Footprints

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Her ears stubbornly tuned out everything else but the needle of the second hand of the clock in the room, as she tried to focus on the words swimming in front of her eyes. It wasn't her first rodeo, but it was different for two reasons. The first was that this would be the first exam she had been in for five long years in academia. The second was that she was on the other side of the table for the first time. She was the ‘adult’ here. There are not many rules for writing a final exam in any college — bring your hall ticket, keep your phone on silent and in your bag, and rid your pockets of any materials (including but not limited to bus passes, receipts, random notes). This was for the students. For the professors, however, only the second rule was common. Apart from that, they had to be vigilant, take regular walking rounds, never sit/stand for too long in the same place and report any case of misconduct or unethical practices to the exam section. So, she h...

 At first, there is nothing.  Just darkness that seems to surround her. She feels a shiver down her spine as she sees the haze clear. She searches for something and finds herself squinting. She is looking at a young girl, probably a few years younger than her, dressed in a white coat with her hair in a loose low bun running around. She seems to kneel down, stay put for a few moments, then move to somewhere else, repeating everything. She finds herself walking toward the maiden engrossed in whatever she was doing. She gasps when she sees that the girl is herself and at the scene unfolding before her. The girl is now kneeling in front of a man laying on his back, opening a white box with a red cross on it, and tending to his wounds. She lifts her head and attempts to understand where she is but the darkness surrounding them both refuses to show her anything. The girl suddenly looks up and rushes to another area; it's a woman this time - she treats her as well and this keeps happ...

  Sometime in the 1920s    “You’re early today,” said the mother when her ten-year-old daughter walked in. Her daughter is usually cheerful even after a day of hard work, when she sees her mother. Today, however, something was unusual. The mother peered at her child. “What’s the matter?” she asked.  “I saw Christ today Mother,” she answered.  “How did you know it was Him?” she raised an eyebrow.  “I felt him Mother,” she shook her head. Raising her eyes onto her mother, she spoke again, “it was as if our Lord wanted to speak to me when I gave that old man on the street, half of my meal.”  “Agnes!” groaned the mother, “I must applaud your bravery my child, but what have you eaten all day then?”  “A light went into the man and he smiled, Mother.” The girl sat at the feet of her mother. “That man’s smile erased my hunger. It was our Lord smiling through that man; I’m sure of it.” Her mother paused, unsure of how to go on. This wasn't the ...