Inaction

In all sincerity, I was so tired that day. It was a stressful day at work: it rained heavily, yet, my boss won’t cease to send me on an errand. I can’t picture how I got home, either the bus stopped in front of my house or I trekked down from the junction of my home. I took my shoes off and unknot my ties while on my bed. I tried to strip down my shirt and trouser, but the hands did not move. I lay down succumbing to my present state. Facing up, the ceiling appeared to be shaking. Not to witness its fall, I close my eyes firmly. “Nothing happened?” I asked myself, hoping to hear some chaotic sound. I vow not to look at the ceiling again. I gaze at the chair as it appears to be glorious. “Is this paradise?”My heart mumbled. The chair looked like a strong old man, sitting alone in the last light of the sun. The light of the sun wraps around him and his soft golden feathers flips gently. His eyes shone with the pure fire of a great purpose. My gaze searched his face, like a rabbit solving an enigma. His senses counselled him to be still. However, the more I tried to decipher his countenance, the more his appearance faded away into an inscription on the wall of my room. My face caught the full motion of the speedy writings. 

“Do you want to?” The inscription asked in a yellow handwriting, slowly.

“What?” I retorted as my eyes seemed to dismissed its shadow.

“Want to be in Paradise?” The inscription wrote fast in pink..

I nodded in affirmative.

“Touch me now.” It writes again, this time faster and in blue ink.. 

The inscription was soused. I never mind. I thought of all the good deed I have done on earth. “At least they are quite a lot and sufficient to make paradise,” My mind whispered to me. My eyes had a twinkle of reminiscent delight. In a second, I remembered the bad deeds I have committed on earth. My heart was torn with conflict. Would the heaven indicate green on me or red on me? I got rid of the bad deeds immediately when I weighed the probability. “It would be a good result, since I have one of the heavenly hosts with me,” my heart asserted itself and my grin was suddenly covered with a decent smile. 

It was a long and fast journey. I was about to questioned the inscription and then the heaven’s border appeared. I saw the border of the heaven, two metres away from our present atmospheric location. 

“Hold firmly,” says a thick voice that I had never heard.

 I quickly hold firmly to the inscription without questioning the alien voice.

 My head tilted and I saw that I was dragging my soaked mattress cover. I squinted as I perceive it was all imagination. I was still weak and unable to move my body from it static post. As incredible the imagery was, I had for a moment forgotten. I tried to regain it but it was not forthcoming. I wrapped my hands against my chest. 

Slumping back into my former position, I ran my hand along the mattress cover. The fabric was soaked, as water from my body dripped into it and rough, as some of the thread had come loose along its edges. Yet, it appeared to as new my latest shirt. Reassuring.

Even with the aid of a pillow to rest my floundering head, it won’t balance the way I wanted. I felt the stiff coat of weariness that once besiege me crumble.

And then I could hear the vibrating intensity of noise. The uproar caused by screamers. The noise won’t stop as it seems, it kept on intensifying. At least, I was able deduced some words from the uproar. 

“Fire!” 

“God!” 

“Save!” 

I tried to align and decode these words. They sound like heavenly messages to my ear. After a-two-minute of persevere ransacking of my brain, the meanings of those words became clearer to me. A house was on fire. I was not sure if it was my house. The uproar sound more crystal to me now. It was my neighbours screaming. My house was set ablaze.

I wanted to call for rescue but as I opened my mouth, no word came forth. 

I did not know how I could save myself – my room was surrounded by fire. But, I knew that I must save myself and my precious possessions.

“If it weren’t for my boss that sends me a lot of errand today, I would have saved my luxuries,” I murmured. “Probably it was the rain that rained cats and dogs that made me tired” another voice whispered. I 

My window cotton is already engulfed with savage fire. My look could tell that I needed help but, nobody was there to see it.

My face lit with fire of decisions: to burn with my luxuries or to stand from my helpless state.

I made moves to reach for a nearby the shelf near my bed stand, but, my efforts were futile. It was only my hands and head that were moving, all the other parts preferred to be static. I tried to pull out my Samsung A5 and use it to call, but, it seemed my pocket won’t release it.

I am not sure if it I heard footsteps. I listen keenly. And then I heard sound of running feet like that of a kangaroo. 

“I found him,” shouted one of the fire fighters.

Help me, I said in a sound heard by me only and then my eyes stared at them unseeingly.

I was carried out and I could hear a lot of voices praising the fire fighters. Some praised God.

“What is your name man?” asked a man in white linen.

I stare at my immediate surroundings. It was a hospital. 

My stare dissolved.

“I am Ayspecial by name,” I replied seeing that I am getting comfy with my body system.

The rest is a story.