The young woman’s silhouette floated gracefully through the Piazza Plaza Square; the centre of the city where souls crossed paths. Each breath of a soul intermingled with the next like the dance of cloudy smoke intertwining in the air. Chestnut black dark curls grazed the woman’s delicate neck; thick dark lashes and eyes wide piercing with an icy clear blue, resembling a colour only the hawks had seen as they soar the sky in the northern hemisphere in the dead of winter in search of prey. A crisp white starched collar peeks out of a creamy beige cashmere sweater; a black pencil wool skirt lined with crepe hugs her curvy hips and moves with ease with her feminine sway. Flawless stockings cling to her long streamlined legs. Finished with a fine Italian leather pump, the shoes meet the cobblestone walk with deep assurance. Sunbeams dance on her smooth olive skin, glowing softly; high rounded cheekbones and delicate features delight the onlookers. Shimmering in the morning sun, the facets of her diamond studs reflect crystalline light. Poised and confident she swaggers with elegance across the sea “o” souls.
At first glance, and even upon a deeper more lingering gaze, passing souls would never sense the hidden secrets kept within. Like a vault with a hidden key, no one would ever know what lies beneath those rich affluent outer appearances.
Long since lost, buried deep within, were her untold stories. With each passing year, they receded farther inward to a denser part of her being. Heavy and weighted the young woman carried her pain along like an iron ball and chain. Upon occasion, it would swing about striking her with a sudden piercing, jolting a memory into her conscious mind. As quickly as it would erupt, she would try desperately to push it back down, like trying to stuff a feather duvet into a tiny pillow casing; it simply couldn’t be done. More and more these days she was finding it difficult to suppress the painful memories from her past.
Her heart was closing in on her. The heaviness in her chest was crushing like a layer of bricks had been placed upon her. Something within her whispered, and she knew that soon she would need to unpack the baggage she had been carrying for so long. Years upon years, lifetimes of her soul fragmenting into scattered debris. The woman was fast approaching her last breath, each one becoming more shallow and lifeless.
A small sense of comfort embraced her briefly as the bustling of the souls passed by, a distraction to take her away from her discomfort. Stopping dead in the sea “o” souls, she closed her eyes, and just for a moment she felt the warm, soothing sun rays saturate her skin. Flecks of soft cotton clouds danced around the bright golden-hued light blending with the illumination of a bluebird sky.
At that moment, the woman felt a rush of tingles floods through her veins, and a ray of hope jumped in her heart. She pondered if she could in fact face her darkness. A spark of renewed hope of healing washed over her. She imagined the weighted iron ball and chain being severed and her walking free. The sun gently bathed her wounds. A small voice whispered from within “ You are safe to begin a new…”
The hidden message of this short story… Many of us carry lifetimes of untold stories of the past deep within. Holding the pain within weighs us down, preventing us from knowing who we really are and all we are meant to BE. Finding refuge, a safe place to begin to open your old tattered vintage novel filled with your life, with all that has shaped you until this very moment can feel very scary and daunting to look at. But at the end of the line, when you reach the proverbial light, you shall set your soul free, free from the chains that bound you to suffering; free to embrace all that you are, free to move beyond untold stories, to heal and rejoice in the miracle that is you. Free to fly with the angels and ascend back into the Heavenly light.
Renata Anne Kiss
