top of page
Image by Ambitious Studio* | Rick Barrett

ALL INDIA

ASPIRING WRITER's

AWARD

Saishreya Nair

REGISTRATION ID

B0719

YOUR FINAL SCORE IS IN BETWEEN

9.21 - 9.75

IFHINDIA CONGRATULATE YOU FOR BEING IN THE TOP 10 FINALISTS.
YOUR FINAL SCORE WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN THE AWARD CEREMONY.

1. THE TITLE WINNER SCORE MUST BE MORE THAN 9.70 WHO WILL BE  WINNING 1,50,000/- CASH PRIZE & YOU MAY BE ONE OF THEM FOR SURE BECAUSE OUR FINAL WINNER IS IN BETWEEN THOSE TOP 10 FINALISTS INCLUDING YOU. 
2. SINCE YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE TOP 10 FINALIST YOU WILL BE GETTING EXCLUSIVE GIFT COUPON WORTH 5000/- EACH
(Note : You must participate either in ONLINE EVENT or OFFLINE EVENT without fail to get your AWARD BENEFITS)
3. ALL TOP 10 FINALIST INCLUDING YOU MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE MEGA EVENT EITHER OFFLINE OR ONLINE BECAUSE EVEN YOU MAY BE THE ONE WHO WIN THE TITLE FOR SURE.
4. INCASE YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEGA EVENT/ AWARD CEREMONY EITHER OFFLINE OR ONLINE then your journey in the contest will end here. HOWEVER YOU WILL STILL RECEIVE THE BEST 25 WRITERS BENEFITS but you will not get any benefits for being in the TOP 10 incase you quit from the contest hereafter.


click on the below link to know more information about the FINAL ROUND



 

Written By

Saishreya Nair

I blinked twice and rubbed my eyes, trying to pierce the darkness around me. Faintly, I could see that I was standing on a street that stretched endlessly, surrounded by sheer darkness. I turned back– a dead end! My short, paced breathing was the only sound in that deafening silence. Suddenly the cold, empty air sent shivers down my spine. But where was I? How did I get here?

“I don’t want to stay here”, I told myself, grabbing onto my arms. I choked on my breath. The darkness and silence were suffocating me. I went to the edge of the road and put my hand in the void. I hissed and jerked at a small shock, so I took my hand back immediately. I looked down, it was like an endless well. I screamed, gasped, and stumbled to the centre of the road.
Am I going to die? Or am I already dead?
“God please save me”, I cried.
I slowly took my steps forward, walking straight in the middle of the street, which was barely visible. I walked for some five minutes and it was getting darker but going back was meaningless.

I froze, sensing the touch on my back, I turned back slowly and carefully. There was no one, but what did I feel? I turned forward and my breath hitched as I noticed a shadow stretching on the ground, one that hadn't been there before. I stood there for a while, seeing something wrong with the shadow. It was not mirroring me, what was it doing?
A black thing, something darker than the void, came out of the ground. Yes, the shadow was trying to get up. My legs seemed to be jammed, I couldn’t even move or react at the scene.
My shadow, standing tall, detached itself from me. It came closer and hugged me. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. The hug was gentle and it gave me a strange comfort. It felt like finding an old friend in a whole different world.

My heart calmed down and soon after that it broke the hug and held my hand. It was as if it could feel my fear and had come to ease it. It tilted its head like it was asking me to walk. I started walking again, but this time it was different. It felt easier when my shadow was leading me and I just had to go with the flow along the descent.
I halted. My other hand was turning black. I shrieked as numbness spread through my hand which was now black. I was panicking and crying as I fell on my knees.
“Why me?” I bent down crying.
Seeing this, my shadow held my hand. It faced me, and even though it didn’t have a differentiable face or a body, I could make out by its nod that it wanted me to walk forward, down the lane. It started pulling me forward. Wiping my tears, I held its hand and sobbed on my way ahead.

