THE THREE WORDS

Three words. Three words, three—that was all that it took to turn Arnob's world upside down.

As the first rays of sunlight seeped through the fine cracks of his bedside window, Arnob quickly shielded his eyes from the penetrating rays. "Which day is it? Is it over yet?" He rubbed his eyes and fumbled for his glasses, almost tipping over the half empty glass on his nightstand. He stumbled onto his feet and headed towards the kitchen.

A new day, a new loop. "How long have I been doing this?", he wondered. As far as he can remember, he has been stuck in this infinite loop, this unending labyrinth he created for himself. "When will it end..." Pensively, he fidgeted through his daily chores.  

Three words—funny how all things magical come in threes. Even more so, they delude you with all their beauty till you actually get inured to them. And then the inevitable happens; before you know it, you discover yourself in the middle of nowhere with no clue about how to escape.

Arnob had gone through the same cycle. He vividly remembered the first time he read the three powerful words. He was a jubilant young lad. He thought he had seen the most intricately beautiful thing unravel in front of his eyes. He thought he had finally found the purpose of his life, the singular motto—to drive his life forward. And so he did. Everyday upon waking, he would knit up a new story using the three words. 

Everything was going fine and dandy. He would eagerly come back home to see the response he would get from his masterpieces. It was all so exciting. But soon enough, he was engulfed by the burning desire to keep knitting together one masterpiece after the other. It was a disease that kept eating into him. He was unstoppable, unrelenting.  

He abided by what the three words told him to do: KEEP IT GOING. He kept it going for as long as he could…a bit too long.

Arnob sat back on his couch. It was time. He picked his phone up and took the screenshots for the day. He slowly typed away: #keepitgoing.

Nafis Imtiaz Onish believes grinning is the answer to everything. He also avidly loves art, astronomy & all things nerdy. Send him Carl Sagan fan art at nafisimtiaz17@gmail.com