Stoic

The Northern skies were cruel, especially to outsiders like me. Their nights had no stars or moon and their restless winds promised blinding dust with them. I had spent two days away from civilization, with 2000 other people of varying tribes and backgrounds. I knew what to expect, and at the same time had not a single clue. Everything that was said about the place was true, but worse. It seemed the place was built to torture graduates, for that is what it felt like to everyone of us who awoke early each morning to put on the signature white clothing.

Despite all the heat and light that side of the North was infamous for, it supplied a never ending, all-encompassing darkness to our minds.

Yet, in the middle of the darkness, a barely visible ray of light snuck through. I had to pursue it or risk being swallowed by the gloom. As I got closer, the light shone brighter, till it took form. The form of a pretty, timid girl born from the same North that threatened taking our free minds captive.

Historically, approaching women for no reason is something I am not too fond of. There had to be a justifiable purpose, I couldn't risk looking like an idiot. But there was an unconventional reason - An unfamiliar feeling that we were at the end of a journey, a journey to each other. Obviously, I couldn't relay that to her, no minted poetry or honeyed words could make that sentence feel less creepy.

I had been ill. The combination of dust, heat and cold had taken a toll on me. But, I developed an unfounded faith in my immune system and refused to seek medical aid so far.

Suddenly, the discomfort in my throat and the slight pain in my head reminded me of my illness and that I had no idea where the clinic was. I was offered a solution by my misfortune. Building up some very-hard-to-execute punchlines in my head in case there was some restraint from her, I walked up to her and asked for her company as I headed to the clinic.

No restraint from her, luckily. That was just the beginning