It is funny how the world can catch you off guard and push you into places you would never want to be.
I remember writing what I thought was going to be a simple assignment for college once; it was the final assignment for my American Renaissance Literature class. We had read many great authors, and the assignment was to assimilate an author we had read, so I chose Edgar Allan Poe, for I loved his writing and I wanted to see what I could do with it. To assimilate his writing, I had to reach my hand deep into the darkest pit of my mind and craft something that is only worthy of my nightmares. I reached in, and after what seemed like hours, I felt something brush against my hand; the idea had begun to grow. I entertained the idea without knowing what it was. It grabbed me and pulled me in deep into the chasms where it is dark and still, and then it disappeared. I studied it out in my mind, hoping it would return. It didn't. It wasn't till I sat down and put pen to paper that the idea came crashing through in vivid color. I thought of greed, deceit, revenge, and all other loathsome characteristics that were foreign to me. With every word I had written I was transformed like Dr. Jekyll ever becoming my version of Mr. Hyde. As I finished my final words, I went back and read my story in full. This was not me. Where had it come from? I was so bewildered that I promised myself that as soon as I handed in that assignment that I should never return to that dark place. I did not have to, for the beast that became my muse that day had followed me into my real life.
So, here I sit with the flesh of a man, a stunned heart, and mind of beast. One day, when I can tame this creature, I will try to capture innocents of my former self and rekindle that what I was, but for now, I am going to enjoy the chaos.
