Dark Horse Arts and Sciences

“Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.” 

                                                        -Haruki Murakami

I am a lonely wanderer; travelling through the whole world; exploring each and every corner and inch of it. I don’t want to miss any corner or land of this beautiful creation created by some unknown and unrecognizable force. Right now, I’m wandering inside a dark and deep forest which has been abandoned by humans or any living being a long time back. It’s secluded and disconnected from the whole world out there. These woods have a mind and body of their own. They don’t work or function as per any common rules of our world. They have their own separate rules. And another thing: they don’t like intruders roaming around in their uncharted territory. 

As I am walking through the intricacies of the woods, I feel like someone is watching over me; I feel like some unknown yet strange pair of eyes are having their close vision upon me right now as if they would prey upon me when they would find the suitable place and circumstances. My hands start quivering as a sense of fright and horror pierces through my weak nerves filled with terror and trepidation. I begin to hear whispers next to my ears in the air as the atmosphere begin to thicken itself with a thick fog, inducing a gloomy and eerie aura surrounding me. It seems as if the forest has the ability to talk and express. But I try not to fall for this. You will find these kinds of red herrings everywhere in these deeply layered woods; the walls of which are impenetrable and filled with levels like that in a video game.

I am not new to these kinds of alienated places and circumstances. Long time back, I once entered into a jungle in Japan that was supposed to be haunted; filled with supernatural stuff. Legend was that the jungle tried to convince its intruders to commit suicide. You can feel the heaviness in the air as you enter that jungle. Many discontented souls resided in that dense forest after committing suicide either due to getting lost in the forest or due to depression or loneliness. But I somehow got through it. At one point, I felt like I was done, that this was it; there was no other way to get back, but some divine intervention or what I should call it, snatched me out of that horrifying situation. 

Now, again, I’m stuck in almost similar circumstances as things have started getting spookier; spookier than I could ever imagine. In front of me, I’m seeing a door; a door that has two hands coming out of it as if it’s inviting me to enter through it. But I don’t. I control myself against it. I have seen enough things like this; things that make you greedy and create in you an urge to experience it. But I stay away from it. Then again do I hear a strange distorted voice calling me somewhere from the other side. But I ignore them too. The woods are filled with so much traps and red herrings that if you don’t get cautious or lose your patience and focus a bit, you’ll get trapped in it forever; like a prisoner in a cell, stuck there forever, no idea when to come back. You’ll be imprisoned inside your own psychological trauma for not being able to get out of all this at the right time; you’ll be feeling that sense of regret over and over again for falling for a stupid trap that ruined everything for you. You’ll be having nightmares even in the day. You’ll be the lonely resident of this vast dense forest; the only person to bear all the pain and agony of the already sad and haunting woods. You’ll be here all alone; on your own, scratching your own head for your foolishness and acquisitiveness for some temporary pleasure. You’ll be completely secluded from the outside world; not a single life you’ll see anymore; except those long dark woods staring at you like owls in the dark night.

Then slowly, I move forward with my flashlights on as my surroundings are getting darker and darker as time passes by. I feel a sense of tension filling the gaps between me and the brown wood of the trees as if they will snatch me and eat me out for their dinner. But I regain my strength and move forward. Then out of nowhere I see a light; emanating from a far off distance as a ray of hope. A feeling of hopefulness and happiness starts engulfing my mind as I move towards it. But as I keep moving towards the light, the light itself keep getting away from me like a mirage in a hot desert. Then suddenly the darkness recedes and I only see light in front of me. The source of the light is like a spherical ball and it has a heart. Yes, it has a heart at the centre of it. I can see it pounding as if some creature is breathing through it. But what is this thing? It looks like a human heart, but I don’t think it would be beating outside of a human body, which in this case, is.

Then a sudden realization strikes me. Maybe it’s the heart of this forest, and I’m also maybe at the middle of it all. Maybe the forest breathes its life through it. Maybe it showed me this place deliberately to indicate something; to let me know something; to provide me some information about something that it wants to convey. But I’m no expert in these kinds of spooky and surreal stuff. I am unable to grasp the situation that is happening right in front of me. What to do? I’m just a lonely traveller, came here for some harmless adventure. But this has materialized into something more sinister and bizarre. I have not the slightest idea as to how to cope with this situation. Just moments before, I was talking about how dangerous and harmful these woods can be; and now here I am, plunged into the strangeness and peculiarity of it all. As I look back, there’s nothing but only light. For the first time in my whole life, I get scared of light, not darkness, but light. It’s so unusual, isn’t it? It’s so unusual how we react to certain circumstances and how our perspective takes a complete paradigm shift based on the situation before hand. 

Slowly, I get drenched into the nothingness of everything that is around me. I get soaked into the absurdity and abstractness of it all. The fact that I may be stuck here for eternity, perplexes me and sends down my spine a tremble of horror and despair. Maybe this is it then. Maybe this is what death is. It’s always there; right in front of your eyes. It’s just that it doesn’t make you realize its presence before you until it does, and when it does, it’s all over; your introduction to an absolute void and nothingness.