Poetry

The Creeping Shadow

40 Comments

Hiding behind the curtains of the dilapidated room
she hoped he wouldn’t notice her,
the heaving from the recent escape hadn’t stop
and her snuffle was breaking the monotony of the assumed silence

It was cold as hell,
but the beads of sweat
were fast covering her temple,
pulled by the gravity
finding its way
rolling down her nose
and her perspiring visage,
tickling her on its descend

She dared to raise her hand to rest her sensation,
and during the tussle with her mind, unaware,
in an attempt to put her urge to rest
she scratched her countenance
and in the process
she made the table next to her wobble

The empty goblet on the table rushed down,
and before she could comprehend
it crashed mercilessly on the ground
shattering to million pieces
making a few shards pierced her skin,
and the unruly blood dripped on the floor

But the gore was least of her worries,
what troubled her the most
was the cacophony she created
and her worst fears became true
when she saw an obnoxious shadow
falling on the tainted pale curtain
formed by the lone dim light on the wall

Unsure what to do
she pressed her eyes hard
but she couldn’t escape the hand that approached her
she screamed on top of her lung
but it didn’t help,
for the grip on her shoulder was steadily becoming firm

she squealed again
this time her voice got curtailed in her throat like a lump thwarted in disdain
and with a sudden jerk
she raised her head
only to realize it was just a dream

Though she was transiently out of the plight
her fears were still very much alive,
the dream was unreal,
but the evil standing next to her
and his atrocities were real,
making her restless,
delirious,
and aberrantly despising each one of her long treasured beliefs

Copyright © Shantanu Baruah

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Shantanu Baruah and ckonfab.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

40 thoughts on “The Creeping Shadow”

  1. Oh gosh! This really held me. Couldn’t wait to see what happened. Great write Shontanu

  2. Your words increased my heart beat in anticipation, waiting for the suspense to unfold. You definitely did a good job in holding on to the undivided attention of the reader Shantanu!

  22. This is so skillfully done.I loved the way you have vividly created the fear and the angst in the protagonist mind and ended with a twist.Brilliant

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.