Prologe

This is a Story of Humans, Elves, Dwarves and  Many other mystical creatures. Magic has returned to the world and along with it , just about every race that the world has imagined.  This is a story of how six peoples lives have become intertwined.

Elizebeth and Ean Michaels are a married Elvin couple. They are on the run from the law haveing to give up their only living child. Never knowing If or even when their going to get to see her. Always watching from a far and never letting her know that, they are their.

Feonna Micheals, lived with her uncle untill she was sixteen. And then ran away. Having know where to go she learned the rules of the streets and learned to stay in the shadows. Not being able to tell anyone who she is or where she is from for the fear of being cought, she has changed her name and her appearence.

David Macalister Known for a long line of family being cops has left his home town to search for His brother. Wich is Missing and considered dead. He has come to live on the streets in the shadows. Constintly working for different kinds of people trying to get into the crowd that surrounded his long lost brother.

Jake Macalister , has no clue who he is or were  he is from. Waking up in a strange place with strange people standing over him was his first and only memory. He spends his days working as a mercanary and his knight wondering and trying to figure out were he is from and who he is. he has started haveing strange dreams of family and fighting but hasn’t a clue what they mean.

Calvin Michaels, A mob boss and family man, raised his niece as if she was his own. He watched her grow into a young lady and then watched as she ran away. Not knowing why or how she did with all the body guards. he never gives up on finding her and bringing her home.

Technologie is at its best and magic has returned. with it the Elves, Dwraves, Ogre’s, Orc,s And Dragons. Even some humans have magic.  it is put into different things some can bring it with words, others with their hands, and the rest put it into their weapons. Then there are the regulars who have no magical powers.

Chapter 1

Feoanna Micheals was sitting in her appartment going over her last job. Thinking about what she could have done different. If there was a way that she could have done it that would make it better. She spent hours going over it as she always did after a big job. After a while she heard a knock at her door.

Who is it? Feonna asked loudly. Its just me Alicia, I thought you could use a breake.Replied Alicia. Well don’t just stand out there, come on in. Fay said sarcastically.  When Alicia walked in she saw that she was right and Fay needed a break. She saw that the poor womans hair was shuffeld and so were her clothes, she hadnt brushed her teeth or even taken a shower. And probanly hadnt eaten either. Child go get cleaned up and I’ll Fix you something to eat. Alicia said whith a laughing smile. Im to busy with this paper work for that Ill clean up and eat lator. Feaonna replied with a sigh. The job if finished and you need to get cleaned up and you need food . So put that stuff down and get to it. Alicia Said with a wairy look on her face. Alright I am starting to get pretty rank,and hungry.

While feonna was getting cleaned up Alicia was cleanning up the small apartment. Thanks for takeing me away from all this I needed the break and the food. Feonna said greatfully.Oh it’s no problem I was bored and needed some kind of  resemblence of the living or in your case the living dead.Alicia said with a laugh. Not a problem but im not sure how much entertainment you might get here.Replied Feonna. Aw there is always something going on around you. And we both know it. Tell me About this BIG job of yours.Alicia said with a loud laugh.

There isnt much to tell. It was more or less a snatch and grab. Fay Replied tiredley. You mean you kidnapped someone! Alicia screamed out. No I did not kidnapp anyone! It was a thang not a persone, besides either way it goes if I told you who or what you parents would ring my neck. And my clients would kill me. Feonna replied with a smirk. Enough talk about business is there anythiing going on around here, thats worth while?Feonna askes teasingly. Actually there was a really cute guy that moved in next door. Not very sociable but cute just the same. Said Alicia. So this place is so pathetic that the only thing worth talking about is the knew guy nex door to you?Asked Fay. No not next door to me, next door to you. And ya this place is that pathetic. Alicia Replied with a frown.

Feonna and her friend were in the middle of a conversation when there was a knock at the door. Feonna shushed Alicia and grabbed her pistol. She crept to the door and peeped out the peep whole. But saw no one she slowly opend it and found a single peice of papper with a note and address. It stated.                                    Fay  You have been invited to a sit down with

one Mr Jackson. He reguest that you meet him

At Knights Calvern at 9P.M. tonight bring

no one and come un armed.

