I wake up to nothing but the sounds of silence and the sight of darkness. A cold breeze blows, sending chills through every bone in my body. I can feel evil eyes looking down upon me, telling me I am unable move on. The beast that hides behind the blanket of darkness hisses at me, triggering the feeling of doubt inside of me. It is telling me I am too weak to face what lies in the darkness. I struggle to pull myself up from the cold stone floor. The beast lets out a bone chilling laugh. It continues to spit words of doubt at me, trying to convince me to give up. I take a step closer into the darkness, the beast’s evil laugh is instantly exchanged by a cry of defeat. I take another step closer. The beast continues to cry out in terror and the shadows begin to evade. I become surrounded by a thin blanket of light. The shadowy beast begins to laugh again. This time his voice is different. Its words, its voice, it becomes so convincing. I can feel its breath on the back of my neck, causing me to remember times I have messed up, mistakes that I regret. The memories cause me to shiver with pain. The beast continues to laugh even harder, an evil chuckle of victory. To his surprise, I, once again, step forward. The light around me starts to become brighter. I can then make out the evil features of the beast. It’s red eyes glaring at me, his wide grin filled with sharp teeth. Long strains of drool hang from his mouth as he continues to hiss at me.

More shadowy beast emerge from the darkness. They bark and hiss at me, trying to scare me away with all the things that have weighed me down. They tell me there is no more hope, no one to help me, no one cares, that I am alone in this darkness forever. The number of faces grow with each step I take, but my light grows brighter. The brighter my light gets the smaller the faces become. The faces might be casting words of doubt, but my Light still grows. The truth is I am alone. I have no one to rely on in this darkness. These faces are of the things that weigh me down, the emotions and feelings that weaken me. The truth is these faces that resemble depression, hatred, agony, only make me stronger. They remind me how much stronger I have become. The light resembles my strength. The light will always grow the more I take in the emotions. These emotions come to me like a virus, but just like the human body, I can learn to over come and defeat this virus. No longer will I allow these things to weigh me down, I know who I am. I know who I must become. That vision I have of me in my mind is all that keeps me going. This is a battle between me and myself.

The darkness seems to be endless and cold. The faces still send chills through me, but I continue to push on. These faces seem to grow louder in my head, they begin to take advantage of me. I begin to tremble. The faces that had become so weak have now become so strong. They found another way to break me down. They begin to use words that they have never used against me before. These new feelings create more faces, more obstacles. I look down at my feet to see the stone floor become black. My light has vanished. The darkness has grown claws and is itching at my skin, scratching at it continuously. Its laughter fills my ears as I slowly begin to fall. I have allowed the beast to overcome me once again.

I lie there in the darkness of the shadow that haunts me. Its evil laugh strikes me to the core. The claws of the foul beast cut at my very soul, creating deep wounds. The depression and agony it puts upon me is almost unbearable. The beast’s eyes glow down upon my weak, helpless self. Why has he overcome me once again? Have I not grown strong enough to defeat this evil, No, I have not. I am stronger than before. The beast has only become more powerful. The only way to break free of this new shadow the beast threw me in is to ignite a new light. This new light will become brighter then the light before, forcing the beast to evade once again. Through all the emptiness in my heart I found the faith I needed to ignite the light. The faith in myself. The light sparks to life, shredding the darkness into pieces. The claws that scratched at me sink into the ground. The beast’s laughter is replaced with the sound of defeat. The shadows crawl away, revealing a world I had long forgotten.

The new light I had ignited grows brighter and brighter as I walk forward. It allows me to see the world that was covered in this darkness all along. I find myself standing on a stone path. I look ahead to find that the path guides me over mountains of all heights. These mountains resemble all the times I will struggle, but they also resemble all the times I will succeed. I notice the path travels through vast plains full of grass, resembling my open mind and my imagination. The path also continues into a forest. This forest will resemble my knowledge. It will always grow to new heights and the forest will become bigger through time. As I look again to study the stone path I realize what it truly meant. The stone path resembles my life. The road that will always guide me to new places, new problems, new opportunities. As I continue on this path the world around me will always grow.

The shadow that had once over come has crumbled along with the paths I have already taken. This life will only go forward, what has happened is done. The old world will crumble to create a new one: A world full of many choices. Only one thing remains of shadow and the world that has crumbled behind me. The scars that remind me that I have become stronger. They remind me that I defeated the shadows and overcame the world that has now crumbled. These scars are what symbolize my strength. The strength I need to take on the shadows and world that awaits me.