Short Story: The Other Side

I kept searching for the light, any sign that would show me the end of the tunnel. I was tired as I stumbled on endlessly.

I came to Door No. 1. I reached out and turned the handle, wishing for the way out. I opened it and I found myself blinded by bright lights. For a moment I could not focus on anything, until the brightness faded.

I found myself in a room full of people. There was a table in the middle of the room, with plenty of food on the table. There was a huge birthday cake also, and a boy stood in front of it. He looked to me to be no more than five years old, and I noticed a man and a woman behind him whispering something to him. It seemed that they were telling him to blow out the candles. The other grown-ups were urging him too, while the kids looked bored and uninterested.

The small boy blew out the candles, after closing his eyes for a while. He looked very happy. I could see both of his parents beaming proud at him while the other adults in the room each wore a smile on their face. Everyone clapped their hands when the candles were blown out. Everyone joined in the celebration, the delightful mood cast its effects on everyone in the room, including me.

I started to walk in the direction of the table, so glad that I was able to escape the darkness and join these people, even though I did not know any of them. As I was about to reach the group, everything started to dissolve in front of my eyes. The boy turned his eyes to me and I notice how bright his green eyes were. He was looking straight at me and he seemed to be conveying a message through his powerful gaze. Then, the room dissolved, and I was once again engulfed by the darkness.

I cried out, distressed that my escape seemed to be only an illusion and I was terrified that I would never find the way out. I scrambled to find the door again, all the while screaming for this torture to end. I felt tired but I told myself to keep going. It felt like a long time before I came to Door No. 2.

Glad that I finally found my escape, I quickly opened the door. Just as before, bright lights assaulted my vision when I entered the room. My eyes quickly adjusted to the light and I was able to take my first view of the new room. It was the side of a street and I was facing the wall. My mind registered the scene which was taking place. There was a group of teenagers who were spray-painting words on the wall. 

Strangely, I had a sudden urge to laugh. I was perplexed by the scene but nevertheless, was quite affected by the calm atmosphere and the normalcy of the situation. Gradually, my body relaxed and I began to think that I had successfully made it out of the tunnel! Even though it seemed to lead me to this place–which I found it to be disconnected from my last predicament, but life indeed was full of random events. Normal, random events. Quite suddenly, the room dissolved like the previous one and I cried out for everything not to go away.

I was again stuck in the tunnel. This time, I was not scared or disappointed. Instead, I was extremely angry; angry at the delusion, angry at my present situation, and everything else. I walked on grudgingly, albeit with a certain determination to find a way out of this damn tunnel, and I was doing it because I didn't want to surrender my will. I walked on bitterly until at last, I came to Door No. 3.

I opened the door quite harshly and braced myself for the bright lights, only this time there wasn't any. My eyes immediately focused on the scene in the present room. There was an utter chaos. I was in the streets and I could see everything falling apart. The buildings looked like they had been blown away, there were a lot of people running in every direction; men, women and children. I could see tanks rolling on the streets and men in military uniform shooting wildly at the people. There were some who stood up against the soldiers but they were few and a lot others seemed to be nothing more than regular people. It was like there were two sides fighting each other while a great number of others were stuck in the middle. There was absolutely no order. Everyone was shouting, and crying at the same time. Gone was the normalcy of Room No. 2 or the cheery atmosphere of Room No. 1.

I put my hands on both of my ears to block the noise. I wished that this room would dissolve faster and I’d be back in the darkness. I didn't care if I was stuck in the tunnel for a long time, I just wished to escape this madness. I noticed a young man walking towards a tank which was headed straight at him. His clothes were torn in many places and I could see that there were several injuries on his body. He looked so calm as he walked up to the giant contraption. He had a rifle in his hands and as I looked on, I began to understand what he was doing.

I yelled at him to run, and abandoned his foolish attempt at retaliation. His scores were badly outnumbered and that there was no way he was going to survive. It was suicide. I ran to him, no longer caring about everything else happening all around me. I wanted to save him, even though I didn't exactly understand why.

He was lifting his rifle towards the tank. Just as he was about to fire, three shots rang out of nowhere. The young man clutched his chest and turned in my direction. He was looking straight at me. I noticed the bright green eyes and with startling clarity, it hit me.

I was shocked with the sudden revelation but even more shocking, I watched as a soldier run straight through me, as if I was some kind of apparition. He appeared to be the one who had fired the shots. I watched as he ran to the man, now lying on his side on the road and fired another bullet to the man’s head. The man went limp and I knew with all certainty that he was dead.

Even as the room dissolved and I was again returned to the darkness, I could not stop myself from crying. I did not understand whatever the scene in the last room was or why I was crying for the man, whom I knew nothing about. I could sense that there was an unfairness to everything that had happened but I couldn't figure out what it was.

I lay there in the gloom, not wanting to go on. The man through his short appearance had affected me in more ways than I could ever imagine. At that moment, I was clueless of everything. I just wanted to give up and let fate present the answer for me. But of course, it was never meant to be easy.

I could feel that somehow, I needed to go on.

I stood up and started to walk again. This time around, I had a feeling that the next door would lead me to my way out. I continued on, with a renewed determination and a hardened desire. I refused to succumb, and like the young man, no matter what the ending was, I would try and do my best to get up. I would stand up and fight. I refused to give up.

A door emerged in front of me. It materialised out of nothing and suddenly, it opened and blinding lights washed all over me. I stood there closing my eyes for a second and when I opened them I instantly knew that I had made it home.