The Seventeenth Day

A story of struggle and survival based in the twentieth century Thailand.

I didn’t know where I was or how I reached there. All I remembered of last night was the third degree and Phibun, that devil.

I could not recall the last of Kim. Nor the last time she had touched me. But still, I felt her sitting beside me. Running her soft fingers through my hair.

However something always reminded me of my surroundings. That was my gut. I had not eaten anything for the last fifteen days.

I was in some sort of cell with no light or food.

I could no longer feel my fingers, toes, tongue or anything at all. The last sign of humanity I could summon was the thousand lashes and the wax tub.

But still, I was happy that I could not feel the physical pain however, it was Kim who would become an agenda for life. I desperately wanted to go back and enjoy life with her.

Yet, what could I do lying lifeless in this piece of vacuum. It had been fifteen days since the last time I had touched a speck of grain. My cubical had unlimited water but no life so, I desperately felt the thirst.

It was no problem for me to disintegrate but I didn’t want to rot. So, I decided to confront.

I decided I was on a mission for life. Struggling for each breath. To be known as a survivor.

First of all, I had to find a scratch to start with. So, I decided to start from the walls. It seemed as forever knocking the walls to find a hollow space. I didn’t meet success but I was happy as I felt the walls in my favour. That gave me hope but no luck.

Next, I tried the crevice. But before I could reach for it, I collapsed.

I woke up only after my gut. I felt so weak. As lifeless as a strand of hair. Consequently I collapsed again. And, history repeated itself, my paunch woke me up.

This time I gathered the courage to stand up. My back refused to budge and my legs gave away. But I still had my upper motor skills. I dragged myself up to the point where I could begin.

My nails where an inch long so, I tried to dig through the cavity but I had forgotten that they had pulled them out.

I collapsed.

This time, something else woke me up. I don’t know what but it felt like a spider by the speed that it was crawling on my face. I knew that where there were spiders, there was life. But who could follow it.

I found my way to the wall, dragged myself to lean against it and just sat there wondering what the people world might be doing.

Kim might be getting a facial. Mom would be drying clothes and Dad probably read the newspaper with his usual coffee. Now, John might also have been out of tears crying on the top of his lungs for his father. Lady Mary would still be going to the pub waiting for someone who till day, might not have come.

 It was my gut which now told me that it had been sixteen days since the last meal. It started to pain. I tried to get up. My legs gave away and my stomach forced me down. But, I lay there full of hope.

I tried again and managed to stand.

I wanted to walk. Walk away. But I was a helpless man. I let out a bellow. But was use was it. I tried to lift my right leg with my hands. I shouted in pain. So loud that even Phibun might have heard it in his villa.

And I walked. Walked like a dead man. But as proud as an alive one.

Like this, I learned to walk. Sometimes, I would bang myself into the wall. But what was the wall before my stomach.

 One day, I was walking with the wall and suddenly in toppled over something. It could have been only the tap.

But, as I leaned beside it, I had the flash of genius. I found back the hope. I would finally live. Go back to Kim. To Mom and Dad. To John.

I drank some water. It tasted divine. It tasted like honey.

The tap felt like nothing. Just one more hurdle. The passage to life.

So, I tugged hard till I could no longer feel my body. The tap didn’t seem to budge. But I was determined. With every pull, I let out a shriek. My throat felt numb. But I kept on tugging. I felt the tap move. Hope rose. I pulled with all my life. The tap seemed to move some more.

 I was now shouting and pulling till either my bones gave away or the tap. My lungs seemed to be spit out of my body. I pulled and pulled and pulled.

And finally, the tap gave away.

The force of the water caused me to fall back. The water on my face felt as fresh as ever.

The tap was still in my hand. I was now laughing. Like life was now a joke to me. I held the tap above my head and threw it. It lost into the darkness. I heard it bounce somewhere far off and that was the last of it.

I was now laughing at the top of my lungs. I was no more hungry. My stomach pained no more.

But, I was now out of life. All my hope was done for.

I didn’t want anything more.

This time, I didn’t collapse, but lay there, gathering all my thoughts to depart with.

The room now had ankle length water. And so had I stopped laughing.

I closed my eyes. My lips curved into a big smile as I lay lifeless in the darkness, waiting for eternity.

And I realized, it was the seventeenth day.

 

Author's Note

"Phibun" is the nickname of the military dictator of Thailand at the time in which the story is based. Please notify me if there are any grammatical errors. THANK YOU FOR READING!!!