-Unbroken

[Words to Image. This image really spoke to me, so I had to give it a very heartfelt story. I hope you enjoy]

Creed sighed the heaviest sigh of his entire life as he dropped to his knees. Each kicked up the dust which blew into his tired eyes. He closed them. They hurt. Fitting, in this moment. His entire life had been a fight. All he had ever known was the struggle within. Why must everything be against him, he wondered. He chased his emotions with a second sigh and felt his body curve just a little bit more, giving up. Creed was not only broken, again ... he was completely broke. He wanted no more. The voice above called to him through the opening.

"Oh, no! It's not time yet! Get up!"

He didn't respond. Two beads of sweat ran down both sides of his brow and mudded up the dirt below. His eyes were still closed. He didn't care anymore.

"I said get up! You're not done yet!"

But he was. He had no more fight in him. It had just died, right there, right where he kneeled. Creed didn't care anymore.

"If you do not-"

"Leave me be," he mumbled. "What's the point anymore? My body is spent. My mind, my heart ... all ... spent."

Creed had reached the ultimate submission. He was willing to give in, and he had. He had built everything he was willing to build, but no one remembered. He had paid off everything left to be paid, but no one appreciated it. He had not visited every place on his bucket list, but had come to terms with it. If only? Not one more blade of grass was he prepared to mow. Not one more inch of floor to mop. Not one more bag of trash. Not one more argument to be discussed. He was completely broken.

A flower fell through the opening and landed by his knuckles. He didn't turn to look but could see it. A Lily Stargazer, red and white, his daughter's favorite. Creed was broken.

"Padre!" he heard.

Another flower fell. A dark purple English Black rose, his son's favorite. Colored as was his style but by no means his heart. Creed was broken.

"Pops!" he heard.

A third flower fell and landed across the previous one. This time, its stem brushed up against Creed's hand. He shifted his eyes to look at them all. It was a Sunflower, his eldest child's favorite. Creed was broken.

"Dad!" he heard.

He didn't move. His spine curved a little more as his torso inched towards the dirt.

"Oh, no! It's not time yet! Get up!"

He hated his own inner voice. What had it ever gotten him? A lifetime of aching bones? Countless sunburns and drenched socks that fell out of dirty work boots? Headaches from days of lost sleep? This was his legacy? This is where it all came to an end? Knee down in the dirt and a tear in his eye? Creed was broken.

"We need you!" he heard them all cry out in unison.

"You don't need me anymore," he mumbled. "You know how to take care of yourself now. I've done my job."

Creed was broken.

"We don't need you to do anything! You've done enough! We just need you to live!"

Creed sighed another heavy sigh and then raised his head to gaze at the rays of sunlight shining down on him through the opening. They were beautiful with particles of fine dust dancing about within them. And then a tiny rope started to inch its way down to him. Little by little it came closer as he watched in amazement. The tip of it brushed his forehead and then slid down past his nose. He began to cry.

"We need you," he heard again.

This time it sounded different. It didn't come with duty or obligation. It sounded with love. Creed reached up and took this tiny rope and wrapped his dirty hand around it. His knuckles whitened. He pulled and it felt solid.

Creed had been broken. But when he pulled on the rope, it held.

[Dedicated to everyone who finds their reason to go on. Please do]