dreams fiction short story

It Was His Birthday And Like Every Other Year, He Had The Same Dream That Forced Him To Go Back In Time

( words)
*For representational purpose only.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETHEART!” That's exactly what Abhay was waiting for. To hear the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, from Sarah, the girl he knew for half a decade now and who he fell more and more in love with with each passing day and so did she.

She was mesmerisingly beautiful. It was a pleasure to see her midnight black hair flowing till her shoulders, a radiant smile on her lips, nerdy glasses hiding her big beautiful brown eyes. All this made her Abhay’s goddess and something every man would wish for. Abhay was indeed lucky to be blessed with such a woman in his life.

Abhay, who’d turned 28, still pretending to stare at his workstation screen, suddenly turned around to look at Sarah and thanked her for the wishes but was speechless seeing her disarming smile. Sarah understood and started another conversation for a day out together as promised by him, far from the work and far from the busy city.

Though Abhay could hardly resist anything she asked for, this time it was a big NO. Being the understanding girl that she was, Sarah didn’t protest or utter a word, guessing the reason behind his negation. She looked into his eyes, whispering to him that she will always be there by his side.

The same day, early morning when the temperature in the city was low, Abhay was in deep sleep, wrapped in his blanket, sweating as if he was on fire. The dream was nothing new to him. He had seen it before, every year before his birthday, trying to find missing links about what all the symbols in his dream meant.

What was it about this time?

A black beautiful horse with powerful and sculpted muscular limbs — proud, sleek, bold, acting crazy without his master, standing at the ceremonial palace room of an old fort that was glittering with gold — amazing infrastructure, graceful domes carved with marvellous art, huge mirrors. A handsome warrior, with a strong gilded armour on his perfect shoulders covering his fitting waist, strong golden helmet covering his head, menacing fearless sword shining in his right hand, athletic muscular body and revenge in his eyes, cuts over his left arm and rest of his body bleeding till his fingertips. Still not a hint of pain to make him look weak. Such an invincible warrior!

The ceremonial palace room was occupied by the King and his subject. A flawless, enticing woman was smiling pleasantly at the warrior. A few yards away from him, she was tied to a metal rack for her impending execution. All this made Abhay restless. He could catch a glimpse of some more scenes, but the more he tried to concentrate on them, the more they seemed blurred.

The moment the beautiful woman was about to be executed, Abhay woke up.

Wide awake, he was breathing heavy as if he’d run for miles — scared, confused. This was nothing new to Sarah. Abhay was always open to her about his dreams. She knew he would see this dream. All this was revisited by Abhay when Sarah was looking into his eyes and talking to him. Abhay wasn’t Abhay for that moment and Sarah kept calling his name over and over again. He appeared to be lost in his land of dreams.

Abhay came back to his senses. He smiled back at Sarah and asked her for lunch. He had already planned a lunch date at the nearby restaurant. He did not forget to reserve a table and pre-order Sarah’s favorite food.

Suddenly, Abhay got a call on his personal phone. It was his mother’s call. She was another beautiful woman in his life he had admired since the first day he had opened his eyes. He respected and loved his mother. His mother asked him about how his day had been so far and was inquiring if all his dear friends had wished him on his birthday. She wished him again and hung up.

Twenty-eight years ago, same day, the dark clouds began to gather in the sky.

The weather was so devastating that it was life threatening. The stormy winds were all over the Old Wall. It was a sparsely populated village, not more than five hundred villagers. The village was located at the base of the mountains. The ancestors in the village used to treat the huge mountains as a wall, so the village was named as 'Old Wall'. It was surrounded by wooden fencing and massive entrance structure made of a wooden trunk with a weak door.

People were trying their best to avoid calamities and to be safer from this furious weather. Trespassing of wild animals was no new to the villagers. The village committee used to take all safety and security measures in order to avoid any human causality. But due to the severe rains and thunderstorm, the villagers were unsafe, helpless and wild animals would turn towards the village to find shelter. Few miles away from the village boundary, there was a small hospital. The villagers were thankful to the committee for their endeavours to provide the uninterrupted medical service. It was open day and night and could be approached by villagers any time. No matter how bad the conditions were in the village, the doctors used to serve the people.

Few hours after the sunset, when the weather was about to be unpleasant and was getting worse, a couple arrived at the hospital in Raghav’s bullock cart. The woman named 'Mai' was in an unendurable pain. The man named 'Deva' holding her hands, helped her step up to enter the hospital. The doctors understood the situation and admitted Mai. The level of agony was something she never wanted to go through again. She was about to bring a new life into this world. Deva, who was sitting outside was praying to all Gods for no complexities.

