Inner Demons

By P Sasikanth

Now it is dark, the wind gets strong

I care nothing but the dark cave in front

the demon that lurks in it comes out,

when the lamp in my hand dies off.

Now, the lamp in my hand stutters feebly in the wind

trying hard not to die off.

I, instead, stay rooted and keep looking

into the cave and into those eyes, into those dead red eyes of the demon.

I know I am a dead man

if the light in my hand goes off.

Yet I won’t make a move,

neither away from the demon nor to brighten my light enough to devour the demon to ashes.

I feel anchored to the spot.

Now, the light in my hand dies off

I look at it with resignation

my eyes slowly crawl from the soot of the flame to the deadly eyes of the demon.

A sense of final resignation crawls over me

I feel myself sucked up and life ebbing out fast as the demon walks out and towers over me

I try to take my eyes off it, but I’m helpless.

Now, it knocks me down to the ground

get on its fours,

And starts eating me up.

First at the neck and later my stomach

I witness my blood spilling everywhere,

on my clothes, the ground and the demon, everywhere.

I still can’t take my eyes off

it’s face, red with my blood

it’s eyes, with the look of the dead

I can’t take my eyes off those eyes even as it devours me

I’m helpless, yet I can’t scream.

Now, clawed to the ground

under its’s brute paws,

I see my heart in its teeth

beating desperately to keep life in it.

Yet my eyes are locked not on my heart but on those dead red eyes.

Now, it comes closer

to my head and

Snaps!!!

the next thing I see

is my head severed and disfigured, with two hollow holes in place of my eyes.

Before I realize,

darkness creeps in.

I see nothing now.

By P Sasikanth