The Swim

It was as if he hadn’t even existed before this moment. All that he had with him, all that was his was the present.

And by the looks of it, what he had wasn’t great.

There was a great noise in his ears. That, coupled with the fact that he had almost no control over his limbs. He was wildly flaying his hands and legs around…without much success. He opened his mouth to shout, but all that escaped were some helpless air bubbles.

‘God! Where am I?’

With great effort, he pushed his hands upwards. His fingers felt something hitting hard against them and he grabbed on to the object and pulled himself up.

The world around him was dark. And he was in the middle of a roaring, rampaging river.

‘How did I ever get here?’ And then, the more practical answer came to him, ‘Does it even matter?’

He realised that sick unknown feeling earlier was that of drowning. But how could that be possible? He was an excellent swimmer. Perhaps, life had brought him to a river whose current was much stronger than his limbs.

Clinging on to the branch that he had luckily grasped upon, he looked to his right. Horrified, he realised that he was on the edge of a mighty waterfall. That was where the loud noise was originating from. He could hear the scary, deafening noise of the water crashing below.

He calculated his options. He could either swim against the tide and almost certainly be swept to his ultimate death. Or else, he could take the easier route out and take a final plunge towards the edge and jump to his own death.

The decision was almost taken. The suicide would be sweet, the end of a life which had left him nothing but scars and heart-ache. It was almost a simple thing to do.

But then, he looked to the other side. All that he could discern in the great darkness was the calm, but strong currents pushing him in the opposite direction. It would be one helluva effort to swim against this tide.

He smiled.

‘But then,’ he told himself, ‘when have I ever taken the easier way out?’

He looked toward the edge one final time. ‘Sorry, but the end must wait. There are a few battles I am yet to fight.’

And with that, he started kicking and swimming against the tide. What initially looked like an impossibility was now becoming the truth; little by little, he was making progress against the tide.

This would be a long swim back. But then again, he hadn’t ever enjoyed taking the easier way out.

The Red Rose

He took out the blade from its white paper-cover and stared at it for a few seconds. The light from the fluorescent tubelight overhead reflected on the steel edge of the blade.

He whispered to himself, "No turning back...".

Slowly and deftly, he cut the words on his left forearm.

"लाल गुलाब"

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The Bastard

She sat on the bed, weeping.

She looked at him and screamed, "You are a bastard!! You were born alone and were destined to die alone, you son of filth..."

He calmly looked back at her and smiled.

"Funny you should say that," he said. "I thought each one of us was born alone, travelled alone through life and died alone."

He got up from the chair and walked away, leaving her weeping.

An encounter in the forest

A heavy fog had descended upon the forest. Even the chirping of the nocturnal rodents had ceased.

All this had little or no effect on the warrior. Noiselessly, he continued his march through the dense forest. The silent thuds of his footsteps on the damp forest floor were his only companion.

He walked as if in a trance.

A perfect picture of strength, the warrior was only concerned with the final aim in his mind. His powerful limbs glistened with sweat as he made his way through the dense foliage. His breath hardly made a sound.

Although his brain was continuously reassessing the surroundings, his mind was far away, on the ultimate goal that he must achieve. And he knew that there would be many such forests that he must cross before he would succeed. And Lord only knows what dangers awaited him in these dark forests; what beasts and demons, their stomachs growling with hunger and their eyes shining with cruelty, eagerly anticipated his arrival in their part of the forest.

But who cared for such trivialities? What mattered was he go as far as he could in the mission that was given to him. His life was his goal. The mission superseded everything else, it had become the reason for his existence.

All of a sudden, he felt a presence. His eyes darted around, but spotted nothing. In a flash, he had drawn his sword. Although tense, he remained extremely calm for a man who was surrounded by uncertainty and danger. The only difference that an observer, if there had been one, would have seen was the deeper intakes of breath that the warrior was now taking.

As his eyes pried into the pitch darkness that surrounded him, there suddenly was a great beam of light which shone upon him. He raised his left hand to shield his eyes from the blinding light, but slowly lowered it realising that this wasn’t an opponent that would attack.

“Who are you?” the warrior demanded. “What do you want?”

“Who I am is of no consequence to you.” The voice boomed in the night. The warrior realized that this voice belonged to no human. And what’s more, it did not seem to be emanating from any particular source. The voice surrounded him from all sides, but all the warrior could do was look at the beam of light which seemed to be radiating from a point a few feet ahead of him.

“What I want, however,” the voice continued, “is your soul.”

“Then you shall not have that!” the warrior cried. And with that, even though at the back of his mind the warrior knew it was more an act of helplessness than anything, he struck his sword in front of him. All that he managed to do was dismember a few bushes.

“It is useless to try and hurt me, human,” the voice said. “All you have to do is surrender, and I shall make sure that your travel to the world of the great beyond shall be effortless. Face it, o human, the time for your bodily existence on this planet is over.”

“NEVER!!” shouted the warrior. “Not unless I have achieved my goal shall I stop. You may try and take me away if you want, but my feet shall ever keep moving forward.”

And then, remembering the words that he had heard from the sage a long, long time ago, the warrior quietly repeated the sounds that echoed in his head, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

As soon as the words ended, there was a great gust of wind which shook all the leaves. The warrior calmly looked about him, and then as the wind blew into his face, the warrior was forced to shut his eyes for a split second.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was back in the quiet, dark forest. There was no more light anywhere. The dense fog was there once again and an eerie silence had descended upon the forest.

The warrior slowly sheathed his sword and continued on his quest. The promise that he had made to the princess was yet unbroken.

Blood, coffee beans, tears

He absent-mindedly stepped off the pavement to cross the road.

He didn’t see the bus rushing his way.

The vehicle of death rammed into the body, shattering his ribs and sending him flying a good 8 to10 feet away.

A woman screamed. The crowd gathered.

Surprisingly, he liked the pain that was tearing through his body.

BLOOD.

He could taste the blood which was flowing from his forehead, where the shards of glass had cut him, to the thin crevice of his lips.

From his half-open eyes, everything looked red, as some of the blood clotted his vision. And the sight which greeted him, horrified him no end.

He saw an angel of death. The angel was furious with the human, and seemed mightily pleased at the human’s current state.

The angel knelt down, shoved something forcibly into his mouth and commanded him to chew it.

COFFEE BEANS.

“CHEW!!” the angel screamed. “CHEW!!” The screams reverberated and pierced his ears.

The bitter taste of coffee beans, mixed with blood, tasted like hell.

TEARS

It didn’t take long for the tears to roll down his cheek. Hot, burning drops of tears singed his skin as it got mixed with his blood.

“This….is…..your……..REDEMPTION!!!” the angel shouted.

He felt the earth shake as the last word thundered above him.

“Redemption?” he thought. “Ahh! Redemption,” he said, as the truth dawned upon him.

He smiled and closed his eyes.

“He’s no more,” announced the doctor who’d been in the crowd and had rushed forward to help.