A jump into darkness...
There are still a few minutes before he has to do it.
The rumble of the plane's propellers excites him slightly as he waits, waits for the time when he steps off into the darkness. He knows he is going to do this - he does not doubt that. But the waiting is beginning to make him tense, and nervous. He finds that he is constantly rubbing his hands together, and stands up to stretch his nervous legs.
The interior of the plane is metallic and unfriendly, lit only by the dim, old cabin light. Outside, the night seems cruel and threatening, as though waiting for him. But he has to do this. He has to face the jump.
As he paces, alone, he feels a shiver, a memory from the past. The quiet and darkness of the plane takes him back to his depressing childhood, and a day locked in the cold spare room of his house . . .
Nish stared around the shadowed darkness of his room and shivered, hugging his teddy to his chest. His father had once again locked him in here. Every time he made a sudden movement his father would hear the creak of the old, wooden flooring. Nish felt like an animal, locked up in a cage, with too little space. The walls of his bedroom were damp, and rotten. He sat quietly upon the wooden stool.
Everyone knew that Nish was fond of his mother. From the day Nish was born he always showed love and affection for her. Many people believed that Nish had a special bond for his mother, which brought them closer day by day. One thing that Nish missed out in his early life was his father.
During his childhood Nish had always wondered why he missed out spending quality time with his so-called father. His father was a businessman who worked for a well-known company, and earned a good salary, with a bonus each year.
As Nish grew older, he was astonished by the way his father treated him and his mother. Often Nish would spend his evenings locked up in his small, cold-boxed shape bedroom, forced to study till midnight. His lack of concentration was always due to the fact that his father would never appreciate his mother, or him. Before he ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
During his childhood Nish had always wondered why he missed out spending quality time with his so-called father. His father was a businessman who worked for a well-known company, and earned a good salary, with a bonus each year.
As Nish grew older, he was astonished by the way his father treated him and his mother. Often Nish would spend his evenings locked up in his small, cold-boxed shape bedroom, forced to study till midnight. His lack of concentration was always due to the fact that his father would never appreciate his mother, or him. Before he was locked up in his room, his father would always give him a lecture that, "Nowadays life is nothing compared to the life that I had experienced." Nish would always have a talk with his mother, while his father was away on business trips.
Nish found it hard to cope with the fact that his father had beat his mother severely every other day. His mother would always hesitate to go out of the flat, as she knew that people would talk about her personal life. Many people also knew that she was an "innocent friendly" woman. Nish's neighbours were aware that his father was an old-fashioned bully. Often he beat Nish and his mother in the dark corner's of the house. The whip had engraved scars on their light, brown skin.
The friendly neighbours had once told the police about the problem, but when they turned up, knocking on the door, Nish's mother had been forced to play a false act, and say she was all right.
Each day Nish would feel upset, as he would see many of his school-friends' fathers pick them up after school. Nish would always feel depressed, almost as if he was missing half of his innocent heart.
He now stands in the open door of the plane, staring down into the endless black hole of the timid night. His hands grip the doorframe, steadying him. The wind roars past, cold against his face. The darkness below awaits him.
He has to make the jump, the last jump of his life. Only this will set him free from a life of misery that has haunted him since those days of his childhood.
He steps closer to edge, past the remaining of the yellow safety line, and looks deep into the unknown of the darkness. His fingers loosen slightly, and he feels that he can do this. The wind picks up suddenly, screaming into the cabin, and the scream takes him back to a dark day of his childhood, an October afternoon returning from school . . .
He dropped his school bag to the pavement. He ran towards his house where he saw an ambulance and some police officers. A policeman met him at the door, and told him to calm down. He was fearful about knowing what had happened, but had to know.
But then they brought out his mother, and he saw her being rushed into the ambulance on a stretcher. Nish pushed through the big crowd surrounding the vehicle. "He's the son," shouted one of the neighbours. Two rather tall policemen approached Nish, who was in complete shock, and tried to calm him down. They put a red, chequered blanket around him. They tried to comfort and reassure him that everything would be all right, but Nish looked worried and distressed.
In the ambulance Nish just sat quiet and still, and throughout the journey to the hospital, tears were in his eyes. Nish was considering the worst.
At the hospital he ran to the reception. "Where's my mother? Is she alright?" The nurse there seemed to know instantly who he was, and at first said nothing. "I want to know," exclaimed Nish. The nurse sat down with him and in a soft, gentle voice said, "Your mother's just went to heaven, to see god."
"No," cried Nish. "How can she leave me? We loved each other!"
The nurse tried to comfort Nish, tried to explain how heaven was for the only best people in life. Nish couldn't accept the fact that his mother had passed away.
"Your Father will be here shortly," the receptionist said.
During the next hour, Nish managed to calm down. He shared his touching memories of his mother with some of the nurses. Nish wondered how his father would act in front of all the nurses and workers in the hospital. Ten minutes later his father barged in through the hospital doors. The nurse informed him of his wife's death. He started crying, and fell down upon the tiled black and white floor. "How can this have happened?" Nish knew his father was faking, and this upset him more. But Nish knew better than to confront his father, he sat quietly. Almost as if he had patience
Later, at home, Nish's father sat down in front of the television and started to drink. Nish stared at his so-called father, and then ran to his bedroom, more furious than he had ever been. His father shouted, "More money coming in from now son. Just me, you and the booze!"
No, Nish thought. "Only you and the booze." Nish had other plans.
He falls.
The grumble of the plane disappears into silence above him and darkness closes in. He drops, faster and faster, and holds his arms out. He falls at a rapid speed and then feels that he is floating, hanging in a rush of air and supernatural night. He shouts out in victory. He has won, left the bitterness of his past behind him. He feels reborn in the cold blackness.
He still has time - time to express joy in this newfound freedom, to escape the troubles of his cruel childhood. On his back is his parachute, and soon he must pull its ripcord, and go down safely back to reality, and the loving, warming home of his aunt.
But he still has time to wonder, and to start to shape his dreams for the future.
By: Amish Patel
Form: 10J