A midnight walk on a cool humid night. It reminded him a lot
of the past. The moon had always enchanted him with thoughts serene, moody, horrifying,
of solitude. This night it was of loneliness and horrifying at the same time. But
the feeling was good, it was peaceful. A feeling of static, as though nothing
around moved, the trees stood still, their wet leaves sleeping, while their
flowers still awake in bloom. The calm, cool breeze after the day’s downpour
swept across his face like a tender touch. He walked on, pensive about the
past, and the times he’d walked the nights with her. It took him to a world of
himself, of his alone. The concrete jungle where he strolled, the cement tiled
pathways interspersed between multi-storeyed apartments gave way to barren
fields. He was no longer there; he had walked past its boundaries and into the
depth of the night.
Now he was out there in the wilderness. There he stood
alone, gazing at the lonely woods that beckoned him from the distance. Out of
fear, a chill ran down his spine, but still he wanted to take that road to the
woods. He walked perturbed, partly out of fear and out of anxiety. But the curiosity
overtook all emotions, and he moved closer to the trees. The fear of the dark
fought with the consolation of solitude, and the latter won. A thought of
nothing-to-lose struck him like a bolt from the blue. A smile appeared on his
face and he entered inside. The trees stood silent as if they were watching him,
looking onto him, caring him, and caressing him with their cool midnight
breath. He kept walking, the fear in him receding with every step. The
moonlight reassured him with confidence which was once his only solace. The woods
grew dense. In the distance he could see a clearing, something shone under the
full moon. His gaze locked on to the radiance beyond the woods. Everything
around him vanished. He no longer felt the chill of the green trees or the mesmerizing fragrance of their flowers. He was once again alone, obsessed with
a sense of attraction by the light that glistened ahead. He’d reached the
clearing, and walked past the forest, and before him laid a serene pond, its
water undisturbed, so pure that even the wind refused to agitate its flawless
surface. The moonlight reflected from its surface; his face shone and he felt as
if he was in the sky, standing beside her, embraced by her mystifying beauty. He
knelt down on the ground, he got wet with the dew beneath him and he stood
gazing down to the water and speaking to his beloved in a language none knew. She
kept looking at him and he smiled at her, smiling with a satisfaction
unfathomable. He yearned for a warm embrace, a tender kiss. His eyes got wet
realizing she’s too far to reach; if only she were close to him. He wanted to
touch her, but then he’d lose her in the ripples. The best he could do was to
stay still and adore her. The light that led him all this way began to dim out.
She was bidding farewell, her vanguard has arrived. Her protector, her shield,
took her away from the dark into another world, leaving him and the woods in
darkness yet again: a gray swept across the sky, and then it was black. The water
no longer glistened, the mist covered mountains no longer visible, the woods
had disappeared. He stood in total darkness, in a world unknown, direction
unmapped.