The suffering Mai was going through was reflected in nature. As the intensity of pain increased, the weather was severing in the village. Villagers had never experienced such an outrage from nature. This was something they had never expected. They felt the village was about to get wiped out due to the rain and stormy winds. Few villagers with the help of the priest started offering their prayers to Gods.

Finally, the baby boy was born. Suddenly the storm, wind, rain and thunders stopped. There was silence all over. The mother nature pretended as if she was welcoming someone. Mai was happy, out of the agony and relieved. Deva came in to see his newborn son. Deva was on cloud nine. He held the baby, hugged and smiled at Mai. Mai and Deva had been married for a few years and finally, God had fulfilled their only wish. Mai had already started thinking what her son would be named after.

As the hospital was out of sufficient resources to accommodate Mai and her son, the doctor requested them to move back to their home. In order to ensure the safety of Mai and her son, the lady nurse was accompanied with few required medications for the baby and his mother. Raghav was waiting in his bullock cart that was parked under the hospital shelter.

It was time for Mai, Deva, Raghav and lady nurse to head back to the village. As soon as Mai was stepping down with the help of her husband and the lady nurse, she looked straight towards the black dark night. She saw glowing eyes in a row staring at her. She tried to get in a bullock cart with all her remaining strength but she sensed all the glowing eyes were the wild animals around the mountains. Everyone in the cart predicted the danger and Raghav rode the bullock cart towards the village.

As soon as the cart started, the eyes start following them.

Raghav tried his best to ride the cart faster, but in vain, the glowing eyes started running with the cart. As the cart was about to reach the village boundaries, the wild horses and the pack of wolves surrounded the bullock cart. The villagers from far away could see the cart coming towards the entrance with the glowing eyes surrounding it. This was new to all the villagers.

Even this came as a surprise to Mai and all others in the cart. It appeared from a distance as if the cart was guarded and led by the Alpha, the leader of the wolf pack pack and wild horses. The bullock cart reached its destination.

Mai got down from the cart and held the baby in her hands. The wolf pack and the horses made a stunning lane to walk Mai till the door of her house. Everyone was amazed seeing the nature welcoming the baby. The Alpha was standing between the door and Mai holding her son. No one had seen this before and possibly would not see in the future anytime soon.

Mai was afraid, the baby was sleeping peacefully and she had no clue what would happen the next moment. Deva, on the other hand, was in a dilemma whether he should respect the wolves or throwback fire at them for his son’s safety. He thought for a while and took no action. He left the decision to Gods. The Alpha howled seeing the moon and the rest of the pack joined him.

The Alpha was stronger, a genuine leader, fearless, impressive and a perfect guardian to a newborn. His eyes were determined, so was his purpose. The Alpha let Mai enter her house. In sometime, the pack and the horses left and joined the darkness of the forest. Deva was shocked to see such a wild get together settled in harmony with no bloodshed. The night passed by.

Another pleasant day at Old Wall, Deva and Mai were busy, as the villagers rushed to bless the baby boy who last night had a peace treaty with the wilderness. Many villagers named him as “Saviour from Wild”. Though there was so much chaos, Mai indulged herself into brainstorming for naming her baby boy.

It was so difficult for her to narrow down to one single meaningful name. Days passed by, months passed by. The baby was few months old. Everything was changing fast. Baby boy started to crawl a bit, all around his home. One thing Mai noticed did not change were the glowing eyes.

Every night before she was about to go to sleep, she would stare out of the window and would see the glowing eyes in a row staring at her house.
Once early morning, when it was dark, the baby boy started crying aloud conveying to her mother that he needed fresh air. Mai took him out in the garden and let him crawl on the ground. He suddenly started to crawl quick, rushing to catch something. Mai followed to pick him up. Before she could do that, he had already crashed into Alpha’s legs.

Mai was horrified to death, endless thoughts in her mind. She was not able to scream for help, what if the wolf picked up her son and ran away. She was powerless and weak seeing her first born in danger. The remaining wolves in the pack surrounded the baby. The baby was happy, playing with the Alpha, bending his ears, kissing him on his nose. The Alpha licked the baby’s head back as the sign of companionship and friendship. The baby seemed delighted with his new company of friends.

All of a sudden, the baby boy looked at his horrified mother. Mai saw his eyes glowing for a second before they were back to normal. She was way behind understanding this prodigy. The Alpha bent at his knees and surrendered himself to the baby. Seeing the rest of the wolves doing the same,
Mai was left speechless.

Her question was answered by nature itself, what she should name her first born and she whispered, “ABHAY”, fearless, bold, brave and courageous. That’s how Abhay was named.

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