The take-away latte

They say everyone is born into this world equal, with inherent natural rights and, their life is shaped by a series of personal decisions. That we, as an individual, have the utmost control over our social status and can, without compromise, be a part of any culture or tradition.

They are wrong.

A comforting illusion imposed to everyone socially inferior and devalued. A mere lie we tell ourselves to appear in control of our lives within this vast ocean of happenstance. A calm box we seclude our inner skeptical voice to face the chaotic pattern unfolding in front of us. Would you decide to peek outside, suffocation would be imminent. So, what would happen if we broke free?

What choice did I have? When I first opened my eyes, when my lungs were first filled with air, was I inherently equal to my brothers?

Was I, a weak, mute creation, barely alive, equal to my fighting brothers and sisters?

A lie.

Born of a weak and dying mother, how could I ever be the same? Enthralled by the circumstance, how could I ever reach the heights imposed by this cruel, unforgiving pattern?

Sickly and cast aside could sum up my genesis, fleeting in the eternal passage of time. However, I was here, still alive, for a purpose I did not yet comprehend. And never will.

My brothers were placed in white marble beds, decorated in silver and honey, sweetened and caressed by their embrace. They. The creators. The gods we were destined to serve. Were they the ones that made me this frail? Were they the ones that decided my worth?

They left, my brothers. All taken by them, in crystalline chariots I could never fully apprehend. Embraced by a light, so bright, I could never even glimpse upon.

Yet, here I was, coerced in this dark cell. The marble was but a sweet dream I had when sleep would allow me the gentle escape. I dreamt of being like them. In all that glory, bathed in the love of the creators.

Perhaps, in this prison of mine, I shed away my inner box. I could never see the world, so I never had a reason to hide. Through the dark walls suffocating me every time I took a breath, the world could do me no harm.

If I could ever find words to describe it, would you believe me?

Would you believe that my everlasting cage shifted, with me inside? The claustrophobia I`ve fought so hard to suppress was here yet again, stronger than ever before. I tried to keep calm, remind myself of the cage, it`s walls. They were always there, and they will forever be, right? What could ever shatter something as ever-present as this?  

She was here again, the laughter, the madness. She was always there, in the beginning, yet she faded away as I slowly accepted my fate. But she was here again, caressing me. The only touch I ever felt. Pain. Suffocation.

I faded into a dream, and I saw the world.

I saw water, flowing swift and sure, and me with it, to a destination I would never know.

I saw trees taller than my cage, green and yellow, gently swinging in a light so bright it hurt to look at.

I felt it, the cold touch of water, embracing me, setting me free of her once and for all.

I saw my brothers, in their hands, meeting their end.

I faded into a dream that I would never wake up from.

I faded into the world I was never supposed to be in.

Free.

Perhaps my cage set me free, the very bane of my existence.