A bit of light

She raced headlong into the tunnel which was now her second home. Coming to think of it, she never had a first home anyway and no family tree to boot. The thought of it made her realize it wasn’t the ideal time to ponder over such trivialities for she was just her with no strings attached. She was a result of a minute difference between two entities over something and that’s all she knew or cared for. However, there was something she was sure of and that was her enlightened self. She made sure it never got unacknowledged because that was the only thing she could be proud of in the whole wide world of hers where time was everything and you were only as good as your last clocked time. So, right then she had a job to do. She had to rush past innumerable others like and unlike her in quick time.

Even as she raced ahead, she could not help glancing over her and looking at the competition. She saw him huffing and puffing beside her and managed to suppress a smile. He was the exact opposite of him. So dark, you could miss him if she weren’t around to spell out the difference. She curbed an impulsive ‘hi’ as she realized she wasn’t talking to him anymore. It hadn’t always been like that. They used to be friends. They had met a couple of times while running errands and she had managed to strike up a conversation whenever they had the same destination to reach. They complimented each other well and got along well and fast too till the day she told him how he depended on her for his existence as well as identification.

It had been a mistake mostly but she never realized it. He just left after that day though meeting occasionally, but mostly seeing through each other whenever their paths crossed.
She suddenly yearned to talk to him again, strike up a conversation like those days. She wanted to apologize, tell him that she had realized her folly and that she was just as indescribable without him. She wanted to tell him how no one could tell her apart when she would be with the fellow enlightened ones.

She had to decide quickly. He was already deviating in his path. His destination probably was different. As she turned he deviated too and she lost him completely. She wanted to go after him but she had a task to do and she could not dare to turn away from it. She erased all thoughts of him and rushed headlong into the pitch darkness that would be her destination. It was coming closer. She could not stop even though she wanted to. The end always scared her. It was hardly the reward for her good work but it happened every time. She knew she would vanish into nothingness the moment the job was done and would reappear some day somewhere else to again carry on from where she left every time.

The end came like it always did. The cold, brutal and thankless end. That didn’t bother her as much as her worthless life. She never knew if she would ever be able to help anyone anywhere.

She closed her eyes. The darkness engulfed her.

Meanwhile the screen of a monitor flickered to life somewhere. A message had come and was flashing bringing with it hope.

She had done her bit. That’s what bits do. Bringing people close without ever knowing it. If only she knew that she wouldn’t die a death of despair every time.