Dark Forest

As I step into the forest, everything becomes dark. I see black souls rushing in one direction. One of the souls spot me and stop. They start looking at me with curiosity. Wondering where I came from and if I’m still human or not. As it comes closer towards me two more follow, slowly three more. The number gradually increases as the souls glance at me. Then they are in a circle, surrounding me. They push and shove each other to get their hands on me. It was hard for them to decide who would eat me, so I was safe, for the time being. As I look around me, I see a soul that signifies the identity of a faceless man, with no eyes, ears or nose. But with a significantly large mouth

 

As soon as the souls realize I was still there, they rush towards me once again, with hunger and desperation. But this time, it wasn’t about deciding who will consume me, it was everybody trying to attempt consumption. I lose hope, and welcome the death that was upon me. A few seconds later, I assume I was dead, but I wasn’t! I checked my pulse and my body parts, they were still there. I was still alive, as I look around I see a white bear, staring at me with elegant eyes, with a color as blue as the ocean. The bear approaches me slowly, he comes so close, that tears begin to come out of my eyes. I was stunned by this bear, because it was indeed the work of mother nature’s beauty, which seemed dormant in the forest up until now.

All of a sudden, he disappears right in front of my eyes, leaving me alone in the darkness. I look around the filthy place and smell the scent of the rotting souls. The air of death is around me. I relax myself and become careless of my surroundings, thinking about the white bear. It felt as if it was telling me to go somewhere, so I followed it.

This lead me to the black river, with the stench of the bad souls, and viscosity as that of blood, it was a danger to be here. At the same time, I was here for a reason, it was the bear that brought me up to this point.  

On the other side of this river, surprisingly, I spotted a bear cub! It hid behind a tree as soon as it noticed me looking in it’s direction. I crossed the bloody river to see why he was hiding behind that tree. It was not alone, it was accompanied by an evil soul, which was feeding on its spirit. I attempted to take the cub out of that place, but it seemed impossible. The soul wouldn’t let go. So I calmed myself down and enlightened my spirit, and amazingly, the soul just disappeared. It came to my attention that evil souls fear people that are enlightened and calm.

I immediately took the cub out of there afterwards and had a vision of a lush green land, filled with more hope and enlightenment, just like me. A vision that started to lead me in a direction that I didn’t know of before. The cub, apparently, was following me, it was inexplicable. How would an animal want to follow a human, I thought of it as a sign of loyalty because I saved it. After days of walking in the designated direction, I noticed that the forest started to lighten up. Everything was becoming beautiful and the forest started to show it’s true colors. My vision had come true, after days of walking on that steep, muddy and long path. The cub wouldn’t stop following me, and it eventually got annoying. But I thought to myself, why not keep such an animal to accompany me, so I don’t have to feel the sense of loneliness every again. We still had much to explore in this new lush green land, which I think holds many wonders and secrets to it.

This story was inspired by the piece that I wrote called Hatred in the souls. This is the continued story of the person that got stuck in the dark forest.

Hatred in the souls

As I step into the forest everything becomes dark.

I see souls rushing to get out of the forest as if they were running away.

Suddenly I catch the attention of a soul.

It looks at me curiously.

Wondering where I came from.

 

Wondering how I still remained human in the cruel forest they ran away from.

It starts coming closer to me.

As it comes closer, two more follow, slowly three more.

The number increases as the souls glance at me.

Once they surround me, they fight over me like prey.

I glance over into the the soul and see a faceless man.

With nothing but a large mouth.

That instantly opens as other souls open their mouth.

I close my eyes ready to face death that was brought upon me.

I check my pulse and feel my face

“I am still alive.”

I open my eyes to see a white bear shining at me with angelic eyes slowly coming towards me.

 

The bear comes closer and smiles.

It felt dreamy to have been saved by an animal.

Having possessive eyes as blue as the ocean,generating emotion.

It was beautiful and amazing, I couldn’t believe it.

But it left in a hurry.

And I felt loneliness.

Nothing but that,eventually, it guided me down a path.

A path to a river as viscous as blood,with no sign of water.

It felt dangerous with no protection.

An inexplicable dream which was a reality I felt with perception.

On the other side stood a cub which hid as it saw me.

So I went to see why it hid so suddenly.

