I don’t have to run anymore...

                                        

Harshitha D. Kumayaa

The street seemed empty all of a sudden. The vehicles and the people on the road froze for a minute, as I passed by. Even the silence in my head was slowly being sucked with a deafening vacuum whirling its way into the mind. I kept walking.

 A thread of thought began to weave itself.  It weaved into me gently, until I was wrapped in it. Tied up in those thoughts, I stared into the path ahead. The dark brightness I moved towards seemed hopeful unlike the rest. I kept walking.

With scores of people fighting their way through the crowded street, I didn’t feel any of it. For all I wanted was to move away from the rumbles of humanity. The sound of footsteps grew sharper as the echoes in the mind began screaming. Incessant mutterings of multitudes of voices in the head grew louder. Peace is all I asked for. Silence is all I wanted. I wasn’t walking anymore. My pace grew faster. Gasping for breath, I began to run.

Daddy didn’t do it because he wanted to. Daddy didn’t do it because he wanted to.

As the shiny metal plunged into her neck, this silence seeped it. This vacuum entered when she screamed for one last time. Fierce red blood gushed into the nook and cranny of every vein in her eyes. Absolutely startled, her eyes refused to blink. A drop of agony and betrayal rolled down her cheek as a tear. She didn’t scream. She didn’t defend herself. Neither did I. She just said, “Harsha, run away from this man. I am sorry I couldn’t stay with you forever. I Love…”

Those were mamma’s last words.

 I ran. I ran like she wanted me to. Away from daddy, away from home, I ran searching for the safe place mamma wanted me to go to.

Sweat dribbled down my forehead and my breath became shorter. Panting hard, I felt like being chased by dogs that weren’t present. I could sense being dragged into the void as I continued to run. I was being pulled into it. It grew darker.

I think there were people looking at me. I think there were vehicles honking, asking me to move away. I wasn’t very sure about it. I kept running.

As the moon vomited its light upon me, I kept running. As the night grew older, I kept running.

Time began to slow down as the dry leaves of August floated down to reach the ground. Reaching the end of my journey towards warmth, I could see mamma. A smile grew at the end of my lips. A sense of serenity and relief hit me, as my breath became calmer and longer.

“Take me with you ma!” “You are the only safe place I know. Take me with you!”

Mamma had sent the red Chevrolet. She wanted me to be with her. The kind man in the Chevrolet let me join hands with mamma.

The friction between the tires and the road and the shriek of a few people followed by the silence was when I knew I was there. I was there at last. I don’t have to run anymore. I feel the warmth. I am safe, in the arms of my mamma.