Seagull

Dark and dense was a small box of wood which was carrying me towards my death with hasty steps. I could hardly breath, sweating profusely and about to faint. I was in a ship I guess, I don’t know since when but it felt like a long time, it felt like forever. It seemed like the darkness and the paucity of air was notifying me in bold words ‘Stop trying so hard Balbir, you will not survive’. But I didn’t want to believe it, I did not want to die before my death, I did not want to die like a loser. I had to try, try to survive, try to breath, but how could I do that? How could I get out of the small little box of hell? What ship is it? It belongs to a friend or a foe? These were important questions but finding them out was very dangerous.

I started scrutinizing the box and I realized that it is perhaps a cabinet, a wooden cabinet, I examined it more rigorously, and I found a lock on the door. If only I could break the lock and open the door, I can escape death, or possibly I can be shot dead by an enemy, but I preferred the bullet over this tiny world of slow, tormenting death. I soon found a loose nail hanging in a corner of the cabinet towards my foot; I took it out and opened the lock. Opening the lock was not much a struggle for me. While I was unlocking the door of the cabinet I heard a lot of noise which I sensed as, a lot of people are packing or unpacking, probably going out of the ship. I ceased myself in opening the door for a while till the mass moved out. Then I slowly and cautiously opened the door of the cabinet, I could see no one except the beautiful sky and the sun shining on me, I felt numb for a moment. Getting out of the cabinet was agonizing, but I managed to rescue my life without making any noise or attracting any danger. I was standing on the terrace of a beautiful ship perhaps owned by the East India Company and I could see a small city on my right and endless water on the left.

The next step was undoubtedly the land; I could hear a few people talking on the ship, which made me more vigilant. Taking the stairs would be way dangerous, so I decided to pick up a rope and rappel down the ship. So I rappelled down from my left and landed into water, I slowly swam my way to the busy harbour without really getting noticed. While walking towards the city like a free man I impulsively turned around to see the giant red ship which said ‘SEAGULL: The East India Company’. Then I heard a big noise which was very annoying, like the sound of a huge bell ringing on my head, which eventually woke me up. And there I was, in my small and shabby barrack, it was the bell for breakfast I believe. The barrack was opened and I was allowed to go to take my breakfast and after that we were supposed to get back to the construction work as usual which shall continue till 9 PM. The breakfast was pathetic but I had to eat it in order to work like an animal for the whole day. I was aimlessly staring at the waters like I always did, when I saw a ship coming towards the jail. It was a rare sight, which caught my attention, it wasn’t really far, and I went nearer to get a better sight of it but couldn’t see much. “What are you staring at, you idiot, it’s the ship that’s getting raw materials for the construction work” said a soldier and kicked me. I was angry but couldn’t say a word, and started getting ready for the work while I impulsively turned around to take another chance to see the ship and it said ‘SEAGULL: The East India Company’.