Short Story - Road To Nowhere

It was all over. There was nothing to live for, nothing to hope for anymore. She kept walking aimlessly on the hillside. The stars were shining so brightly but it seemed like doomsday to her. The full moon was menacing, laughing at her pain in all its glory. How cruel could nature get?, she thought.

One could not blame her state of mind. The earthquake had taken away all her family and friends. She had miraculously escaped but it only seemed like a bane to her. She had no means of making it all alone through the tough road that lay ahead and at the risk of being remembered as a coward, had taken this decision.

On second thoughts, who would be there to remember her? Life could be so cynical and harsh. She, who had been the strength and hope for many and had averted hundreds of suicides in her successful counseling career, was on the verge of committing one herself.

There, the cliff was not far now. Very soon she would be with her loved ones and free of this misery. There was a single deciduous tree and beyond that a ledge from where she would descend into the inviting clutches of death. How alone that tree was, just like her. How harsh a season it had withstood and yet it survived. Not a living thing in sight and yet it swayed, full of life. She stopped in her tracks, suddenly ashamed of herself, uncertain...

Note : The above was my entry for the Whispers Short Fiction Contest held in February. The story had to be of two hundred and fifty words based on this picture.