"For the Sake of Freedom" by Ahmed Almejerfi

The room was built on January 20 th at 12 o’clock. Sleeping was the only way to forget the

nightmare that I was living in. Waking up was a desperate attempt to escape, and when I found

no point of waking up, I slept again. I have searched for years for the freedom from this dark

room. After 2 years, I saw a beam of light through that locked door. I was overwhelmed by that

happiness and hope that would set me free. I cracked that door open, and I started walking

around hoping that I might find some living beings, someone to talk to, or at least a pet to have

company. I was wondering whether this was reality or just another dream that I was living. I

found a board written on it “the deserted land”. I entered that doorway and it led me to the same

room that I was in. I felt the horror and agony of that 30 years again. I tried to avoid that room

but I felt a breeze of cold presence. I saw a woman sitting in a rocking chair, staring at me and

holding an axe. I didn’t know if it was bravery or stupidity, but I started walking towards her and

I asked her how to escape. The woman said, “in order to escape, you have to go through 4

seasons: the season of happiness, the season of horror, the season of agony, and the season of

death. After accepting your fate through the first three seasons, you will face the last challenge in

which you will face death itself. Take this axe and be free.” In the blink of an eye, the woman

disappeared, leaving me all alone. The same loneliness that I felt for the past 30 years, but for the

first time in my life, I felt that there was hope. Knowing that freedom cannot be handed in a

golden plate, I went there to face the three seasons.

In the season of happiness, the memories began to recur to me. There was that obstacle which

kept me hallucinating, and I couldn’t even differentiate between what was real and what was

fake. Fortunately, in that hallucination, there was that mistake. The mistake of meeting that death

which brought me back to my senses, and so I fought and I fought to overcome that season.

In the second season, I faced the vows that I told. The same vows which created that world of

terror and the wall between me and living a happy life. I created new vows which helped me to

cut that chain of vows with the help of a lopper.

In the season of agony, I found the world upside down. Everything was going against the tide. I

felt a sea of troubles upon me, the traps, the knives and the soldiers that guard the gate to the next

and last season. For four days, I couldn’t overcome all of those challenges. The traps seemed

unlimited, the knives were almost cutting me into pieces, the soldiers were holding me back with

their giant shields. Every time I finished these challenges, I started again from the beginning.

After that I began to comprehend that facing it was not the solution. Then I asked myself, “why

don’t I go with the flow?” Throughout my life I have been fighting against this agony. It was

time for me to rest. When I stopped thinking about it all, the traps, the knives, and the soldiers

stopped attacking me. Then I miraculously passed that season.

As soon as the season of death started, I saw a board written on it “ the Tree of Death”. But the

terror of death was not frightening anymore after I faced the first season. I was stronger than I

have ever been in all my life at that time. I could face my biggest fears, for I was not afraid of

dying anymore. I took that axe and cut that tree with the strength of a thousand bulls. Suddenly, I

felt something strange. I closed my eyes with a sigh of relief as if thousands of mountains fell

from my head. For the first time I felt joy. I opened my eyes and saw that everything changed.

The land became green again, the trees grew, and the water began to flow again. The land was

restored. I saw a light at the end of the shore where I saw that same woman smiling. When I

thanked her, a huge light came from her which blinded me. I looked again and but she had

already disappeared. She left the land for me to protect.

The End

#creative_writing #my_prose