English descriptive writing assessment- Ali Alam: (39/40)

Option 2- describe trying to sleep before an important day

As if I were bound and chained by my cerulean blue bedsheets, I lay idle and motionless, frozen to my bed. Although it was
not my bed that incapacitated me, but rather the plethora of cynical and doubtful thoughts that raced through my mind as I
ruminated upon the events that would inevitably unfold tomorrow, trying my best to calculate every conceivable possibility,
every nuance and every detail, in an evidently feeble attempt to conciliate myself, and allow myself to drift o into sleep, an
escape from this predicament, that it seemed by mind would not a ord me.

I continued to gawk at the never ending abyss of darkness that malevolently encircled my room. It was raining outside, a ne
and gentle shower that soothingly peppered the discoloured city streets. In front of the never ending darkness, there lay
dozens of squat grey buildings, drab and depressing, that fell victim to the rain’s relentless onslaught.

A single, pure crystalline droplet descended from the vast sky, landing on the side of my bedroom’s window pane. It trickled
down with much ease, elegantly meandering right and left, leaving me clueless as to where its next position would be. As it
reached the end of the glass pane, it was engulfed by a horde of larger droplets, becoming overwhelmed and eventually one
with them. I wondered if this same fate would befall me, as I would inevitably become consumed by these never ending
thoughts that a icted my mental state.

As I drowned in the never ending hordes of questions that plagued my mind, I noticed, from the corner of my eye, a swift and
subtle movement from the trees outside. I wondered what it was, at rst mistaking it for a small sable-black raven, but then
later coming to the realisation that its stature was much too large to t its respective pro le, and instead must be some other
creature. I looked at it passively, watching it attempt to hop from one branch to another, nally clinging to a hazel brown
branch on which it rmly perched itself, at last allowing itself to doze o after nding a suitable location on which to sleep. I
looked at it with envy, wondering how I could replicate such an action, and how not to be held hostage to the sea of never
ending, relentless thoughts, that continued to barrage my mind.

After a while, I decided to focus my gaze towards the inside of my room, hoping that reducing my pool of external stimulus
would somehow translate to being able to sleep with greater ease. Scanning the room, I noticed the rusted and downbeat
state of the radiator. Discoloured and half broken screws were haphazardly placed atop its surface, with it only hanging on to
the mold - ridden walls by a single, beige pipe. It no longer worked, leaving me alone in the room, victim to both my thoughts
and the glacial cold that covered me.

Almost on cue, a waft of cold air intrusively entered through the window, leaving a horrifying chill that did not fail to encircle
much of the rooms contents. My attention then shifted again towards the outside, where the relentless onslaught of rain did
not cease. The torrential downpour continued, battering the roof of this already weakened room. I eventually accepted the
circumstances in which I was in, and allowed the somniferous rhythm of the outside to lull me into a deep and heavy sleep.

As night turned to day, I awoke, already feeling overwhelmed by a sense of imminent doom as I realised that today was the
day which i had been dreading. In an attempt to distract myself, I turned my gaze outwards, now looking at the rising sun that
gently emerged from the horizon. It arose gently and elegantly, a feint marigold that captured my attention. It’s cylindrical
nature strangely exuded a warm and comforting feeling of tranquil, a feeling that radiated far and wide, allowing itself inside my
room and soon after engul ng me inside it. I felt imbued with courage and strength, power and con dence, ready to tackle the
challenge that lay ahead of me.