The night of 20th May, 2009

2.12 A.M and still the sleep won’t come. The deficient slumber has driven my mind to paranoia. All is still in this tiny room of mine that I rather reluctantly share with my sister. As I write this, I curl myself up trying to make myself as insignificant as possible at the corner of my bed. Through my unsettled and unexplained fear that has been tugging at the brink of my sanity, I desperately hope that whatever is out there - an unknown entity of some kind - doesn’t breach the sanctity of this humble abode with its dark reaches. The fear is steadily growing now, tightening its icy grip over my heart and making its way slowly and surely to my mind. In the distant thunder rumbles and through the windows that dominate the wall beside my bed I see the flashes of lightening bathing the world around me momentarily with its brilliance. This happens in a random profusion. The rain has been falling for hours now but the rumblings and flashes in the sky seemed to have gained strength, as if they had been biding their time, until now. Lightening, with an ability to disorient its watchers, precedes loud thunder claps that have now become sudden and vigorous and frighteningly close. This startles me, adding to my growing discomfort. As if sensing my uneasiness the rain has abandoned its steady, comforting, almost lulling pattering against the windows and has resorted to an uneven pattern; one moment silencing itself to a whisper of a light drizzle and in the next coming down hard and purposefully on the wet earth and everything over it. Yet my senses are riveted by this amazing display of nature. I feel humbled in front of this awesome, frightening power which never, for a moment, fails to remind me how insignificant and vulnerable I am. This unsteady, haphazard, disconcerting sequence of rain, sound and light continues undauntedly and I begin to wonder if nature has some fantastical sense of grim levity that it uses its prowess in such ways to show the meek, unsuspecting humans their place.

2.41 A.M and sleep is elusive as ever. My body is protesting for rest but my mind is playing a remorseless vagabond. To prove its point, it has set my imagination free into the wilderness. Apart from the nature’s cacophony outside, everything is silent and still. No sign of activity or sound can I sense from the civilization around me. The power cut in the city still continues and as far as I can see everything on both sides of my window-dominated wall is covered in night. The senseless fear that had begun as a disturbing uncertainty is beginning to spread its black and cold tendrils, wrapping itself around my mind. My mind is repulsed by this illogical primeval instinct and a fresh wave of anger washes over me giving a strange but welcome support to my teetering sanity. My terror, however, refuses to give up its dominion over my heart that is ramming against my ribs. My sister lies peacefully on her bed shrouded in darkness oblivious to everything including my sanity warring against my feral terror. I envy her and all the beings asleep, lost in the worlds present only in their subconscious minds while I lie here, with a measly source of light barely illuminating this book, cowering under the conscious reality. The room tends to become hot and stifling and so, one of the windows is slightly left open to lure some blessed air in. There is not much success though, with only an occasional light breeze making its way through the crack, bringing with it the smell of wet earth and ozone tinged with the unmistakable reek of a polluted city. The air also blows against the curtains and their movement, caught by the corner of my eye, sends fresh waves of unadulterated terror coursing through my body. The relief that I get once I realize the real culprit – the breeze, is not at all enough to squelch the overwhelming terror that preceded it. As I hope against hope and wait patiently for the slumber to take over, I glance outside; afraid that anything more than a glance will shatter my resolve and fixate me on the unfolding wonderment of rain, lightening and thunder. But a glance is enough for me to register that the mighty old trees sprinkled all over the city have started swaying. The gentle breeze has picked up speed turning into gusts of wind that whips through the drenched night and rattles the window panes. Not unlike the rain and the thunder, the wind blows haltingly, unsure of its path but surging ahead with determination and impatience. It presses and slaps against my window with sudden bursts, rattling the panes and scaring the living daylights out of me in the process. To make its presence even more pronounced the wind develops a haunting howl, fuelling my fear. The howling is incessant, the sound rising and falling in an unpredictable patterns mixing with the angry rumblings of the night sky. My imaginations takes wild turns and brings to my mind’s eye a vivid picture of an unearthly, savage creature. Outside, the howling reaches a high, frightening crescendo and my out-of-control imagination mercilessly associates the feral sound to my immaterial savage fiend; an enraged cry mingled with pain since the creature is injured and incensed beyond the limits of natural instincts. Its next prey has its fate sealed and it will suffer something worse than death. In the corner of my bed I strive desperately to shut my mind’s eye and the effort makes me shudder involuntarily. For the thousandth time I will myself to sleep; with no success of course. Abruptly, the grim horror symphony of nature stops and I’m jolted by the sudden silence from my curled up position to an upright one. For an unknown length of this strained silence nothing stirs, not even a faint whisper of breeze. Vaguely I realize I’ve stopped breathing, not wanting to break the silence. A sudden noise behind me: like a rustle of fabric that sounds unnaturally loud in the unnerving silence. I whip around on my bed in search of the source in the darkness, only to regret the act terribly later. As soon as I drag my gaze away from the window to look behind me, a flash of lightening lights up the sky and everything beneath it with a brilliance surpassing every flash that had preceded it. My room is illuminated by the light and everything in it appears grotesque, the shadows dancing, terrifying. Undoubtedly, my on-the-loose imagination perceives the scene before me with a staggering exaggeration. It all lasts for only a moment but in that minuscule point of time the last vestiges of courage that had resulted from the anger over my senseless horror, take leave of me. I exhale explosively and clamp my mouth tightly shut to keep myself from screaming. On cue with the lightening comes the imminent clap of thunder, much more loudly than it actually is on my sense of hearing that has been rendered overly keen by my fear. Unlike the light the sound persists for long excruciating seconds rattling my bones and battering against the earth until I feel the bed vibrating under me. My mind finally surrenders to the bout of fear joining in defeat with my beaten heart. Fear takes over everything boldly as if it was confident from the start that it was going to triumph anyway. It eclipses over my senses, its shadow numbing every taut muscle and every frayed nerve in my body. Incredibly I wonder why I hadn’t surrendered myself- heart and mind- to this nothingness earlier, before my consciousness was bludgeoned. I sink deeper; effortlessly into the fear, - was it fear? – the incoherency, the numbness and the darkness. The blessed darkness...