IN SEARCH OF....

Seated a few yards away from the edge of the lake, ‘Karich’ was letting his eyes wonder aimlessly about the scene in front, trying to take everything in to him as far and wide as his eyes could see. The area in which he was was a simple meadow with distinctive patches of grass which were overgrown and not maintained, spread throughout in an uneven manner where it gradually receded towards the lake bank. The meadow was endlessly laid out with tiny flowers in white which were generally hidden by the haphazard growth of grass, while the rest were hidden by the settled dew, overpowering the entire meadow- shining and glistering as if tiny majestic pearls were spewed all over the place. The scene which was presented in front of him evoked a strange sense of nostalgia, as if reminding him of a place he had visited previously with a greater sense of tangibility, as if he had sat in the same place or somewhat similar, breathed the smooth pleasant air all around him, but however hard he racked his memories and got close to what it was he was unable to grasp it, and felt the memory slipping away. Aimlessly watching at the soundless landscape in front of him, the lake itself was stretched out endlessly as far as one’s eyes could reach, although it was bounded by several ranges of mountains of pale blue color. The silhouettes of the mountain ranges progressively lightened successively towards the back, but it was just a tad bit darker compared to the distant sky. Contrastingly, the mountains aided as a guide in estimating the vast stretch of the lake. Although distantly large yet quite tiny, confining ranges, they expanded the thoughts of Karich’s, provoking his imagination and his feelings to ponder about reaching out to the world beyond it. While gazing at all this, letting his mind run out, occasionally Karich would hear a somewhat silent smooth buzz, similar to that of an insect which was also very vaguely familiar, but just as the memory of the place, this too didn’t seem to be promising. The sound would gradually increase with a repeating buzzing note at a set period of intervals and then vanish altogether, yet the sweet morning scenery was so strong it distracted him from the seemingly insignificant sound once it was gone. A few hours ago, the stars which were once shining brilliantly on a moonless night sky, though the illumination casted on the landscape all around him was quite faint and had a haunting sense. With the glorious birth of the sun, the stars gradually began to lose their brilliance, gradually fading…, going off one at a time as the sun’s radiance grew in strength with each passing minute. The sky, which was once devoid of anything and everything except the tiny multitude of stars, was now stationed with clouds of enormous size- even further than the distant mountains, stacked upon each other. The tops are larger and very broad, in a sense, to the bottom; the base, closer to the mountains, was very narrow, giving an overall impression to one that it might topple and collapse and destroy everything around him. In contrast to the larger clouds in the distance, the ones which were much closer were just in an abstract manner; distorted, stretched and uneven, more like the work of a child playing with a ball of cotton. Even though the overall shapes were comparatively different, the clouds in the distance had a strong distinctive feeling to- dominating the rest of the environment. At the moment, the sun, which had risen for quite some time from the left, kept going steadily in its motion- for now Karich expected the time to be somewhere around ten or eleven or even in between in the morning. This estimation was due to the fact that he would usually wear his watch whenever he was outdoors. It supposedly should have been bound to his left wrist but at the moment it was not in its due place serving its purpose. This, too, at this moment, was apparently irrelevant and the mere fleeting thought of it was just so trivial in comparison to what was happening before him. zzp...........zzp...........zzp...........zzp...........zzp...........zzp...........zzp...........zzp........... For a moment Karich was distracted as the buzzing came out of nowhere suddenly, though gradually increasing from a minor, like that of a simple but rather a silent flutter of an insect's wings beating, and suddenly coming to an abrupt stop, since the sound was not so profound and felt like it came from somewhere far away Karich was not bothered enough to at least give a simple thought or search for the source of it. The dew had completely disappeared or, when carefully observed, a rather small fraction of it still remained; glistering in a feeble manner, almost gasping for their remaining life, reflecting the rays of the sun through the shadows as the heat had just begun to penetrate under the grass blades which had been wet and cool a few moments ago.  Now cross-legged, leaning slightly backward on his stretched arms, Karich was feeling very relaxed, yet as the sun was reaching its highpoint now, the brightness and heat- due to the lack of any overhead covering, was starting to get slightly uncomfortable. But this, too, did not seem to have much of an effect on making him turn away from the scenery before him. Even though the time now has become quite harsh and the sun has become too bright for one to look at, the scenery itself is more vibrant now; with the brightness over exposed components of the environment in contrast with the rest of the cooler, semi lit and shady areas, creating a dramatic play on the overall colors and mood. The whole of the distant mountain ranges and the massive clouds reflected perfectly with no distortions on the surface of the lake, since there were no ripples, not even a gentle breeze that would initiate such a disturbance. The alignment of the real and reflected along the mirrored surface was so perfect and spectacularly breathtaking from Karich’s seated point of view that it would have aroused anyone to walk up to the lake and continue walking over it. beezzp........... beezzp...........beezzp........... Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... BEEZZP........... Again, the sound gradually came from all around him and this time Karich could not get over it, as it was somewhat intense. As the sound itself revibrated throughout his body, penetrating every muscle and bone, his trans-like state was lifted as if it were a vail. This made him take in a huge breath of air, so long that it actually took him a moment or two to let it all out- and for the first time he managed to look back at what actually was behind him. In contrast to the earlier scene, what he saw was a dense forest about a hundred yards or so away from him, so dense that the trees that were a few yards away from the ones on the forest perimeter were a dark hue of bluish green. Due to the thick, lush, overgrown canopies, a few streaks of light seemed to penetrate in between branches giving a dull lifeless glow wherever the rays hit, yet the darkness seemed to grow and creep around the trunks. Just like the canopies, the ground cover was dense too, with large shrubs reaching up to waist height. Once again, Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... the sound had now become very loud and unbearable and, together with the sun reaching its peak, had become swelteringly hot. The once lovely and beautiful landscape and ambiance had become so agonizing from the overwhelming heat and sound, making Karich run towards the forest canopy although, uninviting and eerie it was the only place that would provide him with solace. At least that’s what he thought, too. BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... Now the sound has in fact become what you call noise; so loud, so ugly and uncomfortable beyond words, making Karich cover his ears, though this was not much of a help. BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... Within a few minutes Karich had reached the edge, still clasping his ears, feeling a bit relieved about escaping the scorching sun, but not so from the noise which was still ringing BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... Beezzp..........., after getting into the shade, he was able to clearly see into the forest. The once dark, unappealing character was now more inviting and very cool, urging him to come inside and go within it. BEEzzp........... Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... Beezzp............ apart from the trees and undercover, the forest as a whole gave a lifeless ghostly sense with almost zero movement, and just as he was lost in thought of this eerie feeling- a simple movement caught his eye. Still, the noise was ringing through his ear, clapped hands BEEzzp........... Beezzp............ BEEzzp........... Beezzp............. The movement seemed to pause at certain times while steadily moving towards him. Within a short time span, the movement began to violently shake a large shrub which was pretty much closer to him, and this made Karich squint his eyes to investigate what it was.   By the time Karich realized what was happening it was too late, even though he wanted to move from where he stood- his feet seemed to have rooted firmly in the ground. Even though his mouth was open wide enough to scream- no sound escaped from it, only his throat seamed to constrict rather than cave in- as a huge, disgusting looking insect sprang from a shrub, a thing he least expected. Since his hands were safeguarding his ears, he was able to see what was happening so vividly; as the insect; rather, a locus edged closer to his face- the abdomen of the creature became more detailed with its striations, ridges and connected joints. And Karich opened his eyes…………. Beezzp........... BEEzzp........... BEEzzp........... BEEZZP........... BEEZZP...........