Open Your Eyes

        Open Your Eyes

             If only there were a world where people didn’t lie, cheat, or steal. If only a world existed where no one suffered from starvation, diseases, or poverty—a world with no fighting, no war—a world where the only choice is peace. That’s all Josh ever wanted.

            Josh was quiet; he didn’t talk to many people. He was confined to his own little world; he didn’t like people judging him. He never wanted to go out and do anything or meet anyone. He didn’t want to make connections. He didn’t like to open up to people because he figured that they’d just leave him and take all of his secrets with them. He’d rather be safe than sorry. Josh was displeased with the world because the world had displeased him.

            Nobody cared about him. That’s why he felt so betrayed by the world; so unloved. That’s the only reason that he never bothered to care about anyone else or never bothered to make friends. He didn’t bother to live his life.

            He would say nothing ever turns out how you want it to because the terrifying sight of reality crushes your amazing expectations of how life should be, and really all he needed was someone willing to show him that the world wasn’t such a bad place and that life is beautiful.

            Josh was walking home from school, back slouched over, not making eye contact with any of the other kids on the street—his usual routine—until this girl bumped into him knocking him over.

            “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” she said reaching out her hand to help him up.

            “I’m fine,” he gestured, swatting her hand away.

            “No, It’s my pleasure,” she said with an overexcited smile.

            Josh let her help him up, but not because he wanted to, only because he knew she wasn’t going to go away until he let her help.

            “I have legs. I can get up on my own,” Josh said annoyed, brushing of the dirt and grass on his knees and elbows, “What’s your name anyways?”

            “Elizabeth,” she said with a smile. “I’ve seen you around, Josh.”

            “Cool,” Josh spoke, turning away from her wanting the conversation to be over. “Goodbye now.”

            “No, wait! I want to talk to you,” Elizabeth said quickly.

            “I don’t even know you!” Josh screamed at her, trying to walk away.

            “Josh I see you! I know you think that everything is unfair,” said Elizabeth, as he was walking away. “You can’t just disappear from the world. You need to live your life.”

            He was just like my father, she thought. So tucked away from the world. He was so mad at the way people ran society; he never saw the beauty in it. She wanted to help Josh see that life is something great—something worth living for. She wanted to show him that there was so much more than what he had been seeing. When her father passed, she wished she could of showed him the world—showed him the magic. Time is precious, and her father let it eat him alive.

            Josh’s face was blank with no emotion, except for the slight look of hurt in his eyes.

             He knew he had seen her before; he saw her every Sunday at church. She would always come with her mother because her father had passed away from cancer about a year and a half ago.  Josh always saw her look back at him from three rows in front of him, but he always thought she was looking at someone else.

            “Why me?” he asked. “Why do you care so much about me?”

            “You just remind me of someone I know,” Elizabeth said, as she looked away from him. “I am going to show you what life is all about.”

            “What does that even mean?” Josh asked

            Elizabeth said, “Meet me on Central Street after school on Friday.”

            Josh nodded his head motioning that he would be there. He wondered if she was planning on murdering him or something. He was kind of worried because he barely knew her, but he figured she wouldn’t do that.

            After school on Friday, Josh walked down to Central Street. All he saw was homeless people. He kept walking down the street, and he saw Elizabeth; she was carrying a bunch of boxes.

            “I could use some help you know!” she screamed at him, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

            He ran over to grab the boxes from her.

            “What’s in these anyways?” Josh questioned.

            “Blankets, water, and food,” Elizabeth said with a smile, “for them,” as she pointed over to a homeless person.

            “Why?” Josh asked.

            “I am going to show you the beauty in helping people,” she said, turning her back.

            They walked up to one of the men, and handed him a couple of things from the boxes. The man stood up and blessed the both of them. He had tears of joy in his eyes, and he asked if he could give them a hug.

            They spent all day talking with the people, and giving them food and clothes. Josh had so much empathy for them. How could they live in these conditions and still be happy and grateful for everything, he thought. How could they not hate the world for doing this? He learned that doing things for other people, and making other people happy, made him happy. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time.

            “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?” Elizabeth asked.

            “That was…” Josh said, “so beautiful.”

            Elizabeth grabbed his shoulders, and said, “I just want to help you open your eyes to the world. I want you to see the beauty in it. I want you to live your life, and be grateful for what you have. I want you to have sympathy for the less fortunate. I want you to put all your trust into the future, and I want you to believe that your life will be good no matter what. I want you to let go of all your fears and be you because you are beautiful.”