The other side...

‘Yet another day and I ll be gone’, she said to herself as she emerged out of the office and the door slammed behind her. Walking down the street fraught with people, she thought of what Jack had told her last month. But that was a month back. After that he had never called her. In an attempt not to think about it, she started looking at the people in the street, scrutinizing them, trying to explore a new meaning out of their blank faces.


It was a fine December evening.The entire city was festooned with lights on the Christmas eve. Cold wind was blowing on her face. She thanked the fur coat which helped her ward off the chill, otherwise she would have frozen. The crowd swarmed across the streets hastily to reach their cozy homes at the earliest. Yet she was in no hurry to reach her apartment which was just a block away.


Sauntering at her own pace she walked past the library which used to give her refuge when she needed the most. She thought of those days which used to haunt her day and night. During that time she would flee into the library and get herself engrossed in a book. That was past. Life has thought me lessons, given me strength to face the truth. This is not the end of the road. This will pass by, she thought.


She reached her apartment. Closing the door, she switched on the light. Realising there is no power, she lit up two vanilla candles, Jack’s favourite ones. Long time since he came to her apartment. So happy she was with him. She laid down on her bed and her memory slowly drifted back to her past, her childhood days. She was always a happy child until her father moved away from her life. Her mother couldn’t cope with it. After few years she passed away. And she was left all alone. Her life was filled with misery and melancholy. 

That was when jack had entered her life, bestowing her with a ray of hope. But now, what was happening? The only thing she dreaded was about to happen. Is he going to desert her the way her father abandoned her? Tears rolled down her cheek. Without knowing she drifted into slumber.


Amidst the woods, she was striding aimlessly. Every second her panic grew more and more. She was daunt with the wilderness, petrified by the scowls and howls of the inhabitants of the jungle which kept reverberating in her ears. There was no way she could get out of there. Every path seemed alike. It was kind of labyrinth whose complexity increased every time she tried to solve it. Desperate for life, she looked up the cloudy sky and prayed to god to rescue her from the terror-stricken place. At that moment, like a miracle, there was a silver lining which shone at the edge of the cloud. All of a sudden she got up from her bed, with a gasp, trying to remember the dream.


Her cell phone was ringing. As an impulse, she took the phone. Yes, its Jack, bless him, she whispered to herself. A smile grew on her sullen face as she spoke. Yes, there is a silver lining, definitely there is...


-Shwetha

Lead, kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead Thou me on.
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene one step enough for me.


I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.

I loved the garish day, and spite of fears,           
Pride ruled my will: Remember not past years.


So long Thy pow'r has blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.


-John Henry Newman