The Man and The Crystal Ball

"Lost in solitude.
Yearning for propinquity,
The man died again."

He looked at the broken fragments in his hands with much anguish. Never had anything looked so ugly and grotesque before. What used to be a beautiful crystal ball is now a wrecked piece of mess. Every fragment of the glass cuts into his palms, blood flows, tears flood. Yet what hurts the most was his heart. The pain within was like a million glass shrapnel piercing, again and again. Over and over, he lived and died. Hope that was once contained within the crystal ball is now shattered. There is no more return.

Not too long ago the man was a happy man. He knew love was within reach, he believed he was loved. When he found the crystal ball, his life brightened instantly. He lived life with ebullience, together with the crystal ball which exuded life and radiance. The crystal ball provided him with sound advice and guided him as he lived his life. Blithe, he never doubted what the crystal ball could do for him.

Then one day cracks started appearing on the crystal ball. Within no time, it started to lose its usual glow. Day passed, and the ball grew dimmer and dimmer. Slowly, the attachment between the man and the crystal ball faded. The crystal ball could no longer provide the man with what he needed. Panic sets in, and the man began on a mad attempt at mending the ball. Yet no matter how hard he tries, the cracks are still ever so obvious. He was frantic, flustered even, but he knows he has to hold on to ball no matter what. In any case, it was the crystal ball that gave him life and renewed hope.

But no, the ball did not piece itself together. Instead, it left itself to fester, to continue disintegrating even when the man was giving all he had to make everything right. The cracks grew wider; the bond between the man and the crystal ball weakened exponentially with each passing day. As uncertainty heightened, the man feared for the worst. He begged, prayed, and hoped repeatedly for the ball to return to what it once was. It never did.

Finally it broke, shattered together with all the hope that the man heaped onto it. The man lost the one thing that stayed with him when he was at his lowest. There was no explanation to this unfortunate turn of events. Why, with dismay he cried, why did all the good times have to turn for the worst? The crystal ball was his harbinger, now it is just an evil monster consuming him from within. He is alone again, but he is much worse off than before. Scars form, while screams of agony escape his lips uncontrollably. Crushing the broken pieces in his palms, he forced one last smile. He rather not have the good times that the crystal have provided him, for it brought along with it pain that he never wanted to feel.

He rather live in solitude, forever.