This poem was inspired by the feature article I wrote about hate crimes. This is the perspective of a victim of a hate crime. The victim captures the attention of the souls which are the people who do the hate crimes. The victim then waits for their death by going through the hate crimes mentally, this is also seen when the souls open their mouths. The black bear represents the part of society that stands up for the victim and makes the people who commit hate crime go away.

Image: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/File:Tumblr_lv13kyrMIO1qgt0vro1_250.gif

 

How it all started (Husband’s perspective)

For the lovely Mary Ann

The moment I danced my eyes caught your face

When you looked back, my heart skipped a beat

Each step that you took away for me made my heart long for you

How I wish the moment in time stopped

This way I could have danced with you

And looked at the beautiful eyes that sparkled in front of me

Making me crazy

And sending shivers down my spine

So I did

And went up to the beautiful woman that caught my heart

Asking her for the hand that I awaited for impatiently

She blushed, replying with a yes

                                     That was how it all started

 

This short poem is about the story of how Mary Ann and her husband fell in love. At first she was amazed at his dancing skills but did not go dance with him. Then finally he walked up to her and asked her for a dance. After this dance many dances followed leading to dates which led to marriage. I choose to write in the perspective of her husband because her husband took the first step in starting the relationship. I also had a better perspective of her husband during that time.

Emulated from http://www.wishafriend.com/love/id/5488/

 

 

 

Why are Hate crimes committed?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Many people in this harsh world are faced by hatred among the people of their country. This hatred may started out as a simple glare. Continuing on to a sudden change in behaviour. Which in most cases leads people to taking a huge step. This huge step is which is done by some people of the community is called a hate crime. This hate crime is just among the first steps that lead others to follow through into doing the same. As it becomes acceptable by society for them them to continue. However, these hate crimes have a huge impact on the victims. Unless society becomes more acceptable and loving towards these people, hate crimes will continue to happen.

Hate crimes are defined as any incident or crime that is directed towards the victim because of the hostility and prejudice against a group of people. There are many types of hate crimes that occur in many areas of the world.

 

In the eyes of the victim nothing scares a person more than being targeted by a person that is anonymous. This constant targeting faced by a social group in which the show of hatred is evident are known as hate. This happens in many countries around the world and continues to happen as no serious action is taken against it, especially in western countries. Where victims are mainly not valued by the majority of society and suffer the consequences of this devaluation.

These crimes are directed to people who are socially excluded from society based on the bias opinion present in the majority. This leads to certain people being devalued by society. People that are devalued in society are the main predators for a hate crime. This is because society already devalues these people and making a hate crime against them will be more acceptable by the majority . The other reason for making these people the main victims for hate crimes is due to the fact that they are vulnerable. This makes the hate crime easier to fulfill as vulnerable people will be easily broken.Now the sole purpose of these hate crimes is to scare and break the victim along with the community that they belong to. By sending a message to the community that they do not belong in this society or are hated by society and they scare the person even more. Now these messages are mainly messages that are extreme on a scale of being anti someone or something. Leading the victim to feel even more devalued in society and broken down. Fulfilling the purpose of the hate crime.

The effect on the victims
The data revealed on hate crimes depends on the crime reported to the police. In this case, many victims fail to report this crime leaving it unattended. In the recent report of 2008, the evidence revealed that majority of hate crimes are not based off of physical violence. The majority of hate crimes lie in verbal abuse, assaults and criminal damage. What makes this type of crime stand out is that this type of crime hurts the victim . The effects of these hate crimes present a high threat to physical and psychological safety of the victim. The signs of psychological stress include symptoms of excessive stress that include physical, emotional and cognitive behavior. This is how this crime not only physically hurting the victim but also hurting the identity of the victim.

 

 

 

 

http://cilvektiesibas.org.lv/site/attachments/30/01/2012/Naida_noziegums_ENG_cietusajiem_Internetam.pdf
http://www.apa.org/advocacy/interpersonal-violence/hate-crimes.aspx

 

 

Emulation of a personal piece along with a peom

I believe in having a voice. I voice that is properly heard. I voice that is not restricted by individuals and society. A voice that isn’t held back by fake news reports, people claiming to have the same religion as me, giving me no right to speak. Along with the belief that society cradled  you with. As long as there would be evidence to prove this lie ,it would turn out to be true. True in the fact that people in society would believe in it. Unless you spoke up. Unless you told him that they were wrong. But with all of this chaos going on, society stops you. Creating the inner feeling of injustice. That grows within until you finally burst. Burst into tears that become never ending.

