There Is A Hand Floating In The Lake

My first amateur foray into the prose macabre...It's not frightening...

I cannot say for how long I have been sitting here. A dreary place. It is an autumn noon. A park bench. A serene lake. Under the simpering bright sun I am sitting on the bench with a gloomy face.

Yes, gloom. Gloom of all kinds. They foretold it long ago. My parents. They’ve shunned me like a crow finds a cuckoo foundling and kicks it out of her nest. I am literally a vagabond now sans hope of any reconciliation.

YOU ARE DEAD FOR US! The eyes of my father popped out like those of a facial contortionist.

I am dead. I am sitting on a park bench. Dead yet breathing. Some dead leaves are chasing each other gaily on the bank of the park lake. Lap! One of them gets swallowed by the tongue of a hungry wave. That’s me. I am gone. Gone from my friends, my parents, my acquaintances. I am dead. Yet breathing.

Somewhere from the Republic of Foresight a voice has been nagging me for long. I lack means of expression. I forget words to defend myself in the crucial moment. I know how easily my mates find themselves in comfort when it gets to talking and resolving hostility. I woo the fire instead by my hapless remarks. I always thought I was the wiseman. It’s clear to me now. I’ve made a fool out of myself all along.

I incensed the girl whom I loved. Thanks to my dumb knowledge in her language. She might have been busy and couldn’t help ignoring me for awhile. I told her she was a “fickle” friend and Bob’s your uncle - she dumped me forever. I thought the word “fickle” would sound impressive to her. I’ve looked up at the word in the dictionary- changing often and suddenly. It’s nothing offensive. But it dawned upon me slowly. She took things seriously. I never imagined those beautiful blue eyes can burn a bright blue fire when in anger. I am a petty trinket of her past now.

I am dead for her too. I am sitting on a park bench and I don’t know for how long I have been sitting like this. I am not an expert sight-seer. I wish Phoebe was sitting beside me. She knows what names those trees are called.

Under the chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me…

There is no chestnut tree here. Some garish green leaves hanging from some lean stems. A bunch of more dead leaves have just joined the eternal chase-game on the bank. Some of them too tired to run anymore, lying and panting.

The thought of night has come to my mind and made me shiver. Where will I go? I have a lot of friends who do not know my parents well. Edmond is a good fellow. I can call him right now. But my phone is without charge for a long time and probably dead now. Like me. I am dead for everyone. No one gives a damn what I am doing right now. But I can be really dead! But it is painful. Some wise man said something brilliant about death once upon a time. I cannot remember.

I am trying to imagine what the newspaper will write about me if by any chance my father toils a little harder to find out my whereabouts. Missing and such and such….shame in the family but I don’t care! I’ll be a real fugitive but sometime in the end I’ll have to give up the chase. Dead or alive. It will be shameful to return alive. But it will be less painful than ending up dead.

I am feeling jealous of everyone. How happily they are settled in their respective places! No anomaly! I’m the only anomaly! I belong nowhere. I am a walking curse.

I am not chucking away the idea of ending up dead…

A hand! Somewhere in the lake! Yes, it is beckoning me to jump! I am ready!

There is definitely something floating in the lake. Yes, a hand! A severed one. As if from a mannequin. No! It has blood coagulated around its severed edge. It seems it’s moving. No, no! How can a dead hand move? Maybe the effect of the waves! I’ve come closer to the thing. A woman’s hand. White, thin and graceful fingers. A diamond ring twinkling under the sun…

 

 

Wink my diamond, wink at my eyes…

In your twinkling in your light I smile…

You’ve spread your dreams in my eyes…

For them I’ve lived this long…

For them I shall forever be alive…

 

    

Reviews

[RTrenbath]

Wow. It reminded me of all the times I ran away from home, to sit atop a hill that overlooked the town where I grew up. There I would look down and imagine myself as somebody else, somebody separate. This brought it all back to me. Up until the last paragraph, of course - I've never had a severed and bloody hand raise out of a lake that beckoned me to jump. Chilling!

[saad]

awesome! a bit hard for me to understand!

[Coyote Poetry]

A amazing story. You brought me in and held me to the last word. I like the feel and the desire of this poem. I like the ending to the excellent poem.
Coyote

[Priyanka Natesh]

I was moved beyond words reading this. Your works have a lasting impact.

It's perfect.

[Ripple of Aqua]

my imagination instantly spun when I wasn't even finished reading this! It's amazing Sujash!

[msharma]

An excellent way of portrayal ,loved the style of writing,varied imaginations cling together giving it a real blend.Keep going.

[Bonnie Hines]

I like the way you put so much feeling into the story. You can hear the despair of the protagonist though the entire piece and can relate to him on alot of levels. Keep up the good work :]