The Flame

The flame of the candle lays shimmering and dancing in the darkness. It gives of a light that momentarily lights the eyes of her. She stares blankly into the flame. It flickers in the darkness and her eyes are fixed on its shimmer. Life hasn't been very kind to her. The war broke out few years ago and all it did was destruction and chaos. She still recalls the days of her teens when she dreamt and planned her future. It was a future drawn from the depth of her heart, cololured and painted by her expectations and hope. She was the artist of her future yet the war had its own form of art destined for her. The picture was indeed now in monochrome. She remembers how her little son would be terrified to go to school. He would sit in the dark corners of her home. He would be scared and frightened of even the thought of being even slightlly out of sight of his mother. Yet one day he was taken away. She was not the only mother who silently lamented the pain of a lost child. Many others were out there who had to suffer the same fate. The war snatched the children away, distant, far away from their mothers and fathers. They disappeared into the unknown, leaving wounds of pain that never cured. Her husband once made a promised that he would never leave her. One day he left to get food for her despite her plea not to go out as war was at its peak. All that remains in her memory now is the sound of the door closing as he left. That is the only memory that lives in her about him. Later he was found amidst the blood stained soil of a near by alley. She had lost her life yet she had survived. She had survived the worst pains in her life. what else could she endure? No love, no hope and no dreams. Her eyes began to wet and her knees lost its strength. She fell down to the ground..right front of the candle. Her tears rolling down her eyes. She looked at the flame. The flame that flickers in the darkness. She watched it as it danced. Her life was right front of her eyes. She realized how fickle, fragile and uncertain her life is, it was as similar to the flame of this candle. She wept was lost in a world of her own pain. A loud thud at the door awakened her from her world of woes. She knew something was wrong. The thud echoed rang all alarms of danger in the air. She had no choice. No place to run away. She stood up in fear as she walked to the door. She gave a glance at the candle as she strengthed her mind to open the door. She placed her shivering fearful fingers on the door.
The flame burned out.