The Forgotten Word

Suddenly everything started collapsing. Thousands and thousands of people were stampeding. I had no idea what was going on. It appeared to me that the world was coming to an end. The nature seemed extremely wrathful. People were running in all directions. I asked, “What’s happening?” They said, “The world is coming to an end. We all have been cursed to forget a word that can stop this destruction.” I wonder what they were saying. Soon I realized that I also had forgotten a word but it was just an intuition that there’s something I needed to remember. I couldn’t figure out what I had forgotten. For a moment it felt like I was watching a movie where they show everything collapsing. I began to wail as soon as I realized that it was happening in real life. My mind went blank, with no sign of being conscious of what was going on. I just cried and cried.

I yelled in fear, when I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I looked back at the person while he was shouting, “Run!”. I had a feeling that I knew him but I couldn’t remember who he exactly was. I asked him if he knew me. He replied, “I do know you but don’t remember clearly but it’s not the right time to know each other. Let’s just save our own lives”. He ran and told me to follow him. As soon as I stood up, he vanished into the haze. I kept thinking if it was real.

There was nothing I could distinctly remember. It was extremely frustrating to just keep on trying hard to remember what I was doing just a moment before. And to my shock, I had no clear memory of how I ended up there. I looked around to see what was actually happening. And at a distance, I could see people fighting and mercilessly killing each other. The concrete structures were falling down on the stampede. Mother earth was shaking. And I had never experienced such a fast blowing wind, throwing everything around. The clouds in the sky were so dark, and it seemed as if they could fall down on the earth anytime. “This is it. It is the end”, I said to myself.

I couldn’t remember the exact date but I had a feeling that it was not later than the 21st century. So, it was hard for me to accept that it was the end of the world. Nevertheless, I had no choice but to run aimlessly. Something hit my head hard and I fell unconscious on the ground full of debris. I had a weird dream. Someone was trying hard to pull something from my neck. I was resisting so hard that it felt like that was my lifeline. I was choking helplessly while this unknown person was pulling that thing from my neck. Suddenly I gained consciousness. I was still choking. After a few seconds, I could breathe normally. And as soon as I was able to breathe, I groped my neck to see if I could find something. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what I had worn on my neck. I couldn’t remember. But I had to. It was definitely the way to get out of this apocalypse.

To my instinct, I felt that the place where I first experienced the apocalypse could be the answer to my search. So, I started running back to the place - the place where I had asked what was happening and I was told that the world was coming to an end. Upon reaching there, I stood where I first was standing when I witnessed the destruction for the first time. I looked around and began rummaging the debris. To my surprise, I found a locket. It was a red heart-shaped locket. To me, it looked like an ordinary locket. I wondered how it could save me. It was all covered with dust. So, I wiped it and found something written. It was a word. I read it - “LOVE”. The moment I read the word, everyone stopped and looked at me. After a few seconds of silence, they yelled, “Yes! The word is ‘Love’”. Everyone started chanting “Love”. Everything that had collapsed began to exist in its best state. The clouds started disappearing, letting the bright sunlight shine upon the earth. There was no fighting or killing. The earth was calm and serene. I closed my eyes, smiled and took a deep breath when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked at the person. It was the same person who had told me to run and save my life. I asked, “Who are you?”. He replied with a smile, “Close your eyes and I’ll tell you”. I closed my eyes. He said nothing. And when I opened my eyes, I was in my bed, in my room. I touched my neck. The heart-shaped locket was still there on my neck. I smiled and said to myself, “‘Love’ is the word. I shall never forget it”.