He feared the night - 1

He feared the night, really really feared it.

He would get into the safety of his bed early, as early as he could once the sun had set and would step out of his bed only when he was sure it was daybreak.

This had started out a long time back. As a kid his teacher had tried to explain about the stars that we see at night and what struck him was the falsity of the whole view. His science teacher had told the students in the class that the stars that we see today are the stars of yesterday and we could never see the stars of today, today. The star that he saw in the night, might not even exist at that moment. As a kid he was learning to believe in what he saw, now he was told that it was not always true. This scared him a lot.

This was the first instance which sowed the seed for the fear of the night. As he grew up and as he learnt and experienced more, his fear only increased.

He had asked his parents, questioned the many times to know if they too feared the falsehood of the sight of the stars. His Mom and Dad would get irritated and would brush him off. They would only say that it was nothing to be worried about. His little kid sister was too little to know the answer to his question. She had not learnt enough truths, that she could start recognizing the lies.

He had to find the answer himself and so many a nights he would go to his rooftop and would gaze at the stars for minutes. He would try hard to convince himself that what he saw was untrue. But that would be impossible, how could what was visible be untrue? It was visible, he could see it, others could also see it, then how can it be untrue?

It was the night, he assured himself, that was evil and untrue. It was when the bad magic would rule the world. It was a dangerous time, yes that is what the night was. In the darkness, when warm light was missing, the untruths would come to life. Magic, mystery would reign while logic and reason would die. The night which mocked at his sense of reality was a scary beast. He learnt that and he grew to scare the evil dark night.

(c) Deapesh.

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