free

we feel freedom when our emotions are free.

our souls crave for intimacy, passion, romance, affection,
relationships. we tend to find these things in all the hollow, empty
places. in people, objects, and circumstances that we may feel would
complete us, would make us whole. we never realize they are hollow and
empty until we end up being failed, cheated on, hopelessly addicted;
our hearts broken, crushed, spat on, trampled to the ground.

so we put up walls. walls around our hearts designed to keep ourselves
from getting hurt. emotion is weakness, we boldly declare, chin high;
indulging in another cigarette, another warm body, another bottle,
another toke. it may take another form: another award, another medal,
another extra-curricular activity, another peso earned. we think that
as long as we're in our cozy little nook of self-protection, we're
okay.

and then we realize that there's something empty, missing. like
there's this big black void in the middle of our chests wanting to be
filled. that in spite of everything we ever wanted, and more, we're
incomplete. we're at the absolute end of our rope, already on the road
to complete destruction, to the highway of no return…

and then he knocks at the door of your heart and asks you, very gently,

"child, may i come in?"

you're taken aback, not expecting such an introduction. questions
flood your mind. "who is this? where did this come from? how did
he…?" you open the door a crack, instinctively blocking the intrusion.
the glimmer of light almost blinds you; you cover your eyes, not used
to the bright. you blink and realize that the light wasn't so blinding
at all.

you open the door and he stands in front of you. you can't explain it.
you try to figure it out, more questions want to be asked, but
somehow, somehow…you give in. the answers are not needed.

what is important is the here and the now. this moment.

there's a gentle tug at your heart as he touches your face gently. you
ask if this is still real. you're amazed at the gentleness that you
never knew existed. the gentleness that you've always wanted but never
seemed to have.

peace. it was a word alien to you. it was something you deemed
impossible, daunting; laughable, even. yet it was present at that
very moment, at that such time. the creases smoothed out, the rough
corners smoothened. the heart of stone was turning into a heart of
flesh.

it was more than peace. it was love.

so this is what love is like, you surmise. after searching for it so
ardently, so arduously, it found you. it found its way to you. you
look up and see the face gazing tenderly at yours. you couldn't
imagine how those eyes could stand seeing your form, your hardened
features, the bruises outside and in.

but they were. looking at you with such love. like you were this
prized work of art. and you felt like you were never hurt, addicted,
inflicted pain. it was intoxicating, only the rush wasn't fake, wasn't
bound to fade and make you hit the ground head-first. it was…

amazing.

it was at that moment you knew, you were confident, your mind and
heart and soul agreed that you needed him to be whole. it wasn't going
to be about you. it was going to be him. he would fix you more than
you could ever imagined.

and as cheesy as you know it would sound, you know that your life
would never be the same again. love and peace and joy seemed so alien,
until now.

now, that you have everything you ever needed…

you are free.