The Girl Under the Rug: Short Story for Spiritual Seekers

Introduction

The Girl Under the Rug is a short story depicting the journey through the dark night of the soul, towards transcendence and self-realization. It is about awakening from pain, darkness, and fear, into the timeless recognition of love and freedom.

The story arose in my mind three years ago, and helped me navigate and see past the ego-mind, and return to peace.

For this reason, the beginning starts off bleak, full of personal identity, and wrapped up in stories of the past. However, you will notice as you read that the mood, energy, symbolism, and imagery shift as the protagonist chooses to be guided by grace.

May these words help you see beyond any hardships and emotional and mental turmoil you experience, so, you recognize your true self, which is forever free and effortlessly peaceful.

Written: November 14^th, 2017
Published: October 3^rd, 2020
Author: Ravelle Arianne
Illustrator: Jackie Benson @creativecrescentstudios

This story is dedicated to all those seeking peace.

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The Girl Under the Rug

“I have sinned,
I have judged,
How can I be worthy?
I have fallen many times
And worn many masks.
I am far from perfect
So, why would anyone listen to me?
Everyone has something to say and this is no different.

A monster lives inside me,
I’m dull as a wall,
And as boring as a ticking clock,
Meaningless thoughts that fade away,
There is no imprint, no scars
There’s nothing here for anyone to care about.
It’s just agitated noise with no purpose.

An empty vessel with no cargo,
No goods, no valuables,
Here the mice roam free,
The spiders spin their endless webs,
It’s hard to breathe.
Timed out.
In this place, there is no reality.
All that exists is pain and suffering.
Gently the ship rocks until its violent crash,
When I set sail there was the promise of fortune and adventure.”

The naïve hope and joy of a little girl,
A girl whose heart was so full of love
Even when she choked,
Unable to breathe,
She nearly drowned,
Her ear was cut,
The bandages were poked,
Her arms beaten,
Her tears shamed,
And her trust betrayed,

Even when she grew into a young woman,
She still felt so small,
They all came one by one
They grabbed, poked, and prodded,
Violated her,
Held her down while she wept and sobbed,
They threw her to the ground and kicked her belly,
Ripping her clothes,
They accused, blamed, and shamed her,
Broke her things and broke her,
They ignored and forgot her,
Tore her into pieces and watched as her blood ran down the tub,

Her wrists cut,
Her veins carefully missed,
All her pain dismissed,
What remained was a heart with scars,
Powerless and defeated
Her arms burned
Her face blackened
And despite all the pain and suffering that she endured,
They denied it all.

They swept the girl under the rug.

It was there she stayed,
It was there she hid,
Unheard and too afraid to move
For if she did, they would stomp on her until she was no more.
So, she stayed,
So afraid
She wept and prayed unanswered prayers,
Day after day

There was a light in her heart still,
And every now and then it flickered,
She was so afraid that it would shine,
For if it did,
She would be found,
And they would snuff out the first signs of glimmer,
She was not allowed to shimmer,

Her light scared them
For it made them feel small,
But it scared her most of all.

So, she held onto her fear,
Afraid to let it go,
She clung so tight
With all her might,
Knowing it was the only way to stop her light.

The fear you see, made her feel safe
And the light in her heart made her feel far too brave.
What a reckless thing she thought,
To feel brave would not be safe.

One day, as the girl laid under the rug

She fell deeper into a crack between the floorboard,
She was aghast.
“Oh no! Not again!” she thought.
“Why me? How can this be?
I did not think it could get worse!
But here I am,
Among bones and ghosts,
Cast out and forever cursed!”
“My dear, look how far you have fallen”
She recognized this voice of fear from the shadows
And when she looked up,
She was not alone

It was the devil himself.

He sat on his throne
Made of skeleton and stone,
The girl stood frozen in fear.
Soon, the fear began to consume her,
It was then she realized it was not her friend.
The devil laughed, anticipating her end.
“Stop this please!”
She begged and pleaded.
Her body was drenched in sweat,
Her heart contracted,
And her face was damp from all the tears she wept.

The devil stood and delivered one swift kick to her chest,
She began falling yet again,
She spiraled down into a black hole,
Here, there was no sign of light,
Even time did not seem to exist.
There was only darkness.
Darkness consumed by darkness.
It was impossible to see.

She began to feel herself disappear,

And in that moment, she felt no fear,
“Yes,” she thought.
It would all be over now,
She would finally be able to rest.
So, the girl gave up her struggle,
She had nothing and no one.
She was nobody,
Even the devil discarded her.
As she let go,
She sighed a sigh of relief.

But then it began again.
Pain and fear arose.
She cried and resisted,
But no sound came.
Soon she was drowning in pain
And the darkness turned red
Suddenly she could not remember her name,
Her memories faded
Yet, something remained the same

All that arose was despair and fear
It had no origin that she could recall,
It was simply there.
She felt a hard bang
And then her lungs filled with air
She gasped and cried out,
And this time there was a loud ringing in her ear.

She cried and she cried so loud with fear
Pressed against a chest,
She instinctively grasped,
Drinking the warm milk
Desperately clinging…

And so, it was a new beginning,

Life was harsh and somewhat similar,
It felt like a blur and somehow familiar,
“I’ve been here before it seems,”
She thought, unable to piece it together.
On and on the suffering went,
From time to time, a mere flicker was felt
Only to be snuffed out by the hand she was dealt

One day,
She could no longer take it,
The pain came flooding in,
She grasped her chest
And got down on her knees
Fearfully begging, “God, take me please.”
“Put me to rest”
She begged with a lump in her throat,
Her voice disappeared into the cold air.
The girl collapsed into herself,
Realizing there no one was there.

Just as she had given up,
Something shifted
She looked up and saw a light!
The rug had been slightly lifted.

An angel had come,

But it was not her time to go,
This holy being filled her heart with love and trust,
And for a moment she began to glow.
“You can be free,” the angel said,
“For you are not who you take yourself to be”

So, the girl replied “I want to be like you, and help those in need like me”
The angel replied: “find out who you are, for that is what this world needs.”
He gifted her a compass and told her it would point the way
And when he left, she felt a sense of oneness
And yearned for this grace to stay

Instead, doubt came,
Again, and again,
“Can I truly trust this compass? Was the angel really my friend?”
She felt so ashamed.
“Was he even an angel?”
“Perhaps my mind was playing another cruel game.”
The doubts began to grow and her fear returned.
She called out to the angel,
But no answer came.

Something was different this time,
She felt hope and wanted to believe,
For she had seen with her own eyes
Something that was truly good.
Her heart flickered and she felt its light.
So, she peeked out from under the rug and slowly she stood.
She dusted herself off and looked at her compass
It pointed the way one step at a time,
She needed only to trust it.
When she walked with faith, her heartbeat with delight,
And even though fear came,
She chose to focus on her light.

As she walked the earth, she saw darkness and hatred in the world,

It made her mind swirl and her body curl,
At times she missed being the girl under the rug,
But she recalled the angel’s words,
“You are not what you take yourself to be”
And she remembered that she could be free.

There were times she was thrown and throttled,
And the fear was always waiting in the shadows,
But this time she got it.
The angel had reflected a mysterious truth,
And she could never forget it.

She thanked God for this grace,
And each time she fell, she remembered the angel’s face.
She walked gracefully with faith,
Knowing it was safe to trust,
And when the darkness came,
She was untouched.

She learned to be still and thus,
When emotional turmoil arose inside
The light glowed, even as she cried.
She deepened in her understanding
And even though she still felt pain,
It could not consume her ever again.

A revelation then came,

It was so obvious all along,
The light in her heart was always on
And the girl under the rug never existed,
She was only a thought that persisted
When she looked at her compass, she realized it mirrored her heart
She became quiet inside
This time, nothing was resisted

She could not put into words,
So, she remained quiet and still,
Even as her mind stirred,
She remained unmoved.
Waves of insights began to unfold,
She saw that those who persecuted her
Were molested by shadows of fear and stories untold.

For a moment, the shadows appeared to cover the world

Then, she remembered the black hole
And how she was consumed by darkness,
She saw how the world suffered and wept
She believed for so long that she was merely an inanimate object.
It was this belief that made her feel insane.
And so, she understood humanity’s pain.
She was no better nor was she less,
They were all one, and equally blessed.
She saw that despite the angels all around,
Most could not see past their self-created darkness

She wanted to reach out and help them,
But did not know if they would recognize her as a friend.
“Find out who you are, for that is what this world needs.”
The angel’s words came to her again,
So, she let go of their cries
And stayed quiet and still,
Then, she began to rise.
And the world became small.

She passed the moon and the sun,

She saw the entire milky way
Along with endless galaxies,
Endless grace,
As if she was floating in outer space.
There was neither below nor above,
All was projected out of her heart,
And everything she witnessed was love.
There was no separation,
All are one.
She was already what she had been seeking all along.

But wait! A voice came, “you have not gone all the way”
A response arose from within, where can I go? I am simply here.
She laughed and watched the voice disappear
The words had nothing to cling to,
It could have been a whisper or a shout
But it did not matter, because it was only a phantom of doubt
And so, she remained unmoved and untouched.

Even as the light in her heart beamed bright,
She bore witness to the light.
She gave rise to every atom and every being,
And at last, she understood.
There was neither bad nor good.

There was no one left to heal,

The secrets of eternity were revealed,
She was completely empty
With no effort to be,
Completely free
She disappeared
There is no more fear.
I am simply here.
All manifestations blow right through me,
And I remain,
Empty and free.

Thank you for reading,

With Endless Love,

Ravelle

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I hope you enjoyed reading the Girl Under the Rug! I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

A special thank you to Jackie Benson at Creative Crescent Studios for illustrating this story. Visit Jackie’s website here: https://creativecrescentstudios.com/

More Short Stories:

The Friends in My Head