Dans Macabre dance of Death.

That's what this should be called, not the waltz for it is endless. An eternity of agony. Forced to move, keep up, all in the same unit and to the same melody.

Fast pace.

Left, right
Up, down.

Twirl.
Dip.

Bend.

Bend all the way down until you break then it begins all over again. Different partners, same steps, same eternity and same tune.

Bend.

Twirl.
Dip.

Up, down,
Left, right,
Fast pace.

Come on, you can do better than that!

My feet went numb long ago to the point I believe they might as well have fallen off my body. My ankles are not far behind either. Same as my arms as they are chained to this dancing mania, weighted down by the force that is gravity. My partners all dance with me.

Demons mocking me along with the music.

Come on, keep up!
You can do much better than that!

Faster!
Faster!

We're waiting to see you fall.
Succumb to the darkness eating you alive.

You are never going to get out and leave us. Don't you like this dance? Isn't it grand? Isn't it superb? What? You want it do end? You can't feel your limbs? How cute...getting tired already but you can't stop now! Oh no! You can't ever leave this dance!

The dance will continue
And you will move to our beat

Because we OWN you!

You are our slave and we command you to continue this Dans Macabre Dance of Death! Now come on! Chin up, back straight...and scream up to the heavens all you want-

No one will ever save someone like you.

Left, right (There's nowhere for you to run.)
Up, down. (Why you looking up when you belong down here?)

Twirl. (Isn't confusion fun? Lying to you is fun too!)
Dip. (Go down, down, DOWN!)

Bend. (And BREAK.)

I can't take this anymore! Faster and faster they go and faster and faster I keep up but I can't win! I can't beat them! These demons of mind...someone...SAVE ME FROM THEM!

CRACK.

My ankle shattered.
Oh God it hurts!

She couldn't keep up.

Shut up....

How appropriate; couldn't keep up just like the failure she is.

You don't need to keep telling me what a loser I am...it's already burned on my face. Seared into the flesh of my cheek all the way down to the toes of my feet. A disease made from all my mistakes.

Failure as a dance partner, slave, and human being. Failure. Failure! FAILURE!

I know!
I'm disgusting...dirty...tainted.
I am damned and I know it.

So stop telling me what I already know!

Stop with the torture...
The voices...
Please....stop.

F-A-I-L-U-R-E

"Enough." Immediately the whispers cease and the music finally stop. It's clear, the silence in the room yet inside my head an orchestra of screams continue on. Make it stop. "Child." Take this pain, rip out my heart if you have to! I don't want this anymore!

Dancing.

Fast pace,

Bend.
Twirl.

Dip.

Up, down,
Left, right,

Fast pace.
Take it!

Faster and faster, come on! I got to keep up! I can do better than this! I'm pathetic...horrible. Disgusting. The least I can do is keep up to their beat but I failed at that too. I'm a failure! I deserve this eternity of damnation. The aches of my body and breaking of bone lets me know I am alive...but it's hard to breathe....so hard....

"Enough my child." Huh? "Dance with me." A hand comes before my face. It's glowing and bright. Beautiful...I wonder how the owner looks. Just as I am about to look up at him the voices start up again around me.

Don't do it.
Someone pure and beautiful like that,

Someone flawless like that would never want to dance with you.
Much less look upon your face with your mistakes seared into them.

So what gives you the right to look upon a perfect being as him?

My hands fly to my face, feeling every disfigurement. The letters of my sins; scars that will never fade. Each deeper than the first but that one voice which merely whispers yet booms louder than thunder pulls me up from the ground. My shackles clatter noisily in the still room but I can't help but focus on the warmth those hands are giving me or the calmness that settled in the recess of my warped mind. My chest feels light.

"Dance with me." And I do but I keep my head down. We begin dancing throughout the ballroom. We dance to a different tune than the rest. To music only we can hear and it is...beautiful. There is no Fast pace. Left, right. Up, down. Twirling or bending to the point I break. My ankle doesn't hurt either. "Look at me."

Look at him.
Look into the majestic face of this flawless being.

Me, a nobody.

"I cannot Sir. I am unworthy...too ugly to look at you." I shouldn't even be dancing with you Sir...

"What are you saying my child? I don't see ugliness etched into your body nor do I see it in your heart." Looking at our hands joined together I saw that the scars on mine were cleared. Cured as if I was never marked to begin with! Softly I pull out of his grasp to touch my face. The scars...the disfigurement...it is gone! "All I see is a beautiful girl that needed a savoir and turned to me finally."

Beautiful?
Me?

"Thank you for dancing with me. I must be off now." He pulled away and coldness began sinking into my bones. The world began screaming again as he walked away.

No!
Wait!

Desperate I pulled on the shackles holding me back. I don't want to lose him! Please don't leave me! Don't walk away and leave me behind! Please come back! "WAIT PLEASE!" My chains broke but I paid no attention to that because I wanted him back. I wanted to be with him again and for always so I ran out that wretched ballroom where the same waltz took place and into the light on the other side of the entrance.

"Please don't leave me!" I shouted at the top of my lungs when I saw he was walking down the stairs. Taking off my heels I flew down to catch up with him. He was going to leave! He was almost to the main door to leave me forever! "NO!"

Jumping I took hold of the back of his robe. "Please don't leave me!" I cried. How many years has it been since I cried? Since my heart cried out for someone so badly I thought I will die without them? When was the last time I allowed myself to be so desperate for something, anything or anyone? "I know it is selfish of me to want you to stay...to hold you back but please...I don't want to go back to that dance. I don't want to waltz anymore. Don't leave...I need you. I always needed you and I'm sorry if I'm not good enough. Help me..."

Oh God it hurts.
Everything is burning inside.

God please don't take him away from me.
A fire has started in my heart Lord.
A new dance that I know I will never be tired of.

So please don't take it away...

"He won't." Huh? Looking up at him finally my eyes widen. I can see everything except his face. His face is bright...like a light itself that blinds when looked directly at but I know...I know he's beautiful. So...breathtaking. "I know your heart my child and I am not leaving you. I will always be here with you." He points a finger to my chest where my heart is. "You are free now. Walk with God and free your brothers and sisters who have yet to be freed. Tell them about me and what the Lord has done for you."

With one last touch of my cheek, he left to go free others but he was still here with me. In my heart, mind, and soul.

He gave me authority to dance my own dance.

Left, right. (You'll find me everywhere.)
Up, down. (I will catch you whenever you are up or down.)

Twirl (In the midst of confusion I will never lead you wrong so follow me.)
Bend (You will always bend but never break.)

Keep up. (You can do it because I'm right beside you! Have faith!)

That is the dance I dance now and boy is it freeing! It's not the Dans Macabre Dance of Death anymore but the Dance of Life and it is something that must be shared with others who are like me.

Stuck in the ballroom.
Dancing the endless waltz with their partners screaming at them to keep up with their twisted game.

Fast pace. (We have to win the race.)

Left, right, (The Lord is everywhere.)
Up, down, (He will always catch us when we fall and be with us when we rise.)

Dip. (Immerse yourself in him for he will never abandon nor forsake you.)

Twirl. (Even with the world screaming, trying to drown you in confusion, He is right there urging you to always look at him and follow him.)
Bend. (We will always bend but never break. Have faith and believe.)

That is the dance of truth.
The Dance of LIFE.