Choose Your NITTmare
Diverge into Oblivion
The rough asphalt grazes against your face as you struggle to open your eyes, overwhelmed by the dull pain at the back of your skull. As the light enters your pupils, you can slowly make out a long white pole in front of you, seemingly stretching into the sky. You wince in pain as you arch your neck back to see where it leads. After a few confused moments, you see the saffron, white and green flag.
The ringing in your ears slowly becomes more defined as you start to hear distinct chimes. One…two…they go on till you count to twelve. You’ve heard this sound every hour for the past one and a half years now, yet this time it seems to carry something sinister. The minute hand eclipses the hour hand of the clock tower perfectly and then slow, eerie silence creeps in. You can’t remember where you were before or how you got here. A voice in your head silently tells you that those details do not matter. You decide to get up and walk back towards your hostel in hopes of figuring out the situation.
It’s perfectly silent. Usually you don’t have a problem with silence; if anything you wish things would be more quiet around here. But this is too silent. Silent enough for you to hear the wind occasionally whistling past your ears. Silent enough to hear your own heartbeat radiating through your body.
You try and take a step forward. Your entire body erupts in protest, your muscles burning from the inside, your spine curving outwards as if revolting against you. After the first few steps of excruciating pain, you begin ambling towards your hostel.
