Void

Aliya Fathima Sheriff

19/UELA/046

The dreaded day had come. I had to do it now, I knew. As I pushed open the huge wooden door, I felt my bones soften, my strength succumbing to my fear. My mouth went dry. I could taste rancid bile in my throat.

Next, came a step into that void ahead- the cheerful home that it once had been. It triggered a whirlpool of emotions and a frenzy of a flashback within me. This home which had once gleamed with life was now just a dark, dead room. The air was now stale, though the smell of her iconic fish curry still lingered. I noticed an untimely smile form on my pale, tired face. I didn’t know why that happened. My mind was not functioning.

The French windows on the side did not allow even a streak of moonlight to enter. It was nothing like how it once was.

A few more steps in and I felt my hand stumble onto the switchboard. The bulbs too had lost hope. A dull light of yellow ochre cast itself over me - flickering as if it too would leave me any moment now.

The room was now empty, sickly and barren. The filament above too was taking its last breath, while I sat on the floor below feeling as insignificant as the thick sheet of dust around me.

Silence.

A sickly silence.

Have you ever been in the presence of such silence?

Well, you must know then, it spares no one.