It was as dark as an empty heart of an abandoned soul. Even
the brightest of stars which adorned the sky everyday were hiding that night.
It was a New Moon night. The silver light of the moon which lit the dark
dungeons of the night sky was not visible. It was as if the moon and the stars
had been in a ferocious battle and neither of them won and nor they could come
to a conclusion. So as a sign of resentment they both decided not to face each
other and hid somewhere far in the galaxy, the place which was out of sight of
puny humans. He finished his daily chores and set off towards the nearby hills.
If there was something he cherished every night, it was staring at the beautiful
starry night. He loved how the shine of stars and the moon motivated him. While
he was lurking around in the darkest hours of night, all he could see was some
faint lights coming up from distant windows. An irony hit him hard. If the dark
night is the place for all evil to occur, it was also the same darkness and
those distant lights which inspired many. He was a fickle minded soul. He
couldn't decide which side to take, the good or the evil.
He was surprised how things change, so soon. He wondered how
the day and night, being poles apart, blended perfectly into each other. A few
hours ago, the sky was red, the sun was disappearing behind those big, mighty
mountains. Threads of orangish-red light were lingering in the sky along with
trails of clouds. The bright light must have battled the dark light to which it
had lost, only to return to take revenge in the morning. Birds flocked together
to reach their shelter before the entire world was painted by shades of grey,
blue and black. And the mighty moon along with its army of sparkling stars soon
adorned the sky. And it happened every day. The change was constant, yet it
was there. He looked at the sky which was without the stars today and he wondered
if there was a new world up there. And he wondered if there was someone, maybe
his counter-part on that side, staring at the same and having the same
thoughts. He wondered if there was some limit to that sky or was it infinite?
And the stars had always surprised him, as always. Some of
them were dull, merely flickering while there were some bright ones that
illuminated the dark sky with their silver light. They were just like the
people and situations in his life, some prominent while the others just merely
existed for the sake of it. The night sky used to freckle with stars and he
felt a sense of relief when he stared at them. He felt as if his worries were
nothing, there was something way more bigger than all of it, it was infinite.
But today, they were hiding. He was wondering where all of them had
disappeared, just like the people in his life which used to hide when he needed
them.
He sighed and set out
towards his home to get some rest. Had he done enough things, the kind of
things he should have done for himself or the people that meant something for
him? He was confused. He didn't know how and why this feeling had been playing
inside his head. He unlocked the door to his house. It was dark all around. His
family members seemed to have dozed off by now. He climbed up the stairs
slowly, careful not to wake up any member of his family. He went inside the
toilet and switched on the light. He saw a reflection in the mirror. It was
him. He splashed water on his face and looked at that reflection in the mirror.
His tired eyes were asking him the same question, the one that he himself had
no answer to. The surface of the mirror had black splotches at some places. His
image was distorted but he could see his eyes clearly.
Suddenly, a thought hit him hard. He looked at his
reflection in the mirror. He was painted in colours of black, grey and white.
Darkness had taken over him, which was evident, as his thoughts told him. And
he thought, “We all have it inside us, both the dark side and the bright one.
And it’s for us to choose, which path to walk on. And even though the dark side
looks more luring and kind of a shortcut, the bright is what is right at the
end of the day but still we prefer not to walk down that road. We all have galaxies
buried inside us, waiting to be discovered. Yet, we prefer to thrive upon the darkness
which feels like home somehow. Maybe because we are too afraid to go out in the
light again. And all this goes on, it is infinite, it is meant to go on, always.”
He laughed over his thoughts. And he took small steps towards his
room to sleep. He closed the window and looked out for once. The dark night, it
started a whirlpool of questions and bizarre thoughts inside him, the one’s he
would be stuck with, for a long time. And they’d only settle when he chose a
path for himself, the one he would walk down. He sighed and closed his eyes to
ease his mind and get some sleep, something which we really needed to put his
thoughts to rest. The dark night challenged his fickle mind and he went to sleep, praying that he would find his answers soon.
