A journey

The sound of the pebbles crunching under her feet as she walked, kept her hooked to reality somehow. The wind blew hard, making the dirt fly into her eyes, blinding her momentarily. She walked, undeterred… Her curly hair making swishing sounds as she moved forward in her solitary journey. She felt this overwhelming sense of freedom, something she hadn't felt for an incredibly long time; but it was mingled with a sense of loneliness. The last time she felt this free and uninhibited was probably when she used to play with her two best friends in the field near her home. The memories of all their races and endless games never faded over the years – maybe because she never forgot how happy she was back then.

She promised herself she would be strong and walked faster and deeper into the night, past the silent houses and the sleeping trees, all of which were so familiar to her. She was never afraid of the dark, even when she was a kid. She felt it was the most peaceful, soothing and yet dynamic time of the day. She often used to tell her mother she was going for a walk in the evening and not return for a few hours at a stretch, leaving her mother frenzied with worry. She would wander farther and farther from her home and listen to the owls hooting, various animals calling in the distance while she would sit against her favourite tree. She loved the serene hours spent there...

But, something had changed over the last few months. Something that wasn’t easy for her to overlook. She wondered how her life could change so drastically within a span of just a few months. She was even more baffled about how she could transform so much. She decided to conclude that sometimes, your priorities in life suddenly change, and hers definitely had. She needed answers that her family refused to give her. She needed to not be looked at as a child anymore. She couldn’t go on living in this quiet, peaceful oblivion, like her parents expected. Her mind overflowed with endless streams of questions that had formed over the span of her entire childhood. She had decided that night, after contemplating over what she ought to do for the last few months, that she couldn’t hold them back any longer. It wasn’t just a child’s silly, mindless curiosity anymore. There was more to it and she was old enough to understand that.

So, she walked.