Thankyou,

Mr. Smitt

Oh I’ll be there but I’ll be armed Feonna said to her self. Alicia Looked At her and Asked. Did you get another job already? I mean you just finished your last one. And your still exsosted from it. Alicia calm down! Thats the way it happens for people like me. There are times that we have steady jobs with just enough money to get buy. And then there are others that Pile

up so fast that we dont get time to rest. If I don’t atleast check it out I could loose other potential clients. So Im going to take a nap and get ready for tonight so you should go a head and head out. Oh and thanks for the break and conversation. Ill call when I get back  ok. Fay Said with a smile. Alright just be carefull. And let me know your ok. You are the only real friend I have around here. Alicia Replied sadley.

Feonna walked Alicia to the door and Said bye to her. She then looked around her apartment and decided that the kid was right. She needed to clean this place up and stop worring about previous jobs. They were done and there was no real reason to stress over them. She cleaned the apartment up and put the papper work up and was just about to lay down when she heard a lowd racket out side her appartment. She grabbed her pistol once more and cracked her door open. There was three ogre’s harasing Alicia and her mother, Feaonna went to help them when she noticed that there was a man beating the hell out of the bigest one.  Feaonna went over to Alicia and asked if they were ok. And what happend. Alicia Replied, We were just comeing back from the store when they followed us. They tried to force there way in and we were fighting them I tried to get to your apartment but that ugly one wouldnt let me pass. So I threw a bag of stuff from the store at his door and when it hit he came out. He saw what they were doing and started pounding on them. Fay looked at the guy and thought damn he is cute and stayed with the two wemon untill all the racket was over with.

Feonna watched as the new neighbor kicked the three Ogre’s out the door and into the street. He then turned back around and looked at the three of them and said I dont think them three will be bothering ya”ll again. Alicia and her mother thanked him and then introduced them selves. Alicia said, I am Alicia Longheart and this is my mother Trudy Longheart. He looked them both over and said I am David Macister, but they call me Mac. And who is your friend here. Feonna, looked at him and said I am Feonna Micheals but they call me Fay.

From the way he introduced himself she knew that he was either a runner or a director( a person that collects jobs for runners). Feonna looked at David and then the two wemon and said Ive got to get some rest but i’ll see ya’ll later. And she turned and went back inside. Feaonna couldnt get the guy out of her head. He riminded her of someone she once knew, but she wasnt sure why or

what it was about him that seemed so familiar. She shrugged it off and went to lay down once more hopeing for atleast a little nap before going to the meating tonight.

David sat in his knew apartment thinking about the cute little elvin girl andwondering what kind of chance he would have with her. Probably none seeing that most elves were stuck up and to them selves. But he was going to give it a try either way. David decided that he should focus on the meeting that knight. He was new to the business, but he also knew that it was never good for someone to tell you to come un armed. David decided to go for a walk before he had to leave. He wanted to check out his new neighborhood. If there was any place’s around here to get electronics,weapons, or armer he needed to know.

David scouted out the neighbor hood and asked a few questions. He was trying to find out what gangs controlled the area and who the local mob boss’s were and when he heard the last name micheals he grew curious. The elven chick had said that her last name was micheals. He wonderd if they were connected. It was starting to get late so he headed back to his place to get ready for the night.

When David arrived at his apartment he noticed that those ogre’s wer back and they had friends. Mac knew that he could take most of them but, wasnt exactly sure that he could take all of them by himself. So he decided that he was going to kill the first three and that included the bigest one and hopefully the others would leave. David walked up to the door of his apartment not looking at any of them. He had hoped that they would start a fight. But to his disapointment they just stood there watching him. He knew that they were just feeling him up. Trying to see if he would say or do something himself but he knew better than to be the one to start it.

David went up to his floor and was just about to open his door when he saw Feonna comeing out of her’s. Before he could stop himself he was noding at her and starting small talk between them. I noticed that you carry a colt 49 its a nice weapon, but isn’t it a little big for you. David knew that he had stuck his foot in his mouth as soon as he opend it.  Fay looked at him and smiled and as she walked by him she said I know I can handle mine, can you handle your’s. David looked down and

shook his head. He felt like slaping himself. He went into his place and began to get ready. He loaded up with his sabor sword, both pistols, and his rifle. He looked around, makeing sure he didnt miss anything, and then headed out the door.

When David arrive at the calvern, he checked out the place. He noticed that there was hardly anyone there. It was as if the place had been emptied out. There was a few waters cleaning table and a bartender. Then he saw that there were some people in there, a few were elves and others were human. but there was one in particular and that was feonna. She was sitting by her self drinking what looked like mead. After what he had said to her earlier that day he didnt think it would be a good thing to start up a conversation.

