Collection Of Stray Thoughts

The Run

It was dark.

But the lone lamp gave off enough soft yellow light to comfort the boy sitting with his back pressed against the bottom of it. It was a well deserved comfort, as was the darkness.

He was hurt, and he was still hurting.

Again and again he pushed back the tears. Again and again he suppressed the screams building in his system. And even now, he forced the scream to crumble before it could rise to his throat, while he blinked rapidly to dismiss the water in his eyes.

He had been sitting under that solitary light for some time now. Maybe it had been a fortnight, maybe it had been a month, or a year or even a day, because all he remembered was the pain in his wounded heart.

It was still there, like yesterday, and many days before that yesterday.

The scars on his thighs and arms had almost disappeared, yet the wound on his soul still bled fresh.

Even though he had stopped decorating his body with battle marks and relief seeking scars, he still craved relief, still fought battles.

Suddenly, the need to get out of that place overtook him. He wanted to, no, he had  to move.

One moment he was sitting with his legs stretched in front of him, the next he was running for dear life itself.

He gasped for escape, his ragged breathing comforting his soul.

He ran under the starless sky, away from the safe comfort of the yellow light. And towards his relief, towards his better tomorrow.

Slowly, his feet moved from hard lifeless land to dry grass as his empty sky gained a few twinkles.

It urged him to go on, to move faster, to try harder. So he did.

Even though his chest was constricting from the effort, a small smile made its way to his lips. The muscles in his legs throbbed but the twinkling stars seemed to smile down at him, seemed to be proud of him, so he kept moving on.

The dry grass gradually shifted to soft green one and dawn broke the peaceful night sky.

But he still ran. For running gave him peace, peace of mind and heart, that he was at least trying, at least.

His body shuddered as it gave up, making him fall forward.

But he didn't stop to register his body's complains, the second he fell, the same second he was up and running, again.

The wind brought the message of a bright morning. It caressed his dirtied face, kissed his flaming cheeks and ran it's fingers through his sand - colored hair. The touch was as soft as that of a lover, had the sympathy of a mother and accompanied with the encouragement of a good teacher.

The grass beneath his feet gave him strength, made him feel almost weightless. His breathing seemed to have gained courage as it became steady.

The redness along the horizon promised the arrival of the sun.

The world seemed to be telling him, that after a night of blood shed comes the sun of new lives. That a loss brings along a gain.

By now,the grass had turned into lush strands of green life that reached up to his knees. His legs pushed through the soft barriers as he moved forward.

He could see the top of the sun as it peeked as if from the very inside of the earth.

He was running towards it, towards his sun.

He just ran, ran until the sun was right in front of him, ran until he reached the end of the grassy cliff, ran until he knew it was time to stop.

Then he let it all go .

Unleashed all of those caged screams, allowed all those tears to run freely.

The sun stared at the little boy in front of it as he yelled, as hot tears rolled down his cheeks with a mixture of mud.

He screamed as he laughed, as he cried.

The grass danced around him, playing with the wind. And when the wind got tired, it moved on to hug the boy, gather him in its awaiting arms while the strands of grass continued to play hide-and-seek around his legs.

The sun broke into a smile as it realized what the boy had achieved, it's radiance multiplying by ten folds.

And when it was all done, he let himself fall back into the bed of grass.

Even though his eyes hurt and his throat felt like sandpaper, he still flashed his teeth at the universe, because for the first time in forever, he felt healed.