A single, solitary tear trickles out of the corner of my eye and struggles clear of my eyelashes to carve a shining path down my cheek. And though many tears have fought their way through my defenses over the fifteen years of my life, this is the first. The first tear to have sunbeams dancing inside of it, forming rippling, opalescent reflections on its glassy surface. Brushing it away, I lift my face to the sun, drinking in its warmth, letting it flicker over my pale cheeks for the first time, and the last. I've been captured, bound, trapped in eternal darkness. I learned to read and write indoors, my paper lit by a dim, translucent lamplight filtered through heavy shades. Occasionally, I would be allowed to run outside in the weak, watery light of the moon. But it wasn't enough. I look down at my thin white arms, already starting to burn and throb, and smile at the warmth. I will escape. Escape from the darkness threatening to pull me apart, escape from a life that had denied me this moment.
And with a blissful smile on my face, I let the poisonous light seep into my skin and pull me under.