Managing to duck out of the rain just in time, I stood at the mouth of my cave. And there I stood for quite a while. Watching, and waiting, and listening to the rain that pitters its patters when forming small puddles along the ground – I would’ve stayed longer if it weren’t for a sudden melancholy that overcame me. Grabbing my things I descended into my lovely hole, and did the only thing that makes sense when we get sad: put on some music. The music from Minecraft, to be specific.
Beautiful pieces of piano – made by a man who’s admitted to not actually knowing how to play the piano (how silly!) – filled the den to such an enjoyable extent, yet somehow things were worse. I wanted to cry. I didn’t even know if I could, but I wanted to. Only wanting a few tears when reminiscing on what the music meant. Time spent playing alone when I was still afraid of the dark, building fortresses that rivaled mountains with my brother and sister, coming home from school excited to adventure deep below the Earth. The music was always there, lurking in the background, but now it pierced my heart while it filled the room. Why?
Nostalgia.
Weird how looking back on the happy times in our life can make us so profoundly sad, right? But maybe it’s not so odd. I mean, think about it… things were easier back then. There wasn’t a worry for the kingdom’s taxes, finding a career, making a living wage with other goblins, or paying off debts. I hadn’t even had my heart broken yet. There was only joy. Whimsy. Simple contentment, through and through.
Those feelings have been fossilized within the music even if the memories have faded, but I can still feel them as they were so long ago. Maybe that’s why I like the rain; so many good memories that can only be felt in the sound of rippling puddles. But there’s no sense in getting caught up being depressed that the past has passed. I can be happy that these moments happened in the first place.
Afterall, I just have to keep in mind: I found joy in the simple things back then, so what stops me from doing the same now? The sadness passes as the song ends, and I choose to enjoy the rain again.
“The Goblin Cave” weaves vivid imagery and prose with reflections and commentary on the world around us. Written by Ethan Reisler, “The Goblin Cave” looks at society, reality and culture from a far away land not unlike our own.