, my child,

You will be granted the wish you so desperately desire

But be warned my young one,

Not every life ended so suddenly will be met with such a kind fate."

With those final words of parting, the kind old man

Revealed from his ever-growing robes a scepter

His long and cold hands extended out to the boys warm and short ones

And In that small, quiet instance, his fate had changed.

Falling down an unforeseen rabbit hole

His soul grew hollow and his heart grew low

As he slightly ascended above the dreary yard

And saw his entire world below

At first the Earth had been distilled

Before a light rain filled the cold air

And a hundred individuals exited stage left from their homes

Converging into a common building of olden lore.

The young boy, hovering overhead

Found his parents crying over his lifeless mannequin

And his love in some far off corner sobbing into her wet t-shirt

And he craved the attention that his other self was gaining

Just as his life had begun to end,

he was pulled back down to earth

Sucked back through the rabbit hole

And left standing in the yard, right next to his old friend

The man looked into the boys wet and big eyes

And noticed the swelling of his heart

As he pulled the scepter away into his robe

He began to speak once more.

"Well, my boy, do you see now?

The mother and father that love you so dearly?

The fellow friend who cares for you oh so religiously?

The glowing garden you have helped grow your entire life so steadfastly?"

"Yes, my good man,

I realize that mother and father worry so much for me

And she whom I hold dear really does care for me

However, I still do not believe that there are enough that show concern for me."

"Child! Surely you jest?

You alone hold more in the palm of your hand

Than millions of others hold in an entire lifetime!

And yet you think not enough have given you a home in their heart?"

"Sure, there are some that have,

But what about the neighbor who looks on with spite?

And the teacher that grades with sharp repose?

There may be no famine, but there is without doubt a drought!"

"Child, let me make this clear

You, among billions, have been given the fortunare respite

Of viewing your own afterlife.

Yet one afterlife is not enough?"

"No sir, I wish to see more.

If there are those that I saw previously that truly do care

Surely there are numerous others out there who feel the same

I beg of you, allow me the same all seeing eye you once shared!"

And with that, a battle of fierce hands began

Hot and cold mixing until a Victor remained

As warm prevailed, and the small boy held the scepter tight in his tiny hands

He closed his auburn eyes, and chanted a fateful wish once more

The clouds began to crackle up past the heavens

As the rabbit hole opened up into a gorge

And as he fell, he ascended up near the clouds

His eyes omnipresent, he saw all

As the sky turned an Azure blue

And the screams of a mad God began to subside

He waited for those extras to exit stage left

But instead they entered stage right.

The sky turned dark

The woman in charge took her break

And the old man replaced her for the rest of  the day

And still, the boys glare did not find a single person who seemed to care

His parents sat in a waiting room as a sharp dressed man sugar coated a piece of official paper

She whom he held so dear, laid in her room, held in the arms of another, face buried into their chest in the warm darkness

Disbelief washed over the child

Whom thought he had been loved so dearly

Only to realize that he had been truly left alone

In this cold and dark space, stuck in between the sky and the soil.

"Do you see now, my child?

There were many that cared for you.

More than  others could have ever hope for

But you, seeped in greed, abused their love

And are now not only stuck in between the living and the dead

But are also no longer a remembered specimen , merely a forgotten soul."

The boys eyes grew wet and big

As they turned into a fiery red

And as he began to speak

His voice creaked and cracked like some tormented attic.

"there's gotta be some way, my dear good sir,

For me to fix my mistake and mend my greed."

The old man looked down, his head shaking.

"There is nowhere left in this world, or thereafter,

For a man who doesn't recognize what lie before him"

And as the old soul retreated to his dying garden,

The young man sat under the dense sky

Unable to move, stuck like glue.