He watched a group of men in suits walk in like they owned the place. They took seats at the back and then one more guy walked in and went to were Feonna sat. David couldnt hear what was being said but he could see that she didnt like it and watched her get up and leave and then the man left be hind her. The bartender looked at him and said if your Mac then they need to see you. If not then you need to leave. Mac walked over to the group of men he noticed that two were human and one was elven. there guards were also a mixture. Mac looked at them and asked who is Mr Johnson? Mr Smitt sent me. The closest human man to him said I am Mr. Johnson. And If you would like I have a job for you. What does the job consist of? Mac asked the man. At this point all you need to do is sit up at the high bar and look all musseled and pretty. But starting tommorrow you will be playing a seriese of games. They are actually test to see if you are the best of the best. And to see just how much you can indure Physically and Mentally. You will be told the rest at a later point. Mac thought about it and all though he knew that this was nuts he decided to go for it and he just turned and went to the bar and sat there. He then remembered that he didnt even ask how much the pay was.

Feonna had been sitting at a corner table at the knight’s cavern when a Elvin man walked up to her. She knew him from a life that she left long ago. He knew that she didn’t want to be found by her uncle, and every once in a while they would come close to running into each other. The man would run interference and give her a heads up so that she could get out of dodge and not get caught. This time she had cut it almost to close. The job that she was offered her uncle was also offered. And the only reason the guy even knew she was in there was because he had been sent in there to see exactly who was there and scope the place out. He warned her as soon as he saw her, and she left.

She got a few blocks away and decided to go back she wanted to see her uncle in action at least once. She went to see a doc and had her facial features changed as she was walking out of the office she thought. Thank the gods for technology. Feonna headed back to the cavern hoping she wasn’t to late and took a seat at the table across from her uncles. She noticed that the men in suits were interviewing some other people and that David was at the bar. A waitress walked over to her took her order and told her unless your Fay I suggest you leave! Fay simply replied I am her and waited her turn.

She watched as her uncle and his top guard went to the table, and listened to there conversation. Mr. Michael’s here is the deal we are looking for the best of the best. If you take the job here is what will happen. You will be tested mentally and physically. We will put you through a series of games and they won’t all be physical. If you win you will be given the instructions to the actual job. If you lose you will be taken to where ever you like. Do we have a deal? Mr. Johnson asked. Ya we have a deal. Calvin replied. Then you can return to your seat and as soon as I finish up here we will be on our way. I do have one question for you sir. Calvin said. Ok ask away Mr. Micheals. What is the pay on this? Calvin Asked. We will pay 20,000 up front and another 50,000 when the job is done. Is that fare to you sir? Mr. Johnson asked. It sounds very satisfactory Mr., Johnson. Replied her uncle and then he turned around and went back to his seat.

Feonna thought to her self if they allow his head guard to go with him then Ill have my chance to kill him. And then I can return home. I won’t have to run or hide any more. She brought her self back to reality and realized that it was her turn.

She walked up to the table and he looked at her and said; Fay here is the deal If you take this job you will have to play a series of games you will be tested mentally and physically. And if you pass you will be given the instructions along with a few other people on the actual job. Do you accept? Yes sir I accept. Then take your seat we are waiting on just two more people and then we can go.

Just as Fay was sitting back down she saw two elves come in one male one female. It only took everyone in the room about 10seconds to realize who they were, Ean and Elizebeth Michael’s. Fay knew that she would be working with Calvin but she never thought that she would see her parents. She wasn’t sure what to think of this. She knew that she could fool one of them but wasn’t to she about all of them.

All Feonna could do was wonder how all four of them ended up, at the same place at the same time. At first she thought that maybe it was a set up to get her there, but her uncle was just as stunned to see them as she was. She kept seeing the look of shock on his face. They both knew that her parents had been around checking on them, but never in the open like this. Never revealing their true identity and never revealing there true names. She had often wondered if she had remembered them correctly. If she had their faces right and if the voices she heard from her past were really them. Know she would find out. Feonna had decided that she wasn’t going to run this time. With her parents around that man wouldn’t get away with the things that he had done to her.

