A Drop of Liquid Hope

First published in Heart-Bytes for the Flash fiction competition.

I sat in silence. The wind grazed my hair and honoured my nostrils with the stench of the seven seas. There were others too, who were seated unmoved in a spell of inactivity sharing silence with me. The sky filled with dark smoke merged easily with the stagnant liquid of the sea, indistinguishable in colour they united and held their bond. An uneasy sight for others, but I begged to differ.

Out of the two, the one that sat away from me kept dropping rocks into the murky water. The object hit the water, no ripples formed and sunk quietly into darkness. Life was something similar, in the end all that awaited one was darkness. There was nothing more to it, we inhabitants of light in our quest to find brighter lights move into darkness.

The stranger turned her neck a few degrees bringing me into her field of vision.

“Is it always like this?”

“It gets darker”

I could tell my reply was quick to bring in anguish to her heart.

“It wasn’t always like this!”

“There were better times?”

“Times where one could sea through the water”

“Just the like in textbooks”

“Something like that”

She shifted her gaze and so did I. Her friend however did not bother to break the silence. Content with the murky water he sat there. The clouds grew darker; the source could be seen now. The colossal vessel that floated like the fishes that lost interest in swimming now came into view. Leaving a trail of blacker black, it ordered fishes to rise up and show respect. The fishes rose and the girl’s heart sank.

A few silhouettes scrambled onboard. I remained still, while one shrieked and the other dropped another rock. A rock added to the grave of blue, maybe it fell on Neptune’s tomb. I did not know, I didn’t want to know.

The beast leaked black, sons and daughters of Neptune rose in awe. I still remained unmoved but the girl got up and stood for a while. She motioned towards the edge that separated wet from dry and emptied her bottle of water. The clear liquid vanished quickly unable to fight off the evil that lurked in every corner of its new home.

 She turned towards me and said “May be that will help”

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The City of Lights

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Greener beyond comprehension

Beneath a cloudless sky a man in grey walked, his feet trying desperately to adapt to the sandy path that stretched for miles and miles merging with the distant horizon. He looked as old as the ruins, a wrinkly gaze. His olive green eyes looked eager to tell a tale, maybe ones of kings and queens, conquests and failures, unfortunately his audience were all dead and gone, their only memories lay in the brick walls that time sought to destroy.

I saw him approach, the road lay empty and so paying no heed to the left or right, he crossed. I stood there, my glass of tea in one hand and the other kept wiping my temples clean of the sweat that formed instantly thanks to the unforgiving heat of the desert. “Are you a seeker?” he asked, undecipherable at first, but on his second attempt I sensed a slight Europeanized accent.

I maintained silence, not knowing what he meant.

I guess now I had turned into his much awaited lone audience.

“They say the grass is greener beyond the mountains.” He pointed east.

“Its war ridden area you point towards wouldn’t say there is any grass there at all.”

“Are you calling The Great a liar?”

Yes a delusional, no just any delusional one that was starved to eccentricity.

“I’ve seen him look over the mountains, his horses where the size of elephants and for him beyond the mountains laid the land of redemption.”

“Are you going there?”

“Yes. The grass is greener. He feared that His horses would turn into asses with so much luxury, the green grass.”

“Oh”

“So where do you come from?”

I pointed.

Our jeep was now fixed. I heard the engine roar back to life and so I decided to go take a look. The old man however remained under the merciless sun, drawing on the sand with his fingers that looked like twigs that were about to snap. I asked him if he needed a ride, but his focus remained un-wavered from the sand. During the remaining two hundred miles that was covered that day I hardly broke the silence. I couldn’t help but wonder what that old man wanted in life. He sure had a good accent, a bit un-original but good enough to pass off at any airport. Was redemption that important? For me such concepts were as real as the carrot that dangled in front of the donkey from the masters stick who sat on top of the poor animal. May be he would get shot down, or one of those missiles that poured down like rain would blow him into a million pieces. He was blinded by faith, I guess. I too felt blind but didn’t know what blinded me. May be he knew just as I knew his secret.

I would ask him if I ever got another chance, not in this life time surely. No, to find the answer I would have to swim in an ocean of sand, six feet under, losing a piece of myself in each motion to arrive at the truth spoken from the lips of a delusional.

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Suitably Warm

The day outside was perfect, inside however the imperfections surfaced. Bright blue skies with crisp clouds loomed over the ones outside begging to be noticed-they went unnoticed as the inhabitants were the perfect mixture of arrogance and ignorance. I stood, digesting the stillness of the air that had occupied the room-my room. Did I invite it over? Or did it shove its way inside, unable to resist all the other elements of gloom in my box of a room.

My liberator’s odour kept getting stronger and stronger, muskier and muskier. It was time to bid adieu to the wonderful world that I found too wonderful for me. If there was a god I would beg him to come show me the splendour of his work which I had failed to notice. No he wouldn’t come, maybe because my liberator was in the vicinity or maybe he wasn’t capable of coming. I think he was lost in an un-ending game of hide and seek, where he was to hide and seek He had hidden himself so well that the hider now forgot where he was, and the seeker, well he was just too naïve.

I patted the emptiness that surrounded me, first on the back, then on the cheek. It smiled, I smiled back.

“Take me”

It continued to smile.

Out in the corridor I could hear agitated footsteps that grew louder and louder in perfect synchronization with the odour. A rap on the door, I turned with no intention of even answering. A more desperate knock which I think was more of knock down the door knock and not a let you know I am waiting knock. A dozen of Is anyone in there’s followed, then the open up’s came and a few moments later I could hear my land lady’s all to familiar curses that always ended with you lunatic.

The one I waited for had now slipped into my room amidst all the confusion outside. I was glad to be in its presence. Its eyes showed greed behind a veil of darkness and void. Its voice was silence and its fragrance intoxicated me. I was now ready. I took out a cigarette (the last one) that was on the dresser and placed it between my lips. It felt good, rejuvenating almost.

“There is a fucking gas leak you lunatic.”

I really don’t know when the stillness of the air was disrupted. Was it when I lit the match or was it when I lit the cigarette? The air around me, impatient to resist any further scorched the skin that clothed me. An inferno broke lose eager to caress me. It was a warm summer’s day outside, but inside-yes it was suitably warm.

                                              

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