PURGATORY

“It was at the moment that I realized I have travelled a long distance in this fiendish dark,” “I looked up at the sky ,night was moonless with few shimmering stars” My bare feet started to ache, I wondered where were my shoes, but it was the least of my troubles at that moment, because I lost my directions  as I was panicked , I had no memory of these alleys I had been wandering about. As the Night was, so was my mind, dark and vegue ,I was companionless, with no clues that where I was going and where I had been coming from, and  how I ended up here. Darkness started to Grab my heart and awaken the deepest fear of my mind. 

I looked around to get my bearings . It was long dark alley I found myself standing in, sparingly and dimly  lit by fluctuating street bulbs , I could not quiet figure out the end of the alley due to the darkness,. At either side of the road there were many houses with their doors and win- dows nailed shut with wooden planks, like some abandoned town. Fear started to creep inside me.despite my aching feet I decided to walk. there was no other soul, it seemed that I was only one alive in this wretched town, I gave out loud Shriek so someone might answer, but all I listened was the echo of my own self. Panicked, I started running I ran in haste, like a blind man in blind alleys, so I may find some help but alleys led to more alleys, with which seemed to lead to  nothingness 

In this dead town nothing was alive but the Darkness which smirked over my turmoil, and Fear whispering brazenly. Thorny bushes stood gloomily at the edges of the road. Wind heaved, shaken in fear, kissed the cold sweat all over my neck. “it was at the moment that I realized I have travelled a long distance in this fiendish dark,” “I looked up at the sky ,night was moonless with few shimmering stars”

My bare feet started to ache, I wondered where were my shoes, but it was the least of my troubles at that moment, because I lost my directions  as I was panicked , I had no memory of these alleys I had been wandering about. As the Night was, so was my mind, dark and vegue ,I was companionless, with no clues that where I was going and where I had been coming from, and  how I ended up here. Darkness started to Grab my heart and awaken the deepest fear of my mind. 

I looked around to get my bearings . It was long dark alley I found myself standing in, sparingly and dimly  lit by fluctuating street bulbs , I could not quiet figure out the end of the alley due to the darkness,. At either side of the road there were many houses with their doors and windows nailed shut with wooden planks, like some abandoned town. Fear started to creep inside me.despite my aching feet I de- cided to walk. there was no other soul, it seemed that I was only one alive in this wretched town, I gave out loud Shriek so someone might answer, but all I listened was the echo of my own self. Panicked, I started running I ran in haste, like a blind man in blind alleys, so I may find some help but alleys led to more alleys, with which seemed to lead to  nothingness In this dead town nothing was alive but the Darkness which smirked over my turmoil, and Fear whispering brazenly. 

Thorny bushes stood gloomily at the edges of the road. Wind heaved, shaken in fear, kissed the cold sweat all over my neck. “i was like I have been cursed, the curse so atrocious, like curse itself has cursed me”  it was like  I had been sent to the darkest part of the Dante’s Inferno which was reserved for those who will maintain their neutrality in the time of moral crises. The darkest part in which even “shades” are so  rare. As all these despairing thoughts were running through my mind, I was overcame with the sense of dreadfulness panting, I stopped to catch my breath. I was suddenly startled by the pounding footsteps behind me ,piercing the silence .my heart started beating so hard like soon it will break its prison of rib cage and grasp the eternal freedom. I looked back was aghast at what I saw. A man all in white dress moving in haste towards me. rather stopping near me, he passed .he didn’t even noticed me , “didn’t  he get surprised to see me, and where is he going?” I thought. I ran after him. My feet complained that I can’t run much faster, but how can I miss the boat, which might take me directly to the island of Hopes” With unbearable haste I followed him, suddenly he turned and entered in to vast opened space following him I entered too, but what I saw was even more terrifying. there were so many people there, gathered around something, all of them moaning and sobbing, I wondered what lies there which has overwhelmed all of these people. 

I made my way through these people, unnoticed like I am nothing but a Ghost; I had to push myself among them so I might reach the Epicenter of this turmoil. All of them were so much overwhelmed with grief that no one bothered to pay any attention to me. As I reached at the center, there on the ground was laying the Corpse, but who was he, with trembling hands I turned his face towards me, and suddenly I was like hit by the Mithril Hammer. I was like devoured by the Leviathan of Agony. Face all wrinkled, all furrowed, skin too pale,, eyes which once used to shine and shimmer,which used to get resonant with the colors of life, now had become dull and sunken like they were never alive, the body stained with the streaks of blood.  , I was stunned to know that it was no one else but really ME. I loud involuntary cry escaped my lips, the shriek loud enough to reach at sky ,but no one bothered to even look  at me. it seemed like no one there was able to listen to me,as elders used to say “ dead can’t speak ,or maybe living can’t hear themes  suddenly i realized, that there was no corpse but only me in-between all those people, laying on the ground, motionless, with all the gazes fixed at me. 

My scream was still echoing in the dead town, suddenly the dark Canvas of dull sky got ruptured and rays of light came through it, all of the town started to shake like some prehistoric earthquake. Screaming and drenched in sweat, I was not in that cursed city but I found myself woken up in my bed, my room brighter than ever with the atmosphere tinged with colors of life. 

Sharan Ahmed 

3rd year MBBS