My whole hand turned black and it was also spreading on my body now. I sat down in the middle of the road.
“I can’t be brave anymore. I give up. I’ll stay here and die by turning fully black”, I admitted.
My shadow gave me its hand again but this time I hesitated to get up. I pushed its hand away. But it sat in front of me and gave me its hand yet again.
I was so concentrated on my pain that I didn’t notice that the shadow’s hands weren’t black anymore. As soon as I realised that, I grabbed its hand and asked, “My right hand is black now and yours is not, does this mean…”, I gasped with my eyes wide open and stumbled back.

The shadow firmly grasped my arms and dragged me mercilessly while I struggled with my numb body. I fought back with every ounce of my strength. Falling, getting hurt, being dragged up and falling again, until that last lunge when I finally managed to break myself free from its grip. My knees were bleeding and my forehead was bruised, but this was not the time to worry about those. My heart was throbbing like it wanted to jump out of my rib cage. My voice was frozen deep within me. That was when I realised that my shadow wasn’t my confidante but it was there to destroy me, to lead me to my downfall.

My trembling legs barely touched the ground as I ran back to where I started. My shadow pursued me relentlessly. I didn’t realise how easily I got deep into this darkness and started losing myself. But the way back wasn’t easy at all. The winds paced opposite to the way I was running. I was panting. I looked back and it was there, closing in on me. I looked forward and ran with all my might.
The darkness around me was shifting, the road was getting narrower, and the widening void was suffocating me. My legs were turning black and soon I fell. My legs, hands and body were numb. The void surrounded me and the shadow was right next to me. It was no longer just a shadow; it's body looked exactly like mine. Soon it will take my face too.

Just when I thought all was lost, I saw it- a tiny flicker of light, but it was deep down in the void. I knew this might be my last chance, but I was too scared of the void and the dangers it held.
“D-don’t do this… I-it hurts…”, I begged.
Its face changed to a crooked smile, and I realised that I was about to lose my face too. I didn’t rethink and leapt into the deep void. The fall began with a ticklish sensation, but soon my body felt like it was burning.
“Aah! Please help me”, I cried loudly.

Soon I stopped falling and I was floating in the void. My pain was all gone. I looked at myself and my body was no longer black. I could move myself freely as I wanted to. I smiled widely and shrieked with delight.
“Thank you”, I shouted.

I looked down and saw that light emitting stone. I bent to touch it and as soon as I touched it, an incident flooded into my head. I was on the stage with the lights on me, all I could see was the crowd in the dark.I trembled, memories of past failures tightening in my chest. Turning my back to the stage, I saw the shadow waiting, beckoning me to give up again. And suddenly I was in the void again but the light from the stone was diminishing.

“I will face it.. the stage. Please don't let the shadow come to me. Please..”, I begged.
The light intensified. I understood that the void wasn't my enemy; it was the escape, the plunge I needed to free myself from my fears. As I floated, I realized... I wasn’t running from the shadow. I was running from myself. Then I flew back up from the void, returning to where I had fallen. The shadow, now fully black, stood before me, spreading its arms, but I could see what it truly was- a reflection of my fears and self-doubt.
“You don’t control me”, I whispered and shut my eyes at the blinding light, which burnt that shadow.

I opened my eyes, drenched in sweat, lying on my bed. It was all a dream, a nightmare! But it was not just a dream; the fear was real and so was the light. I glanced at the clock– time to get ready. Today, I would face the stage, not as someone hiding behind the shadow, but as someone who loves oneself without judgment.
As I stepped onto the stage, I could feel the lights and the audience bringing back that old fear of mine. Immediately, I remembered my shadow, the pain I had to bear just because I gave in to my fear and I got the strength to shake my fear away. The tension in my nerves eased. A deep breath with closed eyes, and I could feel something that I never felt before. I was not scared anymore, I just wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it. Yes, I was ready to shine.

PLEASE CHECK YOUR PHOTO

Saishreya Nair

ABOVE SHARED PHOTOGRAPH WILL BE USED IN THE CERTIFICATE AND DONT WORRY IF THE ALLIGNMENT IS NOT CORRECT. IT WILL BE CORRECTED DURING CERTIFICATE DESIGN. 

ALSO THE NAME MENTIONED BELOW THE PHOTOGRAPH WILL BE WRITTEN ON CERTIFICATE. 

bottom of page