This is an emulation of a paragraph in Sarah Tirmizi’s work (I believe in a voice). I chose to do this piece based on the events happening against the Muslim community. The news of terrorists that “call themselves Muslims”. This is the voice of a girl who is a Muslim and facing this fake incident.

 

Cold
What is that feeling?
A feeling of numbness that traps your emotions
In one part of your body
Making the rest of your body insensitive
What is this insensitivity?
It is a long lost feeling that one felt before
The feeling that one cherished before
Like the happiness that once remained in that frail body of yours
That now remains under the dark heart of yours
Struggling to find a path to lead back to the real you

This is just a poem describing the feeling of a cold person.

 

In the airplane (Anecdote)

As I uncomfortably changed my sitting position on Oman airlines. Struggling to get even a bit of sleep before I reached Oman. Although there were still four hours left in reaching Oman. I decided that the sooner I slept ,the less tired I reached Oman. This process was of course only left at my decision not implemented in my actions .

This saying occurred due the fact that I had been watching movies throughout the whole plane ride. Despite my mom constantly waving at me and saying “go to sleep.”This however, did not stop me the more movies I watched the more I got interested in their storylines. This reason was what led me to spend nearly 5 hours of my plane ride watching movies. Not the movies that they recommended on the front page of the TV.

But in fact the movies that were different to me. Different meaning that I didn’t usually watch these movies at home. These movies were mainly Chinese or Korean . Although these languages were different ,their story lines were incredible. Each story that I saw had a lesson inside. That was perfectly portrayed through these characters. Whether it was through the intense show emotions from the characters or the contrasting comedy played by the characters.

I remember watching a Korean movie called my annoying brother. This movie particularly stuck out to me the most when I watched it. It was about a brother who could not see visiting his brother who was very annoying. As the movie progresses The annoying brother figures out he has cancer. But the brother with cancer helps his other brother compete in the judo competition. Although the brother who is told to compete in the judo competition has lost his eyesight from it. The annoying brother encourages him and help him with going into the judo competition. Near the end of the movie the brother who has lost his eyesight wins the judo competition. But during the intensity of the competition he remembers his moments with his brother. Because his brother gives him motivation to win the competition. This moment is followed by him crying in pain and joy while his brother cries for him because of his victory at the hospital.

For me this was a really emotional movie. They gave me more insight into the relationship of siblings. The beautiful relationship in which achieving one’s dream is important to the other person in the relationship. Despite what they are going through. After watching this movie I started exploring movies I understood .

A-Z writing

M is for Mosque

 

As I enter through the doors of the mosque, my heart feels at rest, knowing that I am closer to god.
Knowing that this was my safe place.
A safe place from the cruel world that I went to every time I heard the news.
About the Muslim ummah, news full of lies.
Lies that falsely accused the ummah of being terrorists.
Lies that spread like a wildfire across the world.
The world that I thought was accepting but turned out to be deceiving.

This was what led me to come to the mosque.
This was what I prayed for when I sat down on the prayer mat.
I prayed that the world would see the truth.
The truth that we are not terrorists but in fact an ummah that is peaceful, friendly and accepting.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I touched the holy book in front of me.
The holy book that comforted me as I caressed the fine pages.
The pages that had every single madd,paish carefully written inside.
So delicate yet so beautiful that the pages  sunk into my brain.
As I read them with sorrow, raising my hands in prayer.
With tears in my eyes, to the only one who could help Muslims in this time of need
Allah.

Islam Pray GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

What to do: Find a quiet spot. Places are not always tranquil. You could go in between prayer times when the church or mosque or temple is emptier and calmer; you’ll also draw less attention to yourself. Right about memories of prayer, your own or a characters. Invent a reason for them being in the house of prayer at this point in life. What do they need to resolve? Write about the texture,light,sounds and smell.

