I had asked for lots in my life but not all were fulfilled, and the one that did fulfill left me all emptied. It was on the 13th of October as I still do recall, I wasn’t much of a positive person but I had been diagnosed positive. Positive of cancer. I got the reports and I sent him a letter.

All alone in this new town it was only him that I had encountered, that too many a times.

And with each confrontation he’d teach a lesson. Since I had no one to talk to I’d seek his presence at times, when I would be over stressed or frustrated. But I’d seek his avoidance when he came approaching. Was I shy? Or was he violent?

So I had sent him this letter and he was well aware about my condition. I just waited for his visit. It was all dark in there, it still is. “I’ll be coming soon”, a voice murmured; it was him. I opened my eyes (it was a dream). Now, I was bound inside this cage all covered in wires. The ‘chemo therapy thing’ had begun. The meds and the anesthetics diverted my mind and left me all dizzy; it was when I needed him the most. I cursed myself for not letting him near; I cursed myself for avoiding him. I’d break into tears, the tears that cried his name. 

Just like a rotten piece of meat I lay on the bed and kept staring at the daffodils. It was on this one fine morning, as I lay still and helpless covered in wires and caged in the bed, he walked in. Yes he did. My eyes got wet with a little bit of sorrow and more in happiness. He was coming closer. After all the pain and crave he had finally come, I smirked. He came closer, closer than ever before and this time I let him. With his arms around me; he held me tighter and it was his embrace that set me free.

Yes, free from this miserable world. The world that had named him ‘death’.
 
Neha is a high school graduate from St Xavier’s College, Maitighar.