"Empty Room" (A story)

She’s gone, my sunshine is gone. I get back to my room and it is empty, it is only a room: white walls, white ceiling and a wood floor. It is dark and it is cold. The windows are left open and there are no shades. I cannot see outside for it is night and there is no moon. The door behind me is shut and I am locked in. The closet is locked as well. I sit on the ground, which is slick to the touch. I slip and fall on my back and hit my head on the hardwood floor and I am unable to get up. I cry like a child would, uncontrollable weeping that runs down reddened cheeks onto the wood beneath and beside me. It beads up and does not seep in, but rather sits next to me in the dark, each droplet of tears gathers and lies with me as I slowly, slowly fall asleep. My body hardens with my surroundings; I become the room that is so cold and empty. I emulate the indifference and for that I am dead.

When my eyes open there is still no sunlight, but instead a strange glow from the outside. It fills the room with an icy blue. It is day, but only the moon shines here. Shades have appeared since I fell asleep. They are on either side of the window and flutter in the constant arctic breeze. The glow graces the fabric of the shades and paints the wall opposite of the window with dancing shadows. The moon is white without a face and the ground outside is covered by snow. The glow reflects off the surface of the frozen snow giving the world the eerie bluish tint. The color of cold. The room is still bare and soon a thin layer of frost covers the floor and I. My eyes shut slowly as they are nearly frozen.

Today I cannot move. My clothes are gone and the room is completely frozen in a layer of ice. I am on my side and my hand is in front of me attached permanently to the wood, my fingers spread wide.

(photo by Benjamin Cardoza, taken at home - Barrington, Rhode Island, taken 11-23-2005)