The Light at the End of the Tunnel

by nowhere to everywhere

In a world where there wasn't much hope, it was easy to forget that it was there. But it was. Hope was always there. Hope was always at your side. Hope was smiling, patiently waiting for you to ask for help. Hope was there to hug you when you cried. Hope was there when you felt the whole world was against you. Hope was there when you needed it the most. However, who gave Hope hope?

1. Prologue

Prologue

"The world is a very sick place, Hope," Ava Paige told the young girl. "It would be wise for you to stay very far away from it."

"But I wanna help," Hope protested, grabbing Ava's hand with both of her tiny ones. "I wanna do whatever I can - I wanna heal them."

Ava looked down at the girl. "All of them?"

"I'll try."

"You know that that's impossible, dear."

"But… if you try your hardest, and never give up, it has to do something… Right?"

"So you believe that hoping will cure the world?" Ava asked. "You believe that a mental notion will cure the physical world?"

"W-Well," Hope looked away from the older woman's judgmental gaze, "wasn't it you who said that, even if we cure the physical world, the mental world will still be sick?"

"Yes…" Ava said. It was now her turn to look away. "It will be hard to cure such a broken, traumatized world. We have endured too much - put each other through so much misfortune. We… Us… Us humans have… hurt one another for so very long now. We're afraid. Scared. And because of that fear, we put fear into others. So much fear that… we disconnect from each other. From ourselves. We are now so disconnected that… we will sacrifice anything to feel safe again."

Ava Paige and Hope stared down at the Last City, confusion and sadness in their eyes. They were both lost in a labyrinth of darkness and overgrowth, unable to find the safest way out. There was so much life in that city, and yet the two females felt oh so lifeless. They didn't know what to do. What to feel. What to say. The two knew what fear could do, and they knew how it made them feel. Still, one of them was younger. More innocent in her thinking. Hence, that little girl named Hope looked up at the older woman, a smile on her face.

"Then… If I can't heal the physical world, I'll try my best to heal the mental one," she proclaimed, causing Ava's eyes to widen. "I won't disconnect or put others through misfortune. I won't be afraid of fear. I'll try my very best," Hope squeezed Ava's hand, "to be good to others!"

Ava could only smile down at the young girl, wondering what kind of evil demon would place such an innocent child into a world like hers. Ava's world was disgusting and wrong, and yet she had found this little girl. This little girl, who always helped with the dishes and cooked amazing meals, was Ava Paige's little pocket of hope. Somehow, for some reason, Hope had been brought into Ava's life. But sadly, eventually, Ava would have to take Hope out of it.

Hope was coming along perfectly.