Lost

“Lost” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Aritro Chatterjee, Jumeirah Primary School, Dubai, UAE.

Lost

An acrid stench hung low in the coagulated forest; autumn was nearing. Leaves gently fell to the soft, wet Earth. While meandering down the willow-lined road winding through the park, my eyes feasted on autumn’s vibrant, radiant shades of reds, pinks, purples and yellows. Lost for words, I stumbled on...

Time made me its guest, as darkness took over from the sky, which was as blue as forget-me-nots. I suddenly found myself in the heart of the forbidden forest. An eerie silence surrounded me. As sweat built up on my forehead, a fearful thought dawned on me: WAS I LOST?

Out of the blue, a door came into my sight. Curiosity found the better of me as I peregrinated towards it. My hand came within reach of the door handle.

‘CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKK’

The rusted, iron door opened…

‘Bang!!!’The deteriorated door slammed behind me. Feeling like a mouse in a mousetrap, I dithered on.

‘What lay ahead of me?’

As if answering my question, my eyes caught sight of a maze which was covered in spiky brambles and elongated vines. Gathering my courage, I warily walked into the opening of what seemed like a never-ending maze.

Guesswork guided me along the murky walls as I grew more famished by the minute. Finally, after, as I felt it, hours, an atramentous and chock-full object materialized ahead of me. Upon reaching this perplexing object, my eyes inspected it. When I surveyed around the object, my attention was drawn towards a cramped aperture. Growing reckless by the second, I plunged into the fissure…

A scandalous feeling crept over me, as I hewed chiliads of meters. As if things couldn't get worse, a sick sensation slinked over me.

THUD!!!An uneasy thought stationed itself on my head, as my limbs, unwillingly, were constrained to advance.

To my relief, I could gawk at sunlight in the distance. Feeling the urge to reach home, my pace quickened…

Fluky, I had reached another forest, this one teeming with animals, some loveable, others, not so much; the first animal I had sighted was my least favorite, the hostile, perilous snake. All of a sudden, although I tried to ignore it, the deadly snake slithered towards me!!

I scrambled over bushes and jumped over logs until I could do no more; would I really be able to survive in this adverse environment? Gazing at the moonlit, phosphorescent stars and listening to the cacophony of voices from a nest above me, I dazed off to sleep....

The following day, to my consternation, I bestirred, safely on my bed, to a group of my lovely gossiping friends and relatives poured icy cold water on me. It was 30thAugust and I was woken up by the birthday greetings and jingles!

By the way, it’s our weird family tradition to wake up the birthday boy with icy cold water -the more he can withstand, the stronger character he would build.

Deep within me, I was laughing; it was all a dream, and I was snug …