Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A love story

The rain stopped and he got out of the shed. The road was clearly very muddy but he would go and finish the task anyway. What had to be done had to be done. Putting on his raincoat he cleared a few specks off his bike handle and checked his hair in the reflection off the polished fuel tank.

The moisture laden air had the perect smell of the wet earth. That most heavenly of smells that makes your head spin in a feeling of utopian glory. As he closed the door he looked at the farm house in the distance one last time. Maybe he’d get to see it once again, some-other day. But not for a while anyway. He had a job to do today.

Kick starting the engine he got onto the bike. The engine was making a slight noise besides the constant purring. He should have taken it to the mechanic earlier, but it didn’t matter now anyway.

The sun was setting in a perfect arc over the hill in the far off distance. In his childhood he used to go over and play at the hilltop with his friends for many hours at once. They would play with the shepherds as they brought their sheep and once they got tired they would play with the sheep instead. The sheep were always better to play with. They seemed more energetic and grumbled less. On other days they would just roll around in the grass and feel the wind as it caressed their nimble young bodies. It was motherly, enveloping itself around its children, promising a blanket of protection. A vision of light, it had taught him many things. And on a familiar windy day he had gone up th hill and looked as the sun as it set in the distance far away. And it had been at that moment that he had taken his decision to do what he had finally set out for that evening. A job which pained him much to do. But as he had taught himself too well by now, it had to be done and done by no other but him.

He had reached the twist in the road where the big puddle was and because he was lost in his reminiscence he forgot about and was woken up from his dream as he almost fell off the bike because of the puddle. Maneuvering his way past it he tried to concentrate and fill his mind with the void that he had read would help him tonight. The house was just a little bit further.

The last hundred meters were very slow as the road was broken and riddled with too many potholes. The wet mud was making his bike skid every few meters. The green and yellow fields to his right gave the whole area the feeling of a scenery. The kind you see in the calendars. He smiled at this thought. He had once played with his dog in these fields and almost died under a tractor. How ironical. He had a new dog now, a big Labrador who loved him like he loved him.

The gates of the house were open. the family had gone out for church that morning. The animals were roaming about in the pastures to the south. He looked at the window on the first floor. He had waited many a nights below it. Waited for just one glimpse of her face and then she would throw down a rose for him to catch. He would always faint a drop and finally catch it just before it hit the ground. And every such time she would look at him with a mischievous smile and wink at his smile. Oh what he would give for one more of those sleepless nights.

She had been the fire in his heart that had kept him alive. Those nights she ran away from her home just to hold his hand when he lay in bed sick from the fever. Death had almost claimed him as its prize but she had fought the enemy at the gates and saved his life with the miracle that he believed god had sent her to perform. Top save his life and soul. Their love was true and pure. It was the sort of love you read about in stories and then go and kiss your loved one after your done with it. Hold them in your arms till you can feel every muscle in their and your body relax as the warmth spreads into your souls.

Moving away from the window he went to the small shed in the back. A horse was tied to the post. He was usually very feisty and everyone ws scared of him. But today as he entered the shed the stallion looked down with an apprehensive look. the horse shouldn’t be here tonight, he thought and he opened its rope and watched it as it ran away from the shed at a manic gallop.

There in the corner of the stable was a small clearing. Her father had buried her here after he had killed her. She had paid the ultimate price for betraying her fathers trust. For having loved the son of the man he hated with all his passion. She had died for him and they said that in the last moments when her father had asked her to renounce her love for him and that then he wouild spare her she had actually stood up and boldly said she loved none other but him. This made the boys heart tear apart. He had been the casue for her death. He could very easily kill her father but that would pain her even more. She had suffered enough.

It was time for him to join her.

He picked up the knife and thrust it into his throat.