that is, I mean...

Somewhere in the midst of the brightness there had always been that one little shadow. The shadow that liked to be a shadow. Or at least that is what she always said. She did sometimes enjoy the solitude. She did sometimes feel happy that she never got caught up in the drama. Yet there was that part of her always longed for that love. That true friend that would stick with her until the end. All her friends had been pseudo-friends... fake friends. She wore a mask of brightness to hide her shadow face. Everybody saw through it though. Some faked concern and would ask what was wrong. She would say, “nothing,” and they would continue on with their bright lives. This shadow (we’ll call her Emily) never really wanted to be a shadow, but somehow she always ended up as one. She didn’t want many friends. She didn’t want to be the center of attention. Emily just wanted the same things as everybody else. A friend that would love her. Not a friend that she would tell her secrets to and laugh with a bit before they let her down again. All the brightness left completely after the 6th grade. Everything went downhill into the fog, smoke, and enclosed darkness where this shadow girl was never seen. She still longed for somebody to love her. Eventually she thought she found one. Well... actually she thought she had found love many times. Every time she thought she found love the person would turn out to be just another fake. Wearing a mask worse than her fake bright one. Masks that led... and influenced... and shoved you into things. She had finally given up. She was going to live with it, not let go of this last mask-wearer. She didn’t think she could bear to be alone again. Then she found another shadow. In the midst of brightness there was another shadow. How it happened she didn’t know. I suppose Emily owed it all to him. The other shadow (we’ll call him Christian) stood up and was brave. I suppose that was simply in his nature. For Emily it was not. For Emily, staying in the background being unnoticed was best. But Christian started to talk to Emily. (We’ll say that he gave her a mental hug.) That mental hug covered them both. It turned them from being shadows into something new and extraordinary. It did not change them into brights that fit into the brightness. It turned them into stars in the middle of a night sky. Brighter than a beam of light in the brightness. Stunningly beautiful in their own way. Bright in the middle of darkness. That is, I mean, I love you Christian.