Brave

Alone, in the darkness of his quiet room, Joshua Keating was fine. There was nothing unusual or unexpected. No surprises or scary things to give his heart an unpleasant jolt. Inside was familiar, comforting and safe.

Until the outside started to creep into his peaceful safe haven. Suddenly, he could hear yelling outside his room. Muffled somewhat, because of the door, but yelling all the same. It grew louder and louder until it was all he could hear. Outside the door, he could hear the yelling and screaming, and then his dog, who was standing guard at the door, began to bark in response. The dog meant well. He was trying to tell them to stop, that the noise was upsetting his boy, but all he was doing was adding to the cacophony of noise assaulting Joshua's ears.

The one good thing was that the darkness of the room meant that Joshua could see little, cutting out another source of potential overload. But, he could still hear the yelling and the screaming. To a certain extent, he could feel the tension the yelling brought with it, and it made him feel rather uneasy. Joshua clasped his hands so hard against his ears that it caused him pain and began moaning, louder and louder until it drowned out the yelling and the screaming and the barking. Until it was all he could hear, but he kept going. It was an endless, vicious cycle. Noise to cover noise to cover noise that never seemed to stop.

Joshua did not know when he fell asleep. He did not have a great recollection of the night before. He just knew that he was glad to have awoken from the nightmare that was too much. Too much noise. Too many thoughts racing around and battling each other inside his mind. Too much stimulation. When he opened his eyes, he saw the sleeping form of his dog laying atop his feet. He saw this before he felt the warmth of the dog's body on top of him, and smiled. This, he could handle. This was all pleasant. Not overwhelming, overstimulating or overloading. This was nice. The yelling had stopped. Everything was quiet and calm. Just how he liked it.

In his room, everything was safe and quiet and calm. Outside, there was noise and light. Tension and emotions he could not understand nor name. But, Joshua remembered his mother telling him that he could not stay in the nest forever. This had confused him. But, she had explained, he was like a bird. A bird that needed to be brave and learn how to fly. "Venture outside your room," she'd said when he'd looked back at her blankly.  "Take a big breath, reach out, open that door and step outside," she'd said. "Your dog can come with you." As if to agree, Joshua's dog had suddenly appeared beside him, under his outstretched hand. He looked down, smiled at him and ruffled his chocolate coloured fur.

Joshua rose from his bed, clipped on his dog's leash, holding it tightly in his right hand. His dog stood obediently beside him as he stood, staring silently at the door. He took a big breath. Then, like the brave baby bird his mother had said he was, he reached out and turned the doorknob, opening it, and himself, to the outside world. Again, he paused for breath before taking a step. Like the baby blue bird, spreading it's wings and starting to learn how to fly.