Silence

SILENCE
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Countless thoughts whispered in the head, all at the same time; denying the mind even one solitary ‘moment’ to reflect.

For a moment, he felt sitting amidst the company of a crowd of toddlers, all vying for his attention while he struggled to comprehend whatever they were trying to convey.

A scream here, a cry there, and suddenly the thought he so relied on to solve his biggest problem abruptly vanished.

And just as he tried running after it, hoping to latch on to the disappearing train of thought, another one too fizzled out.

‘What’s happening,’ he murmured within his head. 

‘I am going to lose everything, like this.’

‘Need to quickly do something about it,’ he resolved after a pause.

However, even before he could come up with any plan, one more thought defected; leaving him with even more vulnerability and helplessness.

‘I need to be quick,’ he exhorted himself, now growing nervous with this sudden loss of control over what he considered as his mind.

His body now trembled and his eyes blinked uncontrollably as he spoke loudly; every thought, every word his mind could recollect.

The increased volume, however, gradually turned into a scream as he started sweating heavily. With an unexpected jerk, his body fluttered reflexively while the eyes suddenly opened up.

A pair of frightening eyes stared at him as his shivering body lay clumsily on the bed, sweat running all over. 

‘Are you fine,’ she asked.

The pursed lips refused to part company, as he remained quiet; the eyes though were still scanning the entire place.

Running back, she immediately returned with a glass of water as he gulped it down quickly in one large sip.

‘Where are we,’ he murmured after wetting this dry throat?

‘In our house,’ she replied hesitantly; the eyes stretched as wide as they could; the words leaving her mouth in a whisper, as she discovered, imitating her husband’s tone.

‘What’s the matter,’ she asked again.

‘I lost my job,’ came a quick reply with closed eyes. 

She sighed, still unwilling to comprehend what he was telling her.

‘But you don’t have a job. You run your own business,’ she replied in a calm tone while staring at his sweaty face.

‘And I……’

‘Ummmm…..,’ he suddenly found himself at a loss for words, while trying to verbalize his thoughts.

‘What are you trying to say,’ she asked in a concerned tone; encouraging him, even as he gathered all his courage to spew out what he wanted to convey;

‘Also, cheated in you’

The words suddenly enveloped the entire room in complete silence.  It felt as if they have placed an immense weight on their heads while the legs and torso trembled trying to balance it.

Her breathing suddenly turned into wheezing, while the words continued to float in the mind.

The sweat on the body suddenly disappeared, only to accumulate on his reddened face, while the body lay still on that large bed.

There was no one to break the uneasy silence; She quietly pulled herself out of the room to slowly vanish into the crowded street overlooking the beautiful small house they both built so happily together.