An Idea Grown in Exile

It has been many long months, and how I have longed to fill this space of mine. I had easy excuses at the start as I was extremely busy, loaded with assignments, reports and presentations to the point that I had to skip a night of sleep completely, on two occasions. However, I went on to visit Dubai with my Retail Management class after the end of term and that left me with loads of thoughts which I could pour out here. However, I chose not to. The trip left me with many mixed and conflicting emotions, which I often cannot describe myself.

After I returned, my mind became a shell. Empty, devoid of thought! It was just this state in which I could not write at all. Perhaps I will discuss these past four months on a separate occasion, but now I must move on to the real purpose of this post, which has also, more or less, been the purpose of my blog. In the later half of this period, void of writing, I really wanted my next post to be a story and not some log about myself and my obsessions. Many ideas came and went, one of them however, has grown in my mind and I am working on it. However, I feel that it will become excessively long, and may be delayed by some more weeks, maybe months (I really hope not..) before it's complete. But I wish to post this little (read "puny") excerpt that charts the beginning of what I feel is one of my better ideas to date. Hopefully, when you next get to read this it will be part of a much larger plot that will capture your fancy. Let me know your thoughts... gibberish? promising? etc.

*Clip clop, clip clop* the sound of horse hooves resonated loudly in my left ear which was glued to the floor. That is the sound I hear every time I stretch my memory back the farthest I can, the very beginning. *Clip clop, clip clop* it continues, always haunting me, playing at the edge of time itself. *Clip clop, clip clop* the horses went, marching in rhythmic fashion, as if to establish a state of orderliness which signified authority. An authority that dictated that what I remembered from then on was to be the only truth of my life, what I was, and what I was ever going to be.

*Clip clop, clip clop* the sound of their hooves shot like the strokes of a blacksmith’s hammer on my head, magnifying the pain in my skull. As the hammer fell harder, it broke the rhythmic charm of the marching horses, forcing me into a state of uneasy consciousness with my eyes still shut. Still in terrible pain, I tried to gather the rest of my senses to get a bearing on where I was. I rested on my stomach with my left cheek plastered firmly on a moving floor. The side of my face touching the floor felt numb; I tried to find my hands in the overwhelming void and felt them move somewhere above my head. My fingers touched some moist hay and a cold, metallic surface.

*Clip clop, clip clop* the horses trotted on ever so passively, that I felt my world go into a blur of black and white. I felt a breeze flowing on my face, which drew away some of the numbness. With my eyes still shut, I tried to form a more complete picture of my surroundings. In my state of limbo, I could feel myself moving as the horses marched on behind my back, and rocked whatever was carrying me, to and fro. The air was cold, and I could feel no light from behind my still closed eyes. I tried to stretch my legs, but cold metal bars prevented my feet from going any further. Although alarmed, I rested my bare feet on the cold bars to bring some feeling back into them. A loud neigh from a horse suddenly raised my senses but I still kept my eyes wired shut, and desperately wished for some answers to present themselves when I opened them.