All
around me I see a dense blanket of dust, grit and smoke. I fear breathing. It
would just make the coughing and spluttering return. Through teary eyes I look
around this world of mine.
When I
was in my mother’s womb, a mere foetus, she nurtured me with all the love and
care she could muster in her weak state. Treated me like a delicate prize that
she could never part with. And now, as I open my eyes to the world, all I see
is the end. Life coming to a close even before it started. I cry out in fear
and hold on tighter to her arms. “Please save me mummy”, I beg.
I feel
her arms wrap around me and watch the tears roll down her helpless face. She
cannot change the world and the course it is taking. She cannot change what it
has become no matter how hard she tries, for she is alone. The last one
standing and the evils of this world are a lot more in number than her. She
cannot save my life by herself, if only there were more to back her up. She
wails in despair cursing the gods for leaving her alone to fight this battle. I
watch her look around to see if the possibility of a miraculous presence of
another could help her in these tough times. Alas! We stand there. Stranded.
Two helpless souls. Crying in defeat. Praying for the air to clear up. I
breathe in, and my lungs fill in with the smoke and I feel a breathless
helplessness take over me. Coughing. Suffocating. Stuttering and spitting. I
cry out in frustration and let out a loud scream. She holds me tighter, cradling
me in her arms and telling me it will all be alright soon. Praying for me to
not give up. I hold on tighter. Shutting my eyes to stop them from stinging and
to rid myself of the blurry visions of
this impure world I find myself growing weak.
Had
there been others with my mother, she could probably have saved me, but the
survival of our race was a tragic fall. And I was next in line to become a page
in its history.
A life I
could have had. One where love, peace and nurturing, were in abundance if only
the world had not been this careless. Instead I battle with death seconds after
opening my eyes to greet the world. I felt myself losing control of my senses.
I could hear my heart beat and flutter in a mad frenzy of panic. And soon I
started to give up on any hope for survival. Staying alive was getting harder,
dying seemed like the best escape from this mad torture. I looked into my
mother’s eyes and slipped into oblivion.
I never
got to hear a lullaby. Never had a childhood full of innocent memories. Never woke
up with a smile welcoming a new day. Never got to breathe in lungs full of
fresh air. Never learnt how to spell or write. Never got to look up at the
skies while the rain splashed against me face. Never got to experience the joys
of being alive. Life as I knew it ended before it started and the little that I
remember was a painful war to stay alive. Clinging onto my helpless mother for
survival and watching her tired, brittle arms try to shield me from the horrors
of the world. And the journey of life ended with me falling off and floating to
the ground and crumbling into brown ashes. I was destined to be a happy green
luscious little leaf; instead, I lay in the dirt in defeat.
