Friday 30 January 2015

Bottled Lullabies

Image Courtesy: BBC

It was well past bed-time as I tossed and turned, adjusted the pillows for a hundredth time, turned on the heater and waited with closed eyes hoping to smoothly drift away into sleep. When it remained elusive even after an hour of trying, I walked over to the window and stared aimlessly at the empty road, an occasional truck that passed by, the golden light from the street lamps and the cobbled footpath extending into infinite darkness.


Under the nearest lamp lay a bearded old man draped in what looked like the pitiful remnants of an ancient overused blanket, unperturbed by the noise of the trucks or the biting cold. He lay there in deep slumber under the watchful gaze of faraway stars. I sighed and reached for the bottle of pills that faithfully sang me sweet lullabies every single day.




This piece of five sentence fiction is written for the topic "Bed-Time" at Lillie Mc Ferrin Writes
Linking to Ultimate Blog Challenge



10 comments:

  1. It makes me wonder who was living the better life. The one who can sleep untroubled without the pills, or the one who needs help blocking out the unceasing busyness of their life.
    Thanks for a wonderful story. Blog on…

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    1. Thanks! True, not many people are lucky enough to experience contentment leading to a good night's sleep....

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  2. I absolutely agree with the above comment. That's what I felt. Thought provoking take on the prompt!

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  3. What a brilliant story! Told a lot in those few sentences. Loved it, Vidya. :)

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  4. An absolute brilliance...great going Vidya.

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  5. A slice of reality, Vidya. Nicely expressed :)

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  6. Too many realities and thoughts in in a small small story. ..bey powerful

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