“Where did we go wrong Billie?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I ever will know.”

“That’s just the way some things are I guess.”

“Do you think we can fix it?”

“Fix it how? How can you fix something that was created broken?”

“I don’t know…Maybe back to where it once was. When there was happiness.”

“When there was hope?”

“Yes. When there was hope.”

“It was the hope that destroyed us, Billie. You and me, we hoped. And it leeched from us like a parasite, it took our souls. It kept dangling little lights in the darkness, encouraging us to chase them.”

“Isn’t it better to try to chase something, to do something, then to feel nothing?! TO DO NOTHING?”

“Not if the chase leads you further into the darkness Billie, not if the chase leads you further into the darkness. You see, with hope comes dreams. With dreams, come goals. With goals and dreams and hope come aspiration and motivation. Motivation fuels our drive to work toward our goals, and hope keeps our dreams alive!”

“True but-”

“It’s a beautiful process really, but one that never, ever, ever deals with it two essential, unknown cogs in our machines. Can you guess what those are?”

“You know I know what those are.”

“Failure, and disappointment! Both of which occur when we cannot reach our goals, and thus our aspirations, and thus our dreams. And what does hope become when the process comes crashing down?”

“I don’t know…”

“It is simple really. Hope becomes despair. Take the driving factor, the unseen force behind your actions, and rip it away from its purpose-to sustain a dream that has been shattered-and it slowly eats at you. It destroys you.”

“THAT IS A LIE!”

“You know I only speak truth. Blind hope destroys because it tries to stay true to its purpose-to motivate-to feed the dream-even when there can be no motivation. There can be no motivation to fulfill a destroyed dream.”

“Just stop talking to me…”

“No Billie. I will never stop. I will not stop until you stop. Stop yearning for something, something that was gone so long ago, something that can never be reached or attained. Stop allowing for blind hope to sustain your ailing life force.”

“Leave me alone.”

“How could I leave you alone Billie? We are, after all, one in the same. The same person with the same blood, the same mouth, the same eyes, the same ears. The same mind.”

“All you do is come to tear me apart! GO AWAY!”

“If I recall correctly you summoned Billie. You brought me here. With your false hopes, your shattered dreams. Your yearning feeds me. But it destroys you. And I need you to keep feeding me. I will NOT let you die!”

“One day I will beat you…”

“Perhaps. Keep hoping Billie. It keeps me alive. Wander farther into the darkness. Your darkness. My darkness.”

“Because
I
Am
You.”