By Carrie-Ann Hernandez


"Why does the beauty of this image call to the deepest part of my heart?" Izar whispers.Her soft angelic voice soon becomes a shrill cry into the fading darkness,"How can such beauty be horrible and wonderful at the same time? It is some trick, some joke to mess with the minds' eye and my spirit. What spell can create such an image as this?"
A drop of blood drips onto the glass and for a moment seems to mix with the other colors changing their appearance. As the blood spreads over the surreal image of a shattered dream Izar gets closer to the image that has been haunting her for years.
Izar is taken by the dreamlike image of the shattered glass. As she draws near she touches the smooth and sharp edges, tracing the outline of the void that is left in the center of the magnificent piece of color. The sight she sees entrances Izar, our hero. The image seems to call to her now, and it is here that the broken glass becomes something more than meets the eye. No longer art, but the stained glass window has transformed into an unlikely image.
Izar sits in silence for a long time. Moments later, she lets out a horrid cry. Startled by her own scream Izar finally turns her attention back to the magical spectacle.
Izar looks again at the image laid before her; perplexed she gets closer, and closer. She begins to inspect the shattered colored fragments in hopes to find meaning to satisfy her confusion. As Izar touches the glass, her fingers begins to ooze with blood ... her wound has become larger with each touch. She stares calmly at the open gashes on her hands and is not affected by the pain. All she feels is a burning, freezing sensation which travels her body.
"I see the blood and feel the pain, yet I do not fear what my eyes are seeing. My heart is deceived, this cannot be. Oh Lonely soul, what have you become?"
Izar falls to the ground, weary from lack of rest and as she looks up at the broken, beautiful image she begins to weep. Her tears are like crystals as they roll down her soft, pale cheeks.
Moments later, Izar awakens from her dream ... only to find that the shattered glass is not an image from her nightmares. She struggles as she pulls herself up from the ground, her hands red and dirty from the dried blood. Izar, stops looking at her hands when she notices the sparkling yellow flame from the other side of the glass. For the first time, Izar sees the image clearly. She is astonished to look upon the image of her very own reflection. The stained glass window has been changing and the colors are so deep and rich that the image looks real. The hole in the image stands out, the wound seems to be over her breast. She places her small, fragile hand through the hole and gets burned from the flame of the candle.
"For so many years I have been searching for something to fill the emptiness, but instead I find that I feel pain, sorrow, and happiness all at the same time," Izar sobs as the pain spreads throughout her body like a wild fire through the dark forest. "It hurts so, but I cannot let this feeling go. If I do let go, will I become nothing once again? Will my soul be trapped forever in this prison I have created?" Izar looks at the image, the beauty remains even though the glass is fragmented. "Beauty stays, through this broken dream ...
I alone, remain," she says with acceptance.
Izar pulls out her delicate hand to reveal a heart, throbbing and dripping with blood; her heart ... the very essence of her existence is now in the palm of her hand.
“It was not always like this, remember! Remember!”

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