There are some things that are hard to explain: Death to a child, mental illness, or puberty. Sometimes there are things you just don’t explain to anyone. You can’t. They’ve hurt you so much that you don’t want others to know. You don’t want them to know what it is if it happens to them. Some things are just sad. Some things are embarrassing, or maybe even gross. Then there are things that shock you. Not like electrocute, or make you cry out in surprise, the real deal stuff. The things that make your heart ache for days.

True shock.

It’s when you’re just sitting peacefully; minding your own business, nose into a book called ‘Life’, and trying to keep up with the other readers. Your best friend is around the house somewhere, and you feel comforted by the fact that everything is in such nice order. Sure, the dog barks a few times, or you burn the eggs you had tried to cook, and you have to put the book down to catch each misfortune. Every time you calm the world again, you go back to that book. But sometimes, the book itself misleads you. The prince or princess of the book, whichever copy you might be reading, looses something of importance. Their soul, perhaps. Oh sure, the knight will fight the bad guy who stole it, but every once in awhile, that knight looses. The crook runs away, and in his bag of lies, horrors, and death, he carries their soul.

True shock isn’t even close to quite that simple. Sure, the thief has got the soul, and sure he’s getting away. But the knight named Heart and Will can recover. He jumps on that mighty steed called Perseverance and gallops after the evil being; and most of the time, he catches him. He catches him, and he fixes it. By now, your book has proven a happy ending, and content, you relax. But there are so many twists and turns in the plot of ‘Life’ that you nearly fall over when the crook makes off with the Soul again. This time, though, Heart and Will who rides Perseverance recovers too late. The thief ties that precious and fragile soul to some railroad track, and stands back, cackling. Heart and Will has just galloped to the top of the hill in time to see the train called ‘Gone’ buzz past. He gallops with all his might against the trains speed, but it’s too fast and he is too slow.

Ladies and gentlemen, True Shock is when that train is on time.