Reflections

It is often said that mankind will be the destruction of themselves
and the world. In many ways we are our own worst enemies.

Everything was black he could feel his hands bound behind his back,
whatever they had used to bind him was cutting into his wrists. Around
him he could hear the shuffling of feet moving around. He couldn't
remember how many times he had woken up and passed out again. Trying to
concentrate, to simply lift his head was too much. He could hear the
strange shuffling footsteps move around behind him. Someone spoke from
further away. It wasn't so much a voice as a strange guttural sound
like some animal growling. Then everything began to fade again,
fighting it was no use it was easier to just let it go&;#8230;

This time he woke and could feel something had changed his vision
seemed to be coming back but all he could see was a brilliant white
light. He tried to speak then the voice came again and something
pierced the skin on his neck. Waits please don't, something is
returning from the recesses of his memory it was coming back. A fight
violence, the feel of something in his hands and power, fear, true
fear, panic, anger and then it went black again.

This time when he awoke he felt less tired his whole body was numb he
couldn't even feel the binding on his wrists. Maybe he was dead, lots
of memories are back now he thought. My name, what is it? It's
important now, but it's gone erased perhaps shouldn't someone know
their own name? He was a man he knew that with friends and family. A
warrior perhaps which was where the battle came from, the anger and
fear. He was fighting for his family for their&;#8230;their
freedom&;#8230;but who was he fighting. They were big and cruel but
that was all he knew they were violent and killed people. Yes now it
comes back they had machines war machines and killed without compassion
they enjoyed killing innocents. His friends knew this too, but now they
must have him and he can't escape. He knew his friends would miss him
but he was dead to them. The creatures they were dangerous some people
said they had seen them eat men and some wore their skins. The pain
again at his neck. They were sedating him he knew that now he had to
avoid the injection but it was too late&;#8230;

It was a long time between now and the last injection he knew that. He
was in a cage of some kind. He could see the bars but everything was
blue, it was like he was wearing blue colored glasses. He managed to
lift his head and he could see into the cage next to him. One of the
creatures was there, one of those evil things, which had killed half of
his own people. They must have criminals the same way we have this must
be a prison. Maybe that one tried to stop the fighting. Ha, maybe it's
like with mankind we have fighters and peacemakers. Maybe this beast
was a hippie like his brother back home running around saying we can
make peace, these people will never understand everyone wants peace but
you can't have peace if there is no battle to set the ground rules. The
creature looked unconscious it lay on the ground still. It took some
time before it moved. He moved back to the other side of the cage,
shuffling, he still felt weak. His hands were still bound behind his
back by the ropes. He looked at the creature and noticed the same
thing. Finally he felt the iron bars of the cell at his back he was as
far away as he could go. Wait there was noise behind him shuffling. He
forced his body to turn, he saw another one of the creatures but it was
pushing itself away from him as far away as possible. It sat in the
center of its cell, it looked like it was weeping. He thought it was
strange that even in a creature that looks so different from man you
could still tell when it was in pain, suffering. He looked at the
creature and finally began to feel some pity for the thing. They
weren't all that different from man and no doubt they didn't ask to
fight in a war to risk their own lives. He sat in the cell, there was
no point in fearing these creatures, and in the cells they were as
pathetic as he was.

There was no hope of escape; the cell he was in was more solid than
any he had ever seen produced by mankind. It looked like there had been
many things both man and creature in the cell before. Footsteps
littered the floor around him all made by the creatures. On the walls
around him however their was writing a lot of it was human. They all
said morbid things, "kill yourself if you can it's better in the end."
What a strange message he thought but all the messages were like this.
After a while he realised that all the messages were human just in
different languages, there was Arabic, Greek, Russian, French, and
German. With what little he knew of the languages he tried to decipher
what they said. All of them were the same or a similar morbid message,
but for some reason it seemed to be repeated in nearly every language.
Every message seemed to say that he was better off dead. Whatever his
fate would be he could do nothing but wait and see, with his hands and
legs bound there was nothing he could do otherwise and a terrifying
gripping fear over took his senses.

Looking at the creatures in the cells his hatred for them returned
with much more conviction. All these men must have died and the last
thing they saw before them was the beasts around him nothing could
prepare him for what he was going to face the men who had lived in
these cells before him were stronger and braver than he was. Whatever
these animals had in mind for his death they would not be merciful.
With this thought in his head he dragged himself into the middle of the
cell, the furthest point from the two creatures either side of him and
fell asleep&;#8230;

He woke startled there was some sort of clattering his cell door was
sliding open it was pushed across and away and in strode a new figure.
It was beautiful he thought, tall and lean dressed all in white it's
skin was gray. He suddenly realized it looked like the pictures that
people had drawn in the past when drawing aliens. But it was so
graceful and seemed to radiate energy. Hope sprung into his mind;
perhaps these creatures had come to end the war they were mankind's
saviors. Behind it strode two more of the figures. They all wore hooded
robes that looked like monk's habits with a simple cord around the
center. The creature looked at him with those huge wise eyes. They were
like the dark pools of forgiveness and they seemed to overcome him with
a sense of peace. He felt so calm and at ease that for a moment he
forgot the circumstances he was in. He fought to show his will by
staring back without losing control he wanted to be met as an equal not
some pitiful wretch that needed rescuing. The gray figures turned and
looked at each other they seemed to be communicating. Eventually they
all nodded once in unison clearly having come to a decision. The first
creature reached within its robes and removed a disc object. One side
was plain black the other looked like a mirror. In fact if it had been
handed to him on earth he would of thought it was a mirror. Then a
voice spoke inside his head it seemed like it controlled him, "Look at
yourself, you will wish you could die." The voice had said what the
walls had written all over them but why? Then the creatures stood and
walked out closing the door behind them. The mirror was left on the
floor.

He sat there in shock for what seemed like an age. His saviors were
part of the enemy they had left him locked in a cell and had told him
he was a murderer. His head was spinning, but after sometime he came to
his senses. All the time he sat staring at the mirror on the floor. It
was face down with only the black side visible. He realized abruptly
that the bindings on his wrists were gone disappeared some how perhaps
when he was sleeping they had been removed. He moved towards the object
slowly as if afraid it might disappear, dragging himself along the
floor trying to be quiet. Eventually he reached out his hand and
touched the back. The surface was smooth and cold. He withdrew his hand
quickly; unsure why he had been given the strange gift when he was sure
to die. He picked up the mirror and turned it slowly around in his
hands. Looking down slowly he saw his own face for the first time in
what seemed like eternity&;#8230; and then he
understood&;#8230;he hated the creatures around
him&;#8230;because they were the murderers of their own
people&;#8230;and the grey figures had changed him the same way as
they had changed all the other men here&;#8230;he would be the
destruction of his own world. His hands trembled and he wept until his
rage grew strong then he smashed the mirror with his hands but the
shards wouldn't cut his skin all he could do was weep and
moan&;#8230;