THE DEATH DAY

I put my hand in my back pocket and grabbed out the cold metal of the pendant that I had bought for my daughter. Today is her birthday and every time I thought that she had now turned 10, a smile etched on my face. I did not even realize, amidst all the good moments, how fast time dissolved away. It was only yesterday when she was still playing on my lap and now, she has suddenly grown up so much. I was anticipating the upcoming train along with thousands of others on the VT station but I could surely tell that I was the happiest of them all.

I was still taken over by nausea when an extremely loud sound brought me back from the memory lane. It was a sound like that of a balloon bursting, but only a hundred times louder. I looked around and was greeted by the sight of a thousand frightened-looking people running together in the same direction; as if sheep of a folk. Baffled, I looked around and finally saw the cause of their fear. Two men stood there clutching one dreadful-looking gun each, a murderous look on their eyes. My heart sank in my boots as I was gripped with panic. Terrified, I stood up and started sprinting away from the terrorists at a breakneck speed. I was overwhelmed by a type of fear that I had never previously experienced. All the gunshots which reverberated throughout the station were a signal of the loss of one more innocent life. Every passing moment was like a year in hell as I wriggled my way through the crowd in a desperate attempt to rescue myself of this mindless and brutal carnage and bloodshed. The situation had turned to complete chaos as the two men continued their unforgiving and senseless massacre.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was hit by something on my back. I froze on the spot as pain took over all other feelings of my body and then finally after what seemed to be like an eternity, I realized that a bullet had, after all, found it's way to me. I was shut out; only capable of experiencing an immense and excruciating pain that was slowly making it's way through me, enjoying my agony. And gradually engulfing me were the arms of death. I could actually feel them. My legs gave away unable to hold back my weight and I collapsed face-first on the ground.

However, even during my last seconds instead of feeling repulsion and hatred towards my murderers, the only thoughts that came to me were that of my wife and my daughter. Would they be all right? What would my daughter think of me when she comes to know that I had left her on her birthday itself? The last sensation I experienced was the warmth of my tears running down my cheek,my last giving to this physical world. The images of my family which was imprinted on my mind started going away leaving me with only pain and grief. Everything around me started to fade away. It got darker and darker. And then finally the blackness of the eternal void.