As if I were locked up,
Never to see light again.
Then I saw a silhouette
Of someone my age,
Someone telling me to follow them.
I was afraid,
Afraid to trust the person,
Afraid they'd disappear,
Leaving me alone in the dark again.
I saw the shadow fading,
As if the person was leaving.
Desperate,
I called out to the figure,
But it just continued to fade.
Finally,
I ran toward it
And it led me to another silhouette.
This one was older,
But I followed it anyway.
The shadow of a person led me to
Yet another silhouette.
Again,
This one was older
Than the one before.
I followed the figure to a place
Where there were hundreds
Of person-like shadows,
All of them standing in small circles,
Talking excitedly.
When I approached any one of the figures,
They all grew quiet.
Then,
As I was about to give up in despair,
They all vanished,
Leaving me alone in the dark place.
A voice behind me said,
"It's up to you now."
I turned,
But no one was there.
I fell to the ground in sadness
And prayed.
Suddenly,
Off in the distance,
I saw a light.
It was quite a distance away,
But I ached to get there,
To see something other than shadows and darkness
For the first time in years.
I walked toward it
And tripped and stumbled over many things
That I could not see in the darkness.
I fell many times,
Hurting myself,
As I moved toward the light.
After walking for what must have been days,
I found myself at the bottom
Of what seemed to be a steep mountain.
Still,
I felt I needed to reach the light.
Through the darkness,
I climbed up the mountain
With determination.
When I reached the top,
I saw what looked like a spotlight.
The voice from behind me said,
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"
I was out of breath,
So all I did was mumble,
"Thank God I'm here."
Suddenly,
Jesus appeared in the light and said,
"The place where you've been trapped for so long
Wasn't really a place at all.
It was a state of mind."
Instantly,
All around me was a bright, white light.
Jesus said,
"You're here.
Now all you have to do is stay here."
Age 13