Unchained

What is greater and more glorious than freedom? He didn't know. His finite mind wasn't able to imagine anything else. Every time he looked through the narrow window, he cried, his heart whispered in sorrow and a new crack appeared on his thin surface.

Was there a time when he was happy? Was there a time full of joyful moments? Did he have shining memories to think about?

No. All faded away, swept away by the years, covered by the dust of grief and solitude.

Everyday he sat on that old chair, waiting for his destiny, for his own freedom. Dark ghosts walked beside him, he didn't try to put them away, he felt so miserable and weak, so lonely and vulnerable.

He never listened to his heart but he kept on holding that iron ring. An unknown force made him doing this, a feeble light far away, which came from his past.

Even if he didn't remember anything, once he was happy. He had a family, a wife, a son and three grandchildren. But then his wife died and, after he started to feel sick, his son decided that a rest house was the right place for him.

He stayed there for a hundred of years, he couldn't rest in peace because he felt guilty. One day his son came to visit him with his little child. They went out for a walk, his son left his father with the little girl for a while and, in a moment of distraction, a car ran over her. His son never forgave him, he hated him.

So he became a ghost, conserving that little ring of his dead granddaughter in that haunted rest house.

But nothing lasts forever.

Two days before Christmas, a little girl who got lost, ended up in this rest house an she went in, because it was very cold outside. When he turned his face and saw the tears of that poor girl, he tried to help her, taking her scarf and leaving that on the outside, so her parents could find her.

He told her not to be scared, because he was a kind of angel. He also gave her the most precious thing he had, the iron ring, saying that it would have protected her. Than he prayed for her, because he never wanted to attended another tragedy doing nothing.

A great light appeared, her parents found her and they went home.

Then he wandered through the dazzling clouds.

Free.

See you soon

Yours, Silvia

p.s. I dedicate this story to my best friend Luisa, who has the patience to read my works and who always believe in me. Thank you.