Finding Life
My name is Sahil. The story you are going to read is a lesson about valuing life to its fullest. Enjoy!
Lost in the darkness, I tried feeling for a way out. As if God read my mind, my fingers brushed against a cold, metallic knob. I opened it and went out only to be surprised by what was in front of me. I saw a younger version of myself and a bunch of kids. These kids were playing and having fun while I was sitting all alone. I went towards him but was stopped by a barrier. I tried punching it but it didn’t work. I tried shouting my name but my younger self did not hear. ““Why am I here‘‘?”” I thought to my self. Suddenly, an orange and black shaped portal came into my view. And I’m not sure if I was schizophrenic but I heard voices from it. Deep bellowing voices pronouncing like snakes. ““Sssahil,’’” they said. “Enter this portal and see what awaits you.”. I didn’t want to go through it so I started running. But some ropes held on to me and pulled me through.
““Ahhhhh,”” I screamed as I travelled across it like it was a slide. Only rather than being colorful, it had darker colors that looked like they were staring at me. Then, I was out and on a random floor. I looked at myself to see if I was still the same. Thankfully, I was. Not wanting to just sit around, I got up and started exploring the room. It was filled with vases and empty chairs and the smell of fresh paint was strong. It was like this was a new house. But one thing that stood out was the paintings, particularly one of them. This one was different from the rest. While most of them were of mixed colors, this one was of a person wearing a gloomy face. I looked at it closer and realised it was me but younger. Same brown hair, same black eyes but a younger face. Then it struck me. I was in the house I used to live in.
I scratched my head wondering why the portal brought me here. All of a sudden, the room turned dark and everything that was there disappeared including the pictures. Now, just like in the beginning, I was in the dark. So like last time, I felt for the walls and moved hoping to find a door. Then it just appeared in front of me. Just like my house, It was white. There was no knob so I tried shoving it open but to no success. I tried again and again but after my 10th try, I gave up because I was out of breath. I sat down crying saying “What do you want from me god”. Then, another portal opened.
It was orange and black like the last one and the same voices hissed ““Sssahil, come inside””. This time, I said “No, just leave me alone”. No response. I said it again, this time shouting. “LEAVE ME ALONE”. This time, there was a response because the voices hissed aggressively and the portal closed. But I realised I made a mistake because I now had no way of not only being able to go home but also getting out of this dark room. At this point, I gave up so I sat down and started crying saying “I just want to go home”. Then, a figure appeared. Not from a portal but it seemed to have just magically appeared. It had a face with no eyes and mouth, was thin as a twig, tall and white like a cloud.
““Who are you“?” I asked, backing away from it. It approached me putting its hands and I felt more calm. The figure then said ““The reason you’ve had to go through these portals is because you need to understand that you shouldn’t live your life miserably””. ““Wh-what does that mean“?” I asked, confused. The figure moved its hands and a memory of when I was younger appeared. In it, my parents asked me to do my homework but I didn’t want to so I said no. They kept telling me to do it but I just wanted to watch tv so we started arguing. After that, during dinner, while they did not care about it so much, I did because I didn’t talk to them and was grumpy and when I went to bed, I was still grumpy. Then, the next day, I was still grumpy. The memory then closed and the figure asked me “Now do you understand what I mean?”. I said “Yes I do” and I really did. I sat down processing all of this and then I realised it all made sense. Why the memory of when I was younger was there when I walked through the first portal, why there were dark colors on it. Then for the first time in a long time, I smiled. A wide shiny smile. The figure sat down next to me looking at me and I couldn’t see it but I knew he was smiling too. He then got up and said “You won’t ever be miserable again”. “How do you know“?” I asked. ““Because…”” he said and all of a sudden his face was whole. I realised it was me but older and put my hands on my mouth. He moved his hands again and a portal appeared and before he went through it, he looked back at me while keeping his smile.
By: Tanay Mohan
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