falling deeper, deeper and deeper

until finally, I hit the bottom crashing on the cold, hard floorcompletely alone, I look all around me to only find a barren wastelandthe darkness overwhelms me, and I can only see two feet in front of meuntil total darkness absorbs the dim lightI look down, and realize the bruises on my arms, then legs, and then I look directly down at my chestI notice a little latched door on the left side of my chest, and I open itnothingno beating, no joy, no heartI'm not sure where it went, all I know is I don't have itI decide to sleep to pass the time, completely drained by my painful fall downI wake up only to find the two feet of concrete around me, then the same eerie darknessout of curiosity, I touch the concrete just beyond the two feet of lightclaws latch onto the back of my hand, and I pull back franticallyThe demon retreated back into the darkness, only leaving a bleeding scratch on my handI start to wonder if I will ever leave this place or if it will consume mein a panic, thinking I will be stuck here forever, I get up and charge blindly into the darksuddenly, I hear the snarl of the same demon I encountered before, but it's too lateBefore I could go back, the monster bit and scratched my arm, then my leg, then after one quick swipe at my face, it threw me back to the spot of lightI force my fists under my body, and lift myself up onto my kneeswiping my face, the blood that I smear from my face scares me, and my eyes fill with tearsbut right as I start to cry and think all is lost, I see a figure with an unlit lantern and matches walking towards meas the figure kneels down and wipes the tears from my eyes, I realize it is my mothersuddenly, my cuts stop bleeding she puts the lantern in front of me and hands me a matchI take the match and attempt to light it, but the flame blows outshe encourages me to try again, so I dothis time, the flame catches and I light the lanternthe light grows and grows until darkness dissolvesin front of me now stands my demon, and I realize it's an exact replica of myselfit briefly smirks at me, hands me a box, then suddenly the demon dissipated, never to be seen againI open the box and see my heartmy mom smiles, takes my hand and we walk together hand in handwe walk silently for a long time until we come across a clearing, where a group of my friends throughout the years are sitting in a circle, all with smiles on their facesI notice one spot left open in the circle as my mother gently pushes me towards themI hug her, then join the circle and slowly hand my wounded heart to the person next to methey stitch up a cut in the heart then pass it onwhen it finally makes its way around the circle I open the latch on my chest admiring all the intricate stitches as I gently place it back insideI feel it beat once again, and feel the warmth pulse through mefinally, I smileI then place the lantern inside next to my heart, where it forever remained shiningI shut the small door and latched it tightlyand the light never went out again