As Fay was lost in her train of thought, Mr. Johnson stood and said. All of you are probably wondering what the hell is going on. Well this is the deal; I am going to put all of you through a series of test or as my man told you earlier a series of games. I will be testing you mentally, as some of you have already noticed there are friends and family here, and there are legends and out laws here. Some are one and the same, others aren’t.  The reason that I have done this is to see if you can keep going knowing that a family member or friend is in immediate danger. I need to know

that you will keep going. I need to know that I have the best of the best. I also need to know that ya’ll can work together.

Know I now that one of you is running from the others and I need to know that you can keep your identity from them. If so than you can keep it from any one at any time. It will be hard but it will be rewarding.

There will also be a physical part to this. You will be fighting any thing from ogre’s to your selves. You will meet knew people and might make or loose friends. There will be times when you want to beg for rest and times when you’re ready to get it finished. But I hope that when you look back on this you will say that it was a time to remember. Know that you know all of this; this is the time to decide weather to stay or go.

It wasn’t five minutes after the man gave his speech that one full table got up and left. Mr. Johnson just shook his head and said ya’ll have five more minutes to decide, And then the GAMES begin.  Fay watched as every one sat there nervously waiting, Not knowing what was to happen next. She paid the most attention to her parents and her uncle. Although they weren’t sitting together they kept looking towards each other, but thankfully never at her. She knew that the man was talking about her when he said that there was some one here that he wanted to see if they could keep there disguise up around there family and she would do her best to do just that.

Fay had apparently been watching her uncle for to long, because he walked over to her table and sat down. It’s not polite to stare young lady. Calvin said to her with a deep voice that she had longed to here for a couple of years know. I’m sorry sir I wasn’t meaning to stare. Its just that you looked like someone I used to know. Fay said to Calvin automatically wishing she hadn’t.  Oh ya who’s that? Calvin asked. I can’t remember his name, I only knew him a very short time. She lied. Well just don’t let it happen again. Your Elvin you should know that it is very impolite to stare in our society, Calvin replied knowing that there was more to it than she was admitting. He got up and walked back to his table stopping at her parents first to invite them to his, She very much wished that she could join them but knew that unless she told them who she was that, that wouldn’t happen any time soon.

The five minutes blew by and the next thing Fay knew was that Mr. Johnson and his crew got up and walked out without a word and ten minutes later a group of mercenaries’ walked in and started attacking the people inside.

Automatically Fay was glad that she didn’t listen. She pulled out her sword and was ready to kill the first person that came near her. She put her back closer to the wall and kicked the table out of her way. She watched as one of the biggest ogres she had ever seen went after the little shrimp of a dwarf. She didn’t think it fail so she went after the ogre. Fay walked up to him and with her free hand she said pick on someone you own size and knocked him upside the head with the flat of her blade. He shook his head and looked down at her. He said elf for lunch is fine with me and swung his club at her.  Fay ducked at swiped his leg out from under him. As he was going down she sliced him across the belly with her long sword. He landed with a thud, blood flying every where.

The Elvin woman standing next to her asked; do you have to be so messy with that thing? No melm  I don’t but I  can get even worse or at least it tends to if I  use my magic. Fay replied. I think I ‘ill just stay clear of you when you have that thing in your hand. The woman said with a smile. Fay moved on to the next person which was a human male. He came at her with his sword swung and missed on purpose. He was toying with her, and she new it. He looked familiar but she could n’t place him. She swung at him and deciding to toy with him also she hit him with the flat of her blade. He ducked and she missed and smiled at her saying come on try again. So she did just that. This time she succeeds in hitting him with her sword, and knocking him out.

Fay stepped back watching the scene around her. Calvin was fighting a elf with two axes which was very odd and then she watched the elf turn into a dwarf. And she knew that he had been chanted. Calvin swung his long sword into the dwarfs chest and just as quickly turned in the next guy. She looked over at her dad and saw that he had two humans floating in the air bouncing from floor to ceiling. Fay almost laughed out loud until she saw her mother covered in blood. At first glance she thought that she was hurt and then realized that she was the one that got splattered with the blood of the ogre. She saw that her mother was also holding her own. She was climbing up some pore mans back slicing at him as she went. Fay thought to herself the man never had a chance.

