...and i had to sling my hook


Clapped in irons, I nestled on the bed of my penitentiary, reading a novel…the last few lines read,” life and death are sisters. Quietus is not the end; it’s just the matrix of another existence.” Not a chunk of fright on my countenance. I am not dreaded, even when breathing the airs that smell my eternal rest. Someone strides into the scene…
Someone strange...
Someone donned in a police uniform...
Someone who would usher me to the gallows...
Someone who says,” It’s time!”
And I gaze at him, smirking.
.
.
.
The next moment, I broke out of my sleep. Still groggy, I looked into the clock. It read 15 past 2 am.
At seven, I had to board my train, a train to my karmabhumi, a train to realization of my nightmare.
In this drowsy stupor, I sauntered to my parent’s bedroom. I gazed into their faces. They radiated silence…rest…
Then, I trudged to the terrace with a bottle of chilled water that I had grabbed out of the somberly luminous fridge.
It was raining. Glinting globs of water drizzled down, dousing me, trickling down my face, wetting my hair.
I looked down the boulevard, deserted, with just a road side pup who hollered as if trying to hail some guardian.
I never did love my parents, but today they mattered me the most, their doting caress was all I cried out for…just as the pup did.
The street never looked as delectable as it looked today…
I stepped back, drenched, but this downpour didn’t flush away the surging sentiments.
It was almost 4am…just a few hours left for my train.
The feeling was grotesque, but I couldn’t help it…
I wanted to stay…I love them.
But…sometimes in life you don’t have to choose…
I had to leave…
Love sometimes weakens us but is the biggest strength.
May be…the fear to lose, makes us realize how important something is to us...
To accomplish a dream, we have to abandon something…
May be, it was the advent of a new voyage…
Now I realize the gist of my nightmare…
Now I understand the reason behind the smirk…
‘Quietus is not the end; it is the matrix of another existence.’