A Hollow space   

         

  I’ve seen these walls, oh so many times before. So much so that I am familiar with every twist and turn the hallways take, I know where all the hidden passageways and hiding spots are. I can even tell which section I am in based on the scratches and imperfections all those hidden idents carved into these walls brought on only through time and my endless explorations. 

Once dark and empty but now slowly filling with warmth and memories. 

The very essence of this place felt "hollow" so hollow and in desperate need of a home.

I have traversed these endless long and winding hallways, kept company only by my rambling as I acquainted myself with the dark and my surroundings. The hallways were endless and never lead nor hinted at anything. The doors remained firmly shut. The walls were “naked” as if stripped from color and yet the heavy sense of foreboding with each and every step was almost suffocating seems a strange comparison but the air. The very essence of this place felt “hollow” so hollow and in desperate need of a home. If I lost myself even for a second, I could feel it trying to claw a way into my skin. Trying to burrow a way inside..... Almost as if it wanted to wear me like a second skin or a suit. “Terrifying’ 

And yet now everything feels so very different than before. "It" no longer needed to find a home or wear me like a second skin. These walls now are slowly filling up with color and memories, pictures and portraits strung up high. Decorating the full expanse of this place...memories both good, sad....and awful everywhere you look there are sounds of laughter and excited whispers filling the air.  

So warm and inviting, I could walk down these hallways forever and never get tired of them. However somewhere, down one of a thousand different hallways there is a door gently rattling and someone firmly knocking but who or what could it be? 

Only I know of this place. I'm its only tenant. The only resident and yet the knocking persists. Firm. Paced. Loud and confident. I should look but...light floods through a doorway as it slowly swings open, there's music and laughter and a variety of colors moving in and out of my peripheral. Oh, it’s just too tempting to ignore, the knocking can wait until later.