Fay then saw her new neighbor Mac; he was beating the hell out of these two orcs. And he wasn’t letting up for anything or any one. He has one pinned to the ground with his boot and the other looked like a shish kabob with Mac’s sword going through him. Fay then turned to see a lone human hiding in a corner shaking his head. She figured he had gotten more than he bargend for.  Until the man stood up and began to cast a spell. He was trying to cast a freeze spell on the man in front of him.  Instead half the people in the room froze including her father and uncle. When Fay’s mother saw that she ran to his aid, fighting the man that was attacking him. Fay automatically ran to help her and in stead went to help Calvin. She wasn’t sure what had happened but knew that the poor sole didn’t mean to do it. After a few minutes her father was free of the spell, and was back to fighting, only this time side by side with Elizabeth. Fay stayed next to Calvin wishing she could unfreeze him but afraid that she would just make it worse. Fay kept fighting to protect him, hoping that she could keep this up for as long as it took. She noticed that he was finally able to move his head. Are you ok Mr.? Fay asked trying not to laugh while also trying to not tire her self out. Ya I’ll be fine, I will be happy when I can move again. What the hell happened? Asked Calvin. The guy in the corner over their tried to cast a freeze spell on the man that was in front of him. Half the people in the room was frozen, and not all the right people, either. Fay told her uncle with a laugh and a slight smile. It sounds like he needs a lesson in magic, Calvin said to Fay.

Fay simply shook her head and kept guarding Calvin. She watched as he started to move little by little. He finally took a step forward and said thank the gods. I hate that feeling, of not being able to move. He then turned and looked at fay and said, your pretty good with that thing, it’s almost like your putting you energy into it, but that’s not possible know is it. Only an older more experienced Elven worrier is able to do that. That is, unless you were taught by one. Calvin finally stopped talking, and fay replied; Since you finally took a breath long enough for me to speek, yes I do put my energy into my weapons. I was taught that it is important to focus all my energy into it, so that I can just glide with it. I had a very good teacher, and until close to five years ago he was also my mentor. Fay replied sadly. If you don’t mind me asking why have you broke away from him, Calvin asked. I had no choice but to leave, and know I can not go back

at least not without reprocautions to my self and possibly to my mentor. I just hope that he can understand one day. Fay replied with tears streaming down her eyes.

The attacks had died down and the surviving people were huddling together, talking and trying to figure out what was next. They had no idea if any of this was apart of this newest run, or of one of these men’s test. Fay was just pleased to finally be treated as an equal and be able to fight side by side with her parent’s. Although she was afraid for their safety, and worried about what would happen to them if these people decided to call the authorities. She knew that it would probably be one of the test for her, to give up her freedom and try to save her parents. Or turn her back on them and walk away.

After about thirty minutes a green smoke started feeling the room and people were falling to the ground. Fay followed her family’s steps and got low to the ground and coverd her face but she knew that it wouldn’t help for long.  Fay found her way to her mother and sat next to her, she desperately wanted to tell them the truth for fear of not seeing them again but knew that it would be a mistake. The last thing she saw before passing out was her father reaching for her hand.

Chapter2

Upon waking up Fay noticed that she was one of only two people in the room. The other was her mother, Elizabeth Michael’s.  She was already up and trying to figure out where they were. Fay stumbled over to her and asked, do you have the foggiest idea of where we are or what is going on?  No little one I don’t have a clue, but I sure wish I did.  I wish I knew where my husband was. I am so worried about what is to happen to us, Elizabeth replied sadly. He is probably with Mr. Michael’s, the other men. I think we were the only women in the cavern.  Fay said with a slight smile. She was excited about being able to be around her mother and talk to her as an adult, an equal.

Have you tried the door yet? I mean to see if it’s open or not, Fay asked. Little one I have been doing this for a long time. I think I know enough to check and see if a door will open or not, Elizabeth replied angrily. Ok first of all you don’t have to get an attitude with me. And second why do you keep calling me little one? Fay stated loudly. Sorry about the attitude im worried and I tend to get a little cranky when I worry. And I keep calling you little on because you remind me of my daughter. Liz replied.

There isnt much we can do just sitting here, so why don’t we try to come up with some kind of idea, so that we can get out of here? Fay asked Liz. The door isn’t very solid so we could probably break it down. But then that wouldn’t be very lady like. Liz said wearily.  If we do things in a lady like fashion the guys around here are going to think that we are weak and push over’s, Fay replied. Oh trust me I can be a lady and still get the job done, and so can you, if you do it right. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that? Liz asked not knowing who the girl really was. No my mother never taught me that or much else for that matter. My parents were never around while I was growing up. My uncle raised me up untill five years ago and then I left home. Fay replied Wishing that she hadnt said so much, possibly giving her self away. Oh I am so sorry, I hadn’t a clue. I had to