Sleep

Sleeping can be a ghastly process.

As you face a conundrum with your half open eyes, devil whispers “Come to me” in your ears. Images of your hard working day displayed in front of you,

“Close your eyes” he says.

“You deserve it” he says.

Evil eyes and a wily smile. A woman with long nails and a red nail polish signals you to enter the cave. “Come hither” echoes all around. The lady puts a finger on her lips and suddenly with a “Shhh...” the world stands still, everything around seems redundant, all attention is focused on the cave. The cave seems to be calling your name. There is a little di caprio inside you saying “you had my curiosity, now you have my attention”. There is a part of you waiting to be one with the dark. It reaches out and grabs her hand and seconds after what seemed like eternity, you are in.

A sigh of relief, a feeling of comfort builds around you, only to last till the time you realise a creaking sound that represents a heavy steel door shutting right behind you. As you turn your bulged eyes, filled with surprise and dismay, back to the lady, the scenario has totally changed. The cave has been lit by helices of fire, bringing to light things that you would rather prefer be in dark.

“Welcome to your sleep” the lady thunders, showcasing the canines hidden behind her red lips and oh by the way you also notice the sticky red fluid you are standing on. Its origin can be traced back to a sound which goes like “tak..tak..tak..tak..tak..” A harmonious and efficient use of a knife in a chef’s hand. The machine being one with the man. There is a body lying on his table and he starts with the feet, dissecting layer by layer like carrots and beans. As his left hand makes its way up, the right as if under strict orders, slices with a clean action whatever volume is available. Within minutes a human body is converted to salad, ready to be served with appropriate dressing.

Your dumbfounded silence and not to mention a feeling that is summed aptly by Constable Clarks words to Sherlock Holmes “Panic. Sheer bloody panic, sir!”, is broken by yet another creaking sound. Damn! You must hate them by now. It is sort of a dragging creak from a chair that the lady is bringing around. She is approaching you slowly and steadily. You might have found it seductive had you not been in a pickle right now and as you curse the timings of these pickles she is approaching while dragging a chair along. The legs of the chair, apart from making that obnoxious sound, are scratching the thick blood stains on the ground. For a moment you feel sorry for the sound, it probably is the cry of agony while trying to leave from whatever this is.

As the lady comes next to you and stations herself on the chair. The lights in the cave brighten and you are greeted by gathering of people also stationed on chairs. Their faces speak of the eagerness with which they wait for something to happen. You obviously have no idea who are these people or what is going to happen to you, so you take one choice that almighty has trained you for. The one skill that you are a master of. You try to turn your back and run for it. But, oh no you can’t. The blood beneath has glued you, the fear has struck you motionless. You sir are asleep. You can’t run. You can’t hide. All you can do is stand helpless waiting for whatever is going to happen. As your subconscious lingers about all the invasive strategies the villains apply in movies, she stands up to address the gathering. As wise Theoden might say “So it begins”.

“You can start you bidding now” says the lady, looking dismissively towards you as if saying “that’s right you are being auctioned”

The feeling on your face starts with absurdness and later dissipates into submissiveness. With every bid that the seated gentlemen make your humanity drains out a little and by the time this process ends you feel like a chained animal. Lady gladly gives your reins to your proud owner. You are now officially his property.

“You sleep when I say, you wake when I say” commands the proud owner, and suddenly in a moment of sheer brilliance an idea pops in your mind. You can just wake up. Screw the lady, screw the chef and screw the bloody owner. Open your eyes and kiss this nightmare goodbye. So, with all the strength that was left, you push your eyelids apart and voila! You are awake!

But, before you could take a sigh of relief, you are greeted with glaring looks, shouting people, ringing phones and assiduous alarm clocks and you wonder if all that was reality after all.