Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Drama

an allegory: 

once upon a time, there were seven billion prisoners chained up in a cave.

they faced the wall, and behind them was a fire. beyond the fire was the mouth of the cave, and beyond the cave life would go on, casting shadows on the cave walls. the prisoners, remembering nothing before the cave, began to name the shadows. four legs and a snout, that's a pig! two wheels and a bell, a bicycle! life went on behind them and the prisoners, convinced there was nothing beyond the shadows, spoke and breathed and laughed and whiled their lives away.

until one day, one of the prisoners escaped his chains. he turned to the mouth of the cave and saw true fear and poverty and a desperation for understanding he had never imagined. he exited and experienced cruel reality and ran back at sunset bursting with the truth.

but when he tried to explain to the other prisoners what he had seen, everybody thought he was insane. after all, how could there be anything other than the shadows?

///

an allegory:

once upon a time, there were two prisoners chained up in a cave.

they faced the wall together, and behind them was a fire. beyond the fire was the mouth of the cave, and beyond the cave life would go on, casting shadows over them both. the prisoners, knowing nothing but the cave, began to name the shadows. depression and quiet loathing, your life! the person you hate most, your lover! everything went on without them and the prisoners, convinced there was nothing beyond the shadows, shouted and fucked and fought and thought that they would die there together.

until one day, both of the prisoners escaped their chains. they turned to the mouth of the cave and saw the godawful truth and together they walked into the world.

one of the prisoners, horrified by what he had seen, ran back to the cave, redid his own chains. his companion rushed in after him, calling his name. don't leave me, he said, don't leave me alone with this awful truth! but no matter how he begged and pleaded, the other would not budge from the cave.

after all, said his partner, through gritted teeth, how could there be anything other than this?

///

an allegory:

once upon a time, there were two lovers chained up in a cave.

they faced the truth together, and behind them was a fire. beyond the fire was the mouth of the cave, and beyond the cave other people's lives would go on, casting their shadows over the lovers. the prisoners, not knowing anything but the cave, began to name the shadows. a barrel and a bullet, a gun! sharp edges and seeping bandages, true love! life went on behind them and the prisoners, convinced there was nothing beyond this, cursed and fought and screamed and threw their lives away together.

until one day, one of the prisoners escaped his chains. he turned to the mouth of the cave and saw care and affection and a desperation for understanding he had never imagined. he exited the cave and experienced true love and ran back at sunset begging for forgiveness from his lover.

but when he tried to caress his partner, to show him the affection he had learned, his lover flinched away, unused to anything but the touch of searing fire.

after all, said the lover, eyes already charred black by the truth, how could there be anything other than this?

///

an allegory:

once upon a time, there were two prisoners chained up in a cave.

until one day, one of the prisoners escaped his chains. he walked on out of the cave on his own and faced the fucking truth and made it, he survived alone goddamnit, he didn't need the other prisoner and when the sun burned his eyes he closed them and breathed deeply and he faced the world alone.

except he couldn't, weak as he was, so he came back to the cave. talked to the other prisoner at the mouth of the cave and asked forgiveness and tried to say that no one could understand what it was like in that cave, no one understood how he saw the world and it was so, so lonely out here-

he didn't explain himself very well.

///

an allegory:

once upon a time, there were two prisoners chained up in a cave.

until one day, one of the prisoners escaped his chains and beat the other with his bare fists and screamed and screamed and screamed until the other prisoner was dead, dead, dead and he kept hitting him until he collapsed onto the cave floor, alone-

///

an allegory:

i hate you i hate you i hate you don't you fucking leave me again i'll kill you before i let you leave me again-

///

an allegory:

once upon a time, there was a young man chained up in a cave.

he faced the wall, and behind him was a fire. beyond the fire was the mouth of the cave, and beyond the cave life would go on. The prisoner, remembering nothing before the cave, began to name the shadows. a barrel and a bullet, a gun! the person you hate most, your lover! life went on behind him and the prisoner, convinced there was nothing beyond the shadows, spoke and breathed and laughed and whiled his life away.

until one day, the prisoner escaped his chains. he turned to the mouth of the cave and saw the world for what it really was. he exited and experienced reality and ran back at sunset sobbing with the awful truth.

it was painful and the sun burned his eyes but it was real and undeniably true, how had he ever thought anything different? and he would fix it, he would fix it, he would fix it if it killed him, he filled the cave with twigs and let the fire burn it down so that he would have nothing to come back to and he would put out the fucking sun to stop the red burning in his eyes.

///

an allegory:

once upon a time, there were seven billion prisoners chained up in a cave.

they faced the wall, and behind them was a fire. beyond the fire was the mouth of the cave, and beyond the cave life would always go on, casting shadows on the cave walls. the prisoners, remembering nothing before the cave, began to name the shadows. depression and quiet self-loathing, your life! sharp edges and seeping bandages, true love! life went on behind them and the prisoners, convinced there was nothing beyond the shadows, spoke and breathed and laughed and whiled their lives away.

until one day, one of the prisoners escaped his chains. he turned to the mouth of the cave and saw true fear and poverty and a desperation for understanding he had never imagined. he exited and experienced cruel reality and ran back at sunset bursting with the truth. he would set them free and burn down the cave so that they could never be tricked into living like this again.

but when he tried to explain to the other prisoners what he had seen, none of them understood him except for one, a man with black eyes burned sightless by the sun.
and the prisoner who was most recently freed, he wondered if maybe he would be alright so long as this one man understood him. so long as he was never alone with that godawful truth.

but the longer he spent with the blind man, the more convinced he was that something had to change. his companion was dying.

come with me, he told the blind man. come with me into the sun.

the blind man laughed and took another sip of his alcohol. i can't, said the blind man, as the prisoner kissed him. after all, how could there be anything other than this?

///

… stop me if you've heard this one.

once upon a time, there were two lovers chained up in a cave.

they both remembered a time when their worlds consisted of more than this cave. they talk about it sometimes, but mostly they watch the shadows flicker and try to ignore the quiet whimpers coming from outside. they're safe here for the moment.

one says to the other, i'm leaving soon. come with me.

his lover says, i can’t.

there's a whole world beyond this cave, you argue, please, dal, it's awful out there and i can't face it alone.

he shifts in his chains, refuses to look at you. his eyes have been burned black by the sun.

he says, al, i love you but you're killing me-