NIGHT COMING

As dawn came closer, the threat of an impending day loomed large. How comforting the night was in its utter darkness. As she rose from the cold floor and moved towards the doors, she couldn’t help but feel at peace for the first time today.

The constant clanging that never left her side, faithfully accompanied her now too albeit silently. She had long ago learnt how to move without moving at all. It had helped greatly. She was now here, in somewhat fresh air, looking up at a starless sky, reveling in not being able to recognise a single shape. The whole universe was a black canvas. No moon, no stars, no planes, no life. Just her and the infinite darkness.

There had been a time when the night had scared her, when she went everywhere with lights in her pocket. When darkness was a thing to be feared, shied away from. Light, sun, sight; these were prized possessions, things to be valued and enjoyed. She woke everyday with the feel of sun on her face, a smile already spreading. She left windows open, enjoying the constantly shifting, streaming sunlight.

But no more.

Now was a different time, a different feeling, a different her.

She spread out her arms to envelope the darkness, hold it inside her till night came again. Willing as she did every night to make the night stay.

There was once a time when she couldn’t see. When light was all she ever wanted, and darkness all she had.

Today was different. She could see, she could feel, she could have the light. And all she wanted now was that familiar darkness. To move around that much-treaded room knowing where she was going, not from sight but memory. That was all.

She often wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t gotten into the car. Would her love of the light have survived the operation she wasn’t meant to but did? Or did she love darkness because; now a forgotten memory of the past, the darkness was all she could hope for?