Depression's Temptations

Like a siren the waves churned temptingly from below, its dull yet seductive call seizing upon the darkness in his mind and compelling him to take another step towards the cliff’s edge. His rational mind could only watch in abject horror as his feet inched closer to death, cowed by the chillingly calm sense of finality that overcame his body. He cast his eyes solemnly back over his hometown, lit only by the spectral light of the full moon who watched on passively. Oh, how that world sung its nostalgic melody and filled him with his dearest memories; of the hearty laugh of his father, the loving embrace of his mother, playful adventures with his brother and sister, and of time well-spent with friends. As the tears tentatively rolled down his youthful cheeks, another wave of thoughts clawed into his mind – of his mother, destroyed by the death of her youngest son, heart-wrenchingly sobbing into the night, and of a life unlived, stolen prematurely from the world.

The ocean grew increasingly furious as if vexed by his delay. He fell to his knees, the weight of his world bearing down upon his shoulders, and cried out into the twilight sky, his voice filled with pain, “WHY?” He set his jaw and feebly fought back against his darkest urge, staging an internal rebellion against that seemingly omnipresent inner demon. Collapsing back onto the grass, he desperately crawled back from that edge and returned to the land of the living. There he lay until the dawn sun crept over the horizon and dissipated any lingering feeling of desolation.