Breathe - 25th May

A high pitched shriek of terror ringed through the walls of the empty lanes. With shock in his eyes, he started to search for the source of the scream. His eyes caught a weird moving shadow of a car at the turning of the lane. He followed the shadow vigilantly with his trembling and frozen body. The shadow quickly disappeared as soon as he came near it. He gave out a sigh of relief and headed back. And then he reached the turning from where he started, and he saw his own body lying dead, blood flowing through the mouth, wide opened eyes and deep hand impression on the neck as if someone choked the body to death. He stood there frozen and horror-struck for some time.

The next moment he ran back haphazardly as fast as he could, crying in terror and shock. But little did he know that he was now back to the same place. He was petrified and looked for someplace to escape. He saw a house that resembled the shape of a dreadful human face. It was probably the last place he would ever wish to go but he had no other option. So he went inside sweating. As he entered the spooky house he saw the exact same house in front of him. He was startled but still, he went inside. But shucks, it was again the same house at the center. He again went inside this time more petrified than before. This scene repeated again and again until he lied on the floor and cried out loudly, "Why is this only happening with me!!!"And then through the walls of the house, he could hear a voice saying in unison "You didn't let me breathe...Now you won't breathe.."

He immediately felt suffocated and choked and cried silently for nine minutes until he woke up sweating and panting on his bed. He realized it was a nightmare but then he ran and switched on the lights and checked the date on the calendar. It read- 25th May 2021. He understood that it was his Karma. It was all the injustices and sins he committed that made him die mentally every single day. The voice of that pain he created still echoes in his ears every day.

25th May-It was exactly the same day one year ago when he killed George Floyd a 46-year-old black man after kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the street