I wake up to the sound of traffic. My eyelids flicker open and all around me, all I can see, is darkness. I scour the world for a sign of anything, anyone. The horns continue to blare, cars moving along invisible pavement. "Am I blind?" I ask, tentatively, groping at the air.

"No," and as it speaks, all the sound ceases to exist. Who is this that sound obeys him? Glancing around, I fail to see anything. I shuffle a bit, waiting.

"You are not blind. However, you have chosen to cover yourself up. Quite well, I might add."

"Let me see."

"Ah, but I've spoken to you before, and you've chosen not to listen." With that, the sounds erupted all around me once again, in a cacophony. The man was still speaking, I tuned out the rest of the noise, the music, the horns, the screeching tires and focused only on him. "You won't hear me if you do not have ears. You have covered those, with layer after layer of cloak. What are you hiding from?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Then, come, take off the cloaks."

"What cloaks?"

"The ones that obscure your vision," and as if on command suddenly I felt a great weight upon me, pulling me down. I collapsed on the floor, groaning. I strained and strained against the constraining cloaks, but they refused to shift.

"Help!" I managed, as the cloaks crushed me. Suddenly, the weight on me relaxed just a bit and I heard the sound of fabric being torn in two. Still, I lay. I struggled to rise and I felt a hand press me down.

"You can't do it. Be still and know who I am." I heard another ripping sound followed by another weight lifted. Things finally began to grow lighter. I saw light filtering through the layers. Elated, I began to tear at the covering, only to feel it grow thicker and stronger. The light began to fade. "You can't do it. Be still." And once again a cloak was torn. This time, as the light filtered through, I waited for the shadowy figure to assist me in tearing off the next layer. Often, when a new layer of light came I would grow excited and attempt to push ahead too quickly, slipping back into darkness. This stranger, whoever he was, was patient with me though.
As the inner layers began to tear, I started to cringe at the light. "Wait! Stop! This hurts!"

"Of course it does."

"Now I remember, I'm hiding because underneath... Well there's a lot of junk that I don't want anyone to see. It'd be better if you just leave now, so that you don't see it. Nobody can fix that stuff."

"I suppose you've been told so?"

"Yes, by everyone."

"Why should you believe them?" I paused, thinking. I didn't really have an answer. "Come, lean against me."

Rising from the carnage of shredded cloaks, I leaned against the man. His grip was firm, secure, loving. I felt a pain in my side as the cloak was shred. However, as soon as the cloak was gone, I grew lighter, happier. "More!" I demanded. This time a searing pain: I screamed. "Why does this hurt so badly?"

"Because you have held onto these cloaks for so long that they have become part of your very flesh." And at that moment, the cloak was free. I felt free. A wave of joy swept across me as I luxuriated in the feeling. I looked into myself for the first time in a while. I looked for the bitterness I felt. Rejection, anger, fury: gone.

I screamed again, this time from pleasure. "Keep going! Cut all the cloaks!" The cloaks were shred from my body, one at a time. As they shred, the world grew brighter and brighter. "Was the world ever this bright?"

The man just smiled, something I could finally see. As the last of the cloaks were cut away, I looked at him. He was a beautiful man, perfect, really. His features were that of one balanced, so well balanced that he could easily hold anyone or anything in check. With a final shredding sound, all the cloaks were cut but one. This cloak looked more like a veil, like the shimmering white material a bride would wear for her bridegroom. "Come, there is a feast for us." He said, gesturing towards a tall, oak gate in the distance. The two of us walked up a golden path, and as I walked through the doorway, the final cloak dropped from me and the world became immersed in glorious light.