He was running. Not for his life, for his identity. He wanted to leave the valley of darkness as soon as possible. For years he had been running, sometimes a thin beam of light has encouraged him. But at the end of the day, he always found them not to be the rays of Sun. Some artificial lights dimly alighting the valley, giving it a depressing shadowy black and white appearance. For years, this mélange of black and white, these shades of gray has been his life. As if, a filtering goggles has been put up in front of his eyes that prohibited him from seeing any colors. As if, he was compelled to wear a veil. He tried with all his might to shake off the veil. But no use. The valley was black and white, with hardly any sunshine. Just when he realized that he has to wear the veil in order to remain in the valley, he started running, to escape. Unlike other fairy tales, his journey wasn’t that eventful. With hardly any signs of life in the valley, who will stop him? But it seemed never-ending. The valley was of great span. He ran for days, for years, for ages. But it never seemed to finish. At last, he saw something like a horizon, something separating the valley with something else. It was not like the valley. “Is that what they call sunshine?” he wondered. A golden ball was shining in the blue sky. It was giving away yellow beams of light. “Is that sunray?” –he thought. Green fields and white clouds were beckoning him, alluring him towards something unknown, wind gushing with a whistling sound, shaking the leaves on the trees. “Is that what they call Sun? Is that what they call life?”- He thought, he thought and he thought. His questions were never-ending and there was no one to answer them. “All my life, I’ve been running for this”- he wondered. Step by step he headed towards the unknown. But just when he was about to cross the border, something pulled him back, some thoughts. “ I was there living in the valley, I don’t know what awaits for me in this unknown lands, may be I’ll be killed, may be I will not be able to find food.“ Suddenly, the valley behind started darkening even more. It was pitch black out there, and the waves of shadow were advancing towards him. He saw the approaching shadows behind. Thousands of souls screaming and shouting in pain, in agony. Shouting him not to leave, cursing him, stretching their claws to clasp him, to keep him with them. “ Its time to make a decision”- he thought and he didn’t think anymore. He stepped into the new world. He took a few steps there. The screams behind have stopped. He looked back into the valley. The darkness still prevailed there. “May be someday it’ll get enlightened, may be someone will bring life into it.”- He thought. A smile appeared in his face “ Not me”. He bed it a final goodbye and started walking away.