Glitch

Prologue

Lights flickered and then it got dark. The lights were red, blue, green and all sorts of colors followed by a pitch-black darkness that really just ate you up from within. I didn't know where I was going or even why. I had just been falling and falling down this endless abyss for what seemed like years. I'd lost all that I loved, all that my life was and couldn't even remember what for.

I was hassled and harried against the corners. I was getting really frustrated and tired of all this. Was there ever an end to this atrocity or was I forever trapped in this nightmare?

I pondered over such questions almost all the time. But I had no hope, and I never believed I would hope again. I was slowing loosely all my senses, starving for some food, for some energy, for some life. I could feel my body being tossed around like a sack of rice but nothing more. It was an endless cycle of pain.

***

As I slowly rested my eyes, I felt a streak of light shining upon my eyes, it truly stood out amongst the daunting darkness. I could see a small streak of lighting shining at me, it was almost as though it was calling out to me, it was calling me home. And for the first time in I don't know how long, I believed again and, I had hope.

The streak of light grew bigger and bigger. It was welcoming me with open arms, and I was ready to embrace it. It felt like this dark abyss finally had an end. My heart started beating faster and faster as I approached closer to the light and no sooner, it was right in front of me, right there for me to just clutch a one-way ticket back to freedom. I reached out to the light and it reached out to me and "Zoom!"

***

Ouch! My body ached like it was the end of the world. It felt as if my arm had been ripped out of its socket and my face, scarred all over. The cold water that rushed against my body was somehow comforting but, there was something, something very uncomforting, a smell so pungent and disgusting that I could not help but gag.

I was surrounded by lights and sounds. Green lights and the sound of rustling water mixed with a few cans rumbling along the way wasn't exactly ideal, but it felt better, so much better than what I'd been through lately.

I gathered every last bit of strength and energy that remained in my fragile body. I stood up, keeping quite some effort to stand still against the crushing force of the water. I looked around. I had no idea where or when I was, but it felt new, different and real. The rumbling footsteps that came from above me attracted my attention towards the manhole cover sealed right above me, and without a second thought, I knew, I was in the sewers. Any other day, I would've been disgusted to death but today, even the sewers felt like heaven.

***

Each and every part of me felt like it had been run over by a thousand horses. I ran my fingers across my face and felt scars and tears all over, it was horrifying. My beautiful face had been cursed. I could feel the pain radiating all over my chest and my legs. It was so painful yet, it felt so good to finally feel again.

I glanced at my hands, they were rusty and dirty and smelled unbearable from the sewer water. But they felt warm, and I liked that.

Suddenly, I noticed that my hands were shaking and trembling vigorously. They were nowhere near stopping. Soon, they were trembling so fiercely that pixels flew out of them; red, blue, green and all sorts of colors. My hands had disappeared into pixels and I was in absolute awe. Much to my surprise, the pixels came back and reassembled, and my hand looked as though nothing had even happened.

This felt weird, uncannily weird. It was a feeling, I had only heard of in the stories and tales from long ago. Not only in my hand, but my entire body felt this as I dispersed and gathered back together again and again. I was bewildered at what I saw.

I was a glitch.