Subhendu Mohanty

I looked away. It didn’t assuage the pain. My feet still felt as sore and my hands numb as ever.

The boat swayed, up and down. I lay there, defunct, lifeless. Hoping I would be found. Praying I would be saved.

The pain from my bruised knees as if took the form of a giant centipede, crawling and creeping its way through to my thigh and torso with its hundred beady legs. Even if I didn’t want to, I shrieked in pain.

Not so far away up above me the yellow moon as if swung gently, the blue sea flashed for a moment.

There was something else clinging to the boat.

A dark brooding silhouette which curled and moved around.

A shark? A snake?

Before the pain could reach my hands, a fear started to gnaw its way through my head.

The fear of being eaten alive would surely be far more excruciating than the fear of being dead unfound, hungry and thirsty.

It appeared the dark figure had other plans. In the faint moonlight its form could be seen moving away.

What a relief !

As if driven by a premonition ,it turned back again and in one what could be termed as a big roaring splash, it landed between my legs which lay powerless, nearly dead.

I was sweating heavily. My heart started pounding as if it wanted to beat its way out of the cage made of flesh and bones. At that desperate moment a spark of hope and light struck my mind.

I was never alone. She has always been there for me.

In the sea of blue and white that I floated on, she was just one companion I could fall back on. In her embrace I would find solace. I must summon her. But how?

She is due any moment now, as if she would materialise from the surrounding vast blueness. She knows I am in pain and fear, she knows I am hurt. She will sail me through. I must keep the faith, she tells me. I must trust her, someone deep within tells me. She is my saviour.

She is late. When the scarlet sun fades away and the big white moon glitters on the white sky- she appears. In all white, she, the angel with her distinct halo, darts her warmest smile..talks to me for a bit, always making sure I pay attention till in her hands I lose myself completely.

I must find her. I must summon her now…She is the reason I am still sailing. I would have died weeks back. She made me stay. She made me believe the discoveries I am yet to make. The freedom I am yet to experience.

But where is she?

I don’t even know her name. What do I call her? Where do I search for her? God, help me, bring her back to me. I must jump in and find where she disappears every evening. I must try and swim my way through to her. Or I would never see her again.

“Roberta, hurry up! Number 135 has fallen off bed and is in a fit!!”

And she appeared. All in white, with her distinct halo but an uncharacteristic stern face.

“Sir you must press that bell if you need help!” Sister Roberta reprimanded pointing at something near the bed.

I looked up at her dazed from the cold floor, as she gently took the cat out of my bed and went ahead to switch on the lights, flooding the room in its blue vastness.

“Sir, did you ask for the window to be kept open again?” She was lifting me up to the bed.

“Thank you, Angel”. I almost cried.

© “And Life Unfolds” and Subhendu Mohanty, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Subhendu Mohanty and “And Life Unfolds” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content