The Heart Collector

Made Spring 2017

Many moons ago…

A single tear was shed, but the thing about tears is that it is never just one tear that is shed. Once a human starts crying, there is no stopping the sea of emotion bursting forth from her heart. And that is exactly what happened to the Heart Collector.

No one knew who the Heart Collector was or how she came to be; all people knew about the Heart Collector was that on that night when she cried more than she ever thought humanly possible, she lost her heart. A human heart is a fragile thing, a burden we must all bear, but she forgot that joy and pain of that burden when she lost her heart. All that she had left to remember that by was the emptiness that dwelled in her chest.

Something was missing, something wasn't right.  She often wondered if people were meant to fill this lonely. She yearned to fill the hollowness that weighed her down. That is when she decided the only thing she could do was to go on a journey to find a new heart. She spent many years travelling through forests and desserts, seas and plains, thus becoming known as the Heart Collector.

Years past and the Heart Collector found many hearts; big, small, colorful hearts and hearts long forgotten. All of them unique, beautiful in their own way, but none of them were hers.They never fit her, no matter how hard she tried to fit them into her chest. They just didn't seem right. After years of searching, the Heart Collector was starting to grow numb. In a way she was fortunate that she couldn't feel the emotions of knowing the hearts she found didn't fit her. If she did she would be too overwhelmed by a feeling of grief that can only be described as Hell on Earth. 

Stricken with the ghostly shadow of never finding her true heart, she decided to give away the hearts she collected from over the years. The Heart Collector decided that if she couldn't find happiness from owning a heart again, then perhaps she could give happiness to others by gifting them with their very own hearts. Many people adored her for this. There were moments in her life when the Heart Collector felt the warmth of a person’s soul when they smiled at her.

One day, no day in particular, a young child thanked her for gifting her with a new heart. In return the child gave the Heart Collector a gift. It was a heart, but not just any heart. This heart was small and did not glow as brightly as the other hearts, but it was shaped to resemble a bird. The Heart Collector smiled; she was overwhelmed by peace and love when she placed her new heart in her chest. It was so powerful; it has been years since she felt any emotion like this, that she didn't know how to make her experience less intense.

Her body was flooded with a sea of emotion, and it was only made worse when she heard a shriek in the far off distance. She ran through the forest to stumble on a woman who was crying. Fire and ashes surrounded the area of the forest where the woman desperately lay asking, no demanding through her tears, to “make it stop!” 

When the Heart Collector approached the woman, the woman told her what happened. Her home was attacked by a giant demon. The Heart Collector heard of the giant beasts that roamed the forests, demons being the most selfish of them. Yet fear crept in the Heart Collector’s soul, as she was terrified of what sort of havoc the monster could do.

She couldn't understand why a demon could be so cruel. Was it the village that was suffering, or was it the demon? The Heart Collector just had to find out. Now some would call the Heart Collector stupid, or naïve, but something in her gut was telling her to search for the demon. There was something in her heart that told her, “love outshines darkness.”

It did not take long for the Heart Collector to find the demon that burned the woman’s village down. One look at the creature and the Heart Collector’s heart told her that he wasn't evil or dark, but lonely. Cold air radiated off of him as he was covered in tar. The Heart Collector was scared, but she was more scared for the unbearable sadness reflected in the creature’s eyes. The beast watched the young woman as she pulled her out of her chest.

The Heart Collector’s actions were very hypnotic but she knew what she was doing was right. She just knew! She gazed down at the small heart in the hand for a brief second before she broke off one of the corner pieces. She put the remaining heart in her chest and the miraculous thing was that she didn't feel any less whole from her actions. In many ways she gained more from her actions. She steadily approached the foreign creature as she gave him the other piece of her heart. The demon took it and hesitantly placed it in his chest.

That is when the Divine intervened. The forest glowed with unimaginable colors and a bright light surrounded the demon’s body. Time stood still as love manifested in the form of light. The feeling was so powerful that the Heart Collector dared not to miss it but had to close her eyes from the intensity of it all. Her body felt like it was flying. She felt the most connected to the universe and that her reality was that she was part of something bigger than herself. This feeling could only be described as being with God.

When she opened her eyes, the Heart Collect no longer saw a ferocious demon but rather a majestic dragon. The dragon’s eyes were the same colored orbs as the creature before but this time they were filed with more life; life that revealed divine love and truth. The dragon was no longer covered in black tar, but was surrounded by golden feathers that were as soft as silk. The dragon gave the Heart Collector one of his feathers that felt warm against her skin. When the Heart Collector asked the dragon why he was no longer a demon, he said, “Because you have showed me what it means to be loved.”

From that day forward, the Heart Collector knew that a human heart maybe as bright as the sun but only shines when it is capable of loving others. She was beginning to understand that humans experience their humanity when they share their sacred emotions with others.