I didn’t know how I got to that cold place. But I was there somehow and I appeared to be the only inhabiter. I was standing in a void of darkness as a pounding gale swarmed around me. I could feel it. I could feel it threatening to heave everything precious away from me, making me its slave.
It swarmed around me uncontrollably until I was surrounded in unthinkable darkness, alone and blue. My body shook by this thing’s existence, fed by my discouragement, my frustration and confusion. It was living off of me, fueling up for the day when it would consume total power of my being. I could feel it. I could feel it tearing and lashing out at me, forever taunting me and mocking me.
And then, just as the darkness became almost unbearable, I found myself standing in my bathroom with my razor in hand. I watched in horror as my hand lifted it to my skin and blood began to spill in a pool around my feet. It was like watching someone else from far away. My mind was hazy and a blur as if I was awake but not truly living. My leg throbbed as my blood gushed out like a geyser, soaking up my clothing and drenching me in its crimson waves. Drearily, I lifted my head, crying out for someone to rescue me, to relieve me from this entity that was haunting me.
There was Tara standing next to me, clad in her same old look: blue jeans and a purple sweater. She look beautiful, almost glowing. No longer was she hanging from that scarf with the dull, lusterless, dead gaze in her eyes. She was jumping, leaping, dancing around me.
And next to her, was Joy, beaming and pirouetting on the clouds. From her body sprung a resonating light that shooed the darkness away from me. I heard bells. Soft, tingling, pleasant bells that took away all the darkness from my aching form. The blood was gone and so was my wound.
“The Lord has instructed us,” she whispered to me, in a voice like honey, “Love your enemies and pray for those who are mean to you. You must learn to forgive, Waverly. Forgive...forgive...forgive.”