My Nightmare - The Last Stop

Do you know that transition effect where a white screen fades into the actual scene? That's how it began.

I saw a relative welcoming us into their house, and I saw my wife and our child. The child's face was not clear. They were lying still and straight on a bed. I was told to lie down along with them.

The next thing I remember is being outside that house, and then suddenly finding myself alone on a bus leaving the bus station. All alone, by myself.

It reminded me of how I was when I was in my twenties. I used to travel all the time, to college and here and there, mostly in South India. So there I was, all by myself, with just a bag. That's who I was in that dream.

And then I realized that my wife and child were not with me.

The moment I realized this, I somehow found myself back in that house. I met them again, and the next thing I remember was that the three of us were on a train.

The train looked modern, yet the whole atmosphere was covered in dust. The sky was orange, and there was sand everywhere. Lots of dust. I could feel the heat as we travelled on that train.

There was no glass in the windows, so as we looked outside, we felt as though we were in a strange place.

I could see heaps of bodies, one after another, in different sections as we moved along. There were people, huge, fat men with crowns on their heads and large moustaches, who reminded me of Kaalan, the Grim Reaper. They were tossing those bodies into the fire, and they were looking at us.

There were huge heaps of bodies that looked like big pyramids.

Slowly, my wife and I realized that we were not where life existed, where people lived. We were in a strange place.

My heart started beating faster, and I wanted the train to stop.

It did stop at one place, and the three of us got down.

But at the station, I found out that there was no exit.

The train started moving back slowly. I wanted to get in, but there was no way to get back inside the train.

Near the station, there were many shops. In one of those shops, I saw an exit door.

I saw a shopkeeper, and he came over to talk to me. I told him that I wanted to get out of there, all three of us.

But he told me that the cost of using that exit was over ten lakhs. We needed ten lakhs to open that door and go through it.

As I checked my wallet, I realized I had nothing with me. I was already empty-handed.

I asked him for work.

He said there was work, and he could pay me.

I asked him, "How much will you pay me per day?"

And he showed me ten fingers.

So I asked, "Ten rupees?"

He said, "No, ten paise."

And then I saw the shock on my face.

As the scene slowly zoomed out, like a camera pulling away from a world, I realized something.

I was in hell.