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The Story Of Fear
#WritcoStoryPrompt7
The old woman dropped her purse, spilling its contents all over the sidewalk. He rushed ahead to help her stopping short when he saw the gun under the purse hiding from my shocked eyes. Why does an old woman carry a gun? Does she even know how to use it? Should he help her? What if she has some criminal background that he don’t of? And most importantly, who would have thought of an old person, roaming around the city, would be carrying a deadly weapon with herself? Is she dangerous? All the thoughts were roaming into his mind. His body and face showed both fear and shock.
The thing about fear is that it clouds our judgment. It makes us go blind and force our bodies to become stone. The great castle of fear resides in all of our heads. But that fear is different for everyone and changes with time and again. When we were small little kids with innocent faces, we feared not existential ghosts. Then as we grew older we feared our mother’s anger and rage. We grew elder, start fearing the demons in our heads, and then at the age of about 25, we start fearing about the society which is never our own. But, they say matters to us more than our own. Later, in life, we start to fear success and loss and at last, we fear losing our life. The fear is constant. It just changes with time and circumstances. Youngsters fear for exams and results, others fear maintaining their relationships, or marriage. Adults fear for their children. Everyone is afraid of something or other.
The woman saw that fear in my eyes and hurriedly placed the gun inside her purse. He don’t know why he did it or what made him do it, but he stopped her. Maybe it was her trembling hands and the fear in her eyes, a far greater than mine. He called her, but she ignored him and started walking faster ahead. He ran to her and asked, “Are you safe?” To which she replied, “Are any women ever? Let it be a small girl to an old lady like me, are we ever safe?”
© Vaish
The old woman dropped her purse, spilling its contents all over the sidewalk. He rushed ahead to help her stopping short when he saw the gun under the purse hiding from my shocked eyes. Why does an old woman carry a gun? Does she even know how to use it? Should he help her? What if she has some criminal background that he don’t of? And most importantly, who would have thought of an old person, roaming around the city, would be carrying a deadly weapon with herself? Is she dangerous? All the thoughts were roaming into his mind. His body and face showed both fear and shock.
The thing about fear is that it clouds our judgment. It makes us go blind and force our bodies to become stone. The great castle of fear resides in all of our heads. But that fear is different for everyone and changes with time and again. When we were small little kids with innocent faces, we feared not existential ghosts. Then as we grew older we feared our mother’s anger and rage. We grew elder, start fearing the demons in our heads, and then at the age of about 25, we start fearing about the society which is never our own. But, they say matters to us more than our own. Later, in life, we start to fear success and loss and at last, we fear losing our life. The fear is constant. It just changes with time and circumstances. Youngsters fear for exams and results, others fear maintaining their relationships, or marriage. Adults fear for their children. Everyone is afraid of something or other.
The woman saw that fear in my eyes and hurriedly placed the gun inside her purse. He don’t know why he did it or what made him do it, but he stopped her. Maybe it was her trembling hands and the fear in her eyes, a far greater than mine. He called her, but she ignored him and started walking faster ahead. He ran to her and asked, “Are you safe?” To which she replied, “Are any women ever? Let it be a small girl to an old lady like me, are we ever safe?”
© Vaish
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