E is for Emergency room

As the lazy nurse slept

The patient was struggling to take a breath.
Struggling to keep her eyes open as she turn her head to face me.
Reaching her arm towards me to help her out of this distress.
When suddenly, her eyes closed.
And her hand fell back onto her bed “Beep…beep……..beep……………..”.
Someone’s life ended, as I peeked through doors reading Emergency room in big bold letters.
“Someone come see this” I cried, doctors rushing to respond to my voice.
Ever so fast that it was unbelievable, towards me with a comforting hand
Asking “What happened”
As I pointed to the room next to me
They smiled
She was gone for anyways they laughed
Among them laughter was spreading
Although this was a moment of sadness they seem to be laughing
What was this gesture I thought
Nevertheless they didn’t seem to care
Until an employee pointed me out
With a confused look I stared at them
What was laughter a while ago turn into sadness
“We are sorry to hear this child”
They said with a frown on their face
And fake sadness that they showed me

Before they entered the room to check her

E IS FOR EMERGENCY ROOM (ER)
What to do there: Watch and write. Write about different times you’ve been to the ER. Focus on the staff. The doctors, nurses, cleaners, x-ray technicians, volunteers. Eavesdrop or talk to people, both staff and patients. Later, or while you’re there, connect the people into a story. As you write, discover who the main character is, the one who holds the story together. For one example, read Denis Johnson’s story ‘Emergency’.
Why it’s good for you: Gets you to explore work environments and complex relationships between people who don’t live together. Observation constitutes knowledge.
E is also for: Estuary, Elevators and Escalators, Employment Office.

W is for waiting room

This is how they met.
Passing by one another,looking at the screens on their phones.
Trying to get out of this stuffy place, not knowing when fate would make them meet one another.
Of course one had to leave and the other would have to catch up to them

Exactly as narrated
One got a phone call and the other trying to find the phone that they had dropped.
One walking fast towards the exit eventually stepping on the phone of the other.
Without realizing the damage they had done.
After watching the beloved phone of of theirs crack in front of her eyes
They pulled the shoulders of that person and yelled at them.
As that person confronted the person that had pulled them.
The other was mesmerized.
This was how they met,before the doctor called me over.

 

W IS FOR WAITING ROOM
What to do there: As in a lot of these writing strategies, the purpose is to observe people in various non-domestic settings. You could find a waiting room to sit in for this exercise, or do it next time you’re waiting to see a doctor, a dentist, or the headmaster. Waiting rooms can be mind-numbing places – waiting in general is a suspended state – so invent stories to liven up your wait. Tell the story of a romance initiated in a waiting room. Start with the words: “This is how they met . . .” Be as schmaltzy or as catastrophic as you can.
Why it’s good for you: Practice using tedium as a starting point for creativity. “I’m bored!” is the hunger for an engrossing narrative.
W is also for: Woods, Waterway, Wall.

 

 

 

February free choice

Thank you (to my family)

You were my everything
My every thought, my every word
was filled with your name
Little did I know that you were not the same
You had no thoughts that were filled with memories of me
Even in the words you spoke of
those words were nothing but selfish
Everything you did was for yourself
Not even once, did you try to think about me
That was the reason you left
Leaving me alone, feeling betrayed and suffering from my own thoughts
My thoughts that deceived me about you,
Thinking that you were my everything
My friend, family and someone I couldn’t live without
Someone who held me at the same value that I held them
Someone who thought about me
the same way I thought about them
Someone who longed to see me every day
Someone who would never leave me because
they knew I was sensitive
But you on the other hand abandoned me
Left me without a reason
Making me realize,
Realize that I was wrong
Wrong about you
Realizing that what I longed for was never in front of me
But rather standing by my side, my family
What you fail to give me was what my family
had given me along
Love, kindness, belonging
What I had forgotten to give them all along
Was what they had given me all along
It made me realize how much of a bad person I was
Staying with the person that never loved me
Staying with a person that never cared for me
Staying with a person who took me away
Away the one thing that deserved me

My family
My one and only family
That had sleepless nights trying to help me calm down
The family that encouraged me after you left
Family that had always been there for me when you hadn’t
The family that always tried to make me happy
The family that had never left me
The family that loved me more than I loved them
This was what I had realized
What I had come to know about these beautiful people
Which I wanted to stay away from
Which I rarely talked to
They were the people that truly loved me
As tears rolled down my eyes
As my mom stroked my hair she said “Don’t worry, I am here for you”
I smiled replied “Thank you”

This is about a girl who thought her best friend was her everything. In the end, the best friend betrayed her.