The Sofa or The Throne

David always wanted to be an Author. He loved to read. He loved to write. But somehow, procrastination always got the better of him! He would start writing a page or two and then some or other thought would cross his mind and he’d deviate. His lack of interest in his job, his constantly nagging girlfriend, his financial liabilities didn’t help things either.

And then, there were plenty of naysayers all around him; Each having his own philosophy to nay-say him from pursuing his passion to write. Well, there would be the rare minority of motivators; but what chance do they stand against the strong majority of naysayers!

David still had the fire inside him, but it was slowly diminishing by the day. The gaps between his ‘writing hours’ were slowly widening and he was getting stuck in his comfort zone. Well, God bless David. If only something gave him the strength to disregard the naysayers and fueled him back to his passion; Because, God knows, he definitely had the talent. All he needed was a strong commitment to break free of all shackles and focus!

                                                          ~

On one fine weekend, David neatly arranged the snacks, ashtray and a chilled can of beer on the coffee table and comfortably placed it next to the big sofa on which he was planning to comfortably lay down and read a new novel of his favorite author.

The refrigerator too was within a hand’s distance from the sofa, so that he could reach out for the next can without budging from his comfort zone on the sofa!

He took a sip from the can, had a bite of the snack, and started reading.

6 cans, 8 cigarettes and 80 pages later…

David was about to grab another Beer can when he noticed something unusual!

The sofa, table and refrigerator remained close to each other, but the hall started expanding and came to an abrupt halt. The hall had expanded to almost thrice its original size. The floor tiles were a combination of white and black.

David was so shocked at this turn of events, he couldn’t breathe properly; He stay stuck like that for what seemed like an eternity!

After a minute or two, he got the nerve and was about to set his foot on the floor to explore things when suddenly a huge black panther emerged out of the corner roaring and stared at him ferociously! David’s heart started pounding mercilessly in his ears. He took his foot back and leant back on the sofa. As soon as he set his foot back on the sofa, the panther retreated some steps back and settled down on a black tile of the floor still staring at him, though a bit less ferociously.

They sat staring at each other for some time. Slowly, it occurred to David that as long as he lay on the sofa, the panther wasn’t going to attack him. He slowly heaved a sigh of relief at this comforting thought. 

He slowly lit a cigarette and reached out for another can from the Refrigerator. The panther didn’t move an inch.

David slowly started analyzing things and wondered why the black panther settled only on the black tile of the floor. What if he set his foot on the white tile of the floor? Will it attack him or was it even worth the risk? He thought for a while and decided to take the risk; If it tried to attack him, he could immediately set his foot back on the safe sofa.

So, after stubbing out the cigarette, he slowly picked his nerve and set his foot on the white tile of the floor!

The panther lay motionless, but as soon as he set his foot on the white tile, a Goblin came rushing from the far corner of the hall shrieking ferociously.

David pulled his foot back in the nick of time before it could attack him. The Goblin gave him a terrifying look and retreated and settled in the white tile opposite to the panther!

What the hell’s happening, thought David!

The events happening to him were unbelievable… It was as if he were stuck in some wild story written by a maniac testing the protagonist big time!

But as things stood, at least he was safe on the sofa. He lit another cigarette with trembling hands.

                                                         ~

After what seemed like an eternity, the panther and the goblin became alert and the whole hall was filled with bright white light. Nobody could see anything. The light was so bright in nature.

Then, almost as if someone turned it off, it was gone and there emerged a luminous big throne at the far end of the hall! It was the most beautiful throne, David had ever seen. It was huge too.

The panther and the goblin stared at it with panic in their eyes. David immediately realized there was something magical about this throne and it held the power to tackle these two monsters!

But how to reach the throne? It lay at the far end of the hall and these two monsters would shred him into pieces before he could reach it.

David thought, he’d bide his time and relax a bit until a plan comes to his mind. So, now that he was a bit habituated to the events that unfolded, he thought, he’d get back to his book.

As soon as he picked up the book, he noticed a fire ant slowly crawling up on the sofa! He immediately shoved it away with the book.

Now, what the hell was this this all about? As he was reflecting on the ant, a fly came in with its irritating buzzing sound and settled on his ear! He swatted it away.

Where the hell did ants and flies come into his hall from, he thought. There was never any fly or ant in his home as far as he could remember.

Even before he could gather his wits, he noticed a couple of fire ants crawling up the sofa again. He immediately struck them with the book even while another couple of flies came buzzing near his ears. He took his pillow and swatted them away.

David knew this was just the beginning; There would be more to come.

He could either sit on the sofa shooing and swatting them or take a risk and get to the throne.

He couldn’t continue like this! The comforting sofa wasn’t worth staying anymore!!

This time, 10 ants started crawling from different sides of the sofa. One of them managed to bite him so hard, it felt like catching fire! He shrieked in anguish and took his pillows and managed to push them all to the floor. The flies felt much better compared to the ants!

It was time to take action.

He muttered a small prayer to God, gathered all his courage. He thought of his parents, his friends, his relatives, his school, his college, his career, his life till now! He realized these moments could be the last moments of his life. Was his life wonderful? Was his life pathetic? He had no clue. He had just gone through with his life as it came. He had no expectations in life and no regrets, either!

He looked at the panther and the goblin. It seemed like they knew his intentions and had a look of glee in their eyes ready to pounce upon their victim and tear him apart!

The flies were all over him now even while more ants stung him in various parts.

The pain didn’t matter anymore, he had made up his mind.

He looked at the throne and fantasized himself on it. Everything would be back to normal, if he could make it, though it seemed highly improbable. But he didn’t have much choice except attempting to reach it.

With one huge war cry, David leapt into the air towards the throne, even while the ants clung to his body, stinging him like anything.

As soon as he landed on the black tile, the panther leapt and grabbed his left foot biting off his four fingers leaving only the toe!

David let out a huge cry in pain and landed on the white tile. The goblin as if waiting for its turn hit his right hand’s elbow breaking it and bit him in the calf.

Blood started oozing out from his left leg… The flies started making merry on the fresh flesh!!

David managed to stand up on his right leg and leapt two tiles ahead and landed on the black tile.

The panther struck its claws on his back tearing off a pound of skin, flesh and bones with its strike.

David thought, he’d faint. He lay down for a second and pulled his body towards a white tile ahead.

The eagerly waiting goblin started landing its blows with its club on his face breaking his nose instantly; One of his eyes got ruptured too.

With one eye, David noticed that he just had three more tiles to cover to reach the throne.

With every ounce of his remaining strength, he dragged himself ahead.

The panther stuck its huge face into his buttocks and tore it apart letting out a fountain of gushing blood in the process.

Two more tiles...

White tile – The Goblin this time, pulled out a huge sword and cut off his body into two halves.

Black and the final tile – David was in a different dimension now; he knew he had few last seconds remaining before he breathed his last.

1st second – David or rather his upper half body was on the final black tile.

2nd second – The panther with David’s blood all over its face opened its huge mouth and David knew it was coming for his head.

3rd second – The panther lifted its huge right-hand claws and struck David on his heart simultaneously going for David’s head with its mouth.

4th second – With its huge strike, David’s heart popped out and fell onto his left hand and his head was gone inside the panther’s mouth.

5th and final second – The panther was still struggling to severe off David’s head from his body when David threw his heart from his left hand towards the throne. 

David’s heart landed on the throne just a Milli second before the panther could severe off his head!

There was this luminous light all over again.

There sat David in a splendor unknown to him on the throne with an energy and calmness never experienced before in his lifetime. He had a crown on his head. He felt nirvana all around him.

He didn’t feel the slightest pain. Instead he felt filled with tremendous energy, excitement and soothing feeling inside him. He emitted radiance.

He knew he had made it!

He looked around for the panther and the goblin.

What he saw made him smile…

In place of the panther was a small black cat and in place of the goblin was a small puppy wagging its tail.

He looked out for the ants and flies, but all he saw was beautiful butterflies!

He reached out for the cat and the puppy. They came and looked at him affectionately and licked his hands.

David smiled.

                                        ~

David nearly fell off the sofa and woke up with a jolt. He looked at the clock. It was 10am. He looked around. There were beer cans, left over snacks, cigarette stubs and ash all over the floor. He picked up the book which was lying on the floor and cleaned the ash off it with his T-shirt. Still reeling from the effects of his nightmare, he looked around for any panther or goblin hiding around; there were none.

He rubbed his eyes, smiled, cried, and uttered a small prayer to God.

David knew what he had to do!

He took out his uncompleted book; Not the one he had been reading the night before, but the one he had started writing 5 years ago…

There was no stopping this time – No naysayers, no panther; No financial liabilities, no goblin; No nagging girlfriend or relatives, no fire ants; No job issues or weekend parties, no flies; Nothing was going to stop him from writing and completing his book now! 

He had enough of - The Sofa; He wanted - The Throne!