The Doctor

He led a normal life
filled with nothing
exciting or new
and he didn't expect much
accept for everything to be the same.
Behind closed doors,
the boy wept
for change.
So when he could find a way
to get away
he ran
and ran
and ran
until his feet left blood
on the ground
where he had
been.
When he looked around
at the place
where he stopped.
He found himself
in a city
that was new
to the wide eyed
boy
and he reveled in
the fantastic new
discovery of his.
While the boy smiled
and played,
a shadow watched
from a far
making sure
that the boy received no harm.
As time went by,
the boy grew
but he never forgot
the bland and hopeless
place where he began.
When walking down a street
that had become familiar
to him many years ago,
he whistled a tune
of his own design
and finally saw
the backside
of his beautiful world.
Unfortunately for the boy
he witnessed things
that no one wants to see.
He emptied his pockets
to all who asked
and even gave his coat
to a decrepit old man
who could no longer
stand on
his own.
As he walked back
to the City of Lights
he tried to find
the one place where
he felt he could find
solace ad peace.
He walked through
the Hospital doors
and tried to find
someone
anyone
who could help him
with his plan
to change the
"Beautiful World",
but most just turned
a deaf ear
and ignored the
frantic man
while others shook
their heads,
pitying his state of mind.
When he realized
no one would assist him
in helping the world,
he hung his head
in despair, and walked out
the hospital doors.
He tried to whistle
the cheerful tune
he had only recently learned,
but could not remember
a single note
from only a day before.
His heavy heart
sank lower
and lower
until he lost all faith
in humanity.
So once again,
he ran
to find a new place
to call home.
For the two worlds
he had come to know
no longer had
meaning to him.
So he ran
and ran
and ran
until his feet once again
left trails of blood.
But when he lifted his
drowsy
dust filled eyes
off of the road,
he saw no cities
or diseased allies.
Only road
and daisies
that stretched on
for miles.
He sat down
on the side of
the trail
that had long since been
blazed
and held his aching head
in his shaky hands.
No one traveled past
the heavy hearted man
with dreams of
changing the world.
Only the wind dared
to disturb
the sorrow filled man.
Days passed
but the man did
nothing
but drown in
his own thoughts.
But at last!
A lone figure came
walking down the dusty road.
At first,
the man had to squint to see
what it was
but he finally saw
it was a girl.
Calmly walking along
stopping to gently grace the flowers
with her tiny hands.
All though he could see her
she was clearly not paying attention
to anything around her.
As he watched her
and her radiating grace,
he saw a dark spot
slowly gaining
on the girl
from the endless horizon.
He tried to warn her,
but after days
of lamenting
and screaming
in silence
he found that his voice
had caught
in his throat.
So he watched in horror
as the clouds swallowed
her whole,
shriveling any and all
of the flowers that the clouds
touched.
He ran toward the spot
where the girl
had once stood
and he tried
to bring her back.
Try as he might,
he could not make
the clouds come back,
so once again
he sat down in despair.
But he was soon joined
by doctors
whose faces were hidden
behind paper masks
that allowed
them to distance themselves
from the
real world.
He did not see
where they had come from
or that they cast
no shadows upon the
disturbed ground
but all he heard
was their promise
to make his dream
of a better world
come true.
So when they extended
a helping hand
to lift the
empty man
off of the trail,
he eagerly agreed.
They asked him
to close his eyes
for the road to the
Hospital
was a secret one
and he need not
know the way home.
With a smile
and a nod
he closed his eyes
and awaited
for the sign to open them.
He did not see
the doctors change
from friendly forms
to the shadows
of nightmares.
So off they went
down into
a world
that the man thought
he wanted
to see.
They arrived
and told our hero
to open his eyes.
At first
he had to blink back tears
for the sterile white walls
made his eyes sting
with the smell
of chemicals
and extreme
sanitation.
At once,
the man
knew that something was wrong
for the doctors
were murmuring
in hushed
and muted tones
all while looking
at one room in particular.
When he tried
to go inside the room
he was ushered away
by his fellow
practitioners
and told to not think anything more
of the room
in question.
But late in the night
he crept into the room
when no one was looking
and found
the girl from the field.
At first
she wept
for she was afraid of the man
for reasons
he did not quite understand.
He simply started to tell her
of things
outside of her room
and told her comforting things
he was sure he would
want to hear
if he were her.
He knew he had to leave
For the others would surely
notice if he was gone
“I will always be your friend
no matter what you think.
I’ll be with you at the end
even at the brink.”
he told her as he crept
out the door.
He came back
on a different day
captivated by her astounding beauty
in the never ending
hospital ward.
“No one should ever be alone,”
“in this horrible hospital ward.”
he told her one day
as he
slowly but surely
fell in love
with the frail patient
seated before him.
As they were talking
unaware of the doctors
creeping down the hallway
to stop him
he was sure
that she
was falling for him too.
The doctors descended upon
The room where our friends were sitting
And tried to pull the two apart.
As they clung to each other
One last time
He whispered in her ear
So the others would not hear.
“I will always be your friend
no matter what you think.
I’ll be with you at the end
even at the brink.”
As she was taken
down a hallway
and he down another
he saw her crystalline eyes
fill with such sorrow
that it hurt him to even see.
He was taken to the morgue
as a punishment
for breaking the unspoken rules
set by his
doctor friends.
Slowly
He felt himself mourn
the loss of the one true friend
he had in the
increasingly
saddening clinic for the damned.
His “friends” came back
Many days later
and his heart leapt with joy.
Maybe they thought
he had repented enough.
But their news
Was the opposite
Of what he wanted to hear.
They told him
that they had done
everything that they could
to keep her alive.
They offered their apologies
but he knew
they were lying
to his face.
He knew
that they hadn’t tried
to save her
at all.
He did not know
how many days had passed
until they rolled her body in.
At first
he could not believe his eyes.
she was limp
and pale
with no visible signs of life
so when the others left
he broke down
and started to cry.
When she opened her eyes
he couldn’t believe his
and she asked him why
he cries.
“They said you were dead
No thoughts in your head.
My heart was aching
because I thought your mind was breaking.”
She laughed
and sat up
face to face
with her old friend.
“I cried for you
and died for you.
But I carry much fear
because I must leave here.
Never again
will I see those horrible men.”
He looked in her eyes
astounded that they both
felt the same
so he made her a promise
in the gray
sorrow of the morgue
that he would help her
escape
and get back to the world
they both knew.
He took her hand
and she took his
so they could flee the place
that had swallowed
them both.
As they dashed for freedom
the doctors grasped
and reached
for her gown
but only grabbed air.
He knew
that there was no way
for both of them
to make it out alive.
He turned to her
and said
“Go with out me
I’ll wait and see
if I can help you get away
and when you do, run far away.”
He let go of her hand
and it pained him to see
the desperation in
her eyes.
“I’m not leaving with out you!
There must be something else that we can do!”
He shook his head sadly as
his heart
once again filling with sorrow.
“No. This is the only way.”
He chocked out
as he opened the door
to her freedom.
His heart
clenched in pain
as her crystalline eyes
filled with the same tears
that were climbing
into his.
He watched her run away
and never look back again
and only when he was
absolutely sure
that she got away
did he turn to face
his former friends.
Everything went black
as they descended upon our hero
with sickly grins
plastered behind their masks.
The man smiled
to himself
knowing his one
and only friend
got away.
He felt himself
be tossed from their hands
onto a road
that felt all too familiar
to our friend.
Dust settled
around his frame
and he knew where
he would go
as soon as he knew
where he could run.
When he opened his eyes
he was in the field
where he first saw
the one he loves
and found her
lying in a patch of daisies
waiting for her end
to come.
“You came back for me.
This is something didn’t think I’d live to see.”
She smiled slowly
as her eyes became heavy.
“I will always be your friend
no matter what you think
I’ll be with you at the end
even at the brink.”
He said
as one lone tear rolled
rolled down his cheek.
He smiled at her
for one last time
as she passed away
in his arms.
There they sat
doctor and patient
in the field where their love began.
At last away
from lying friends
shadows of people.
And the paper masks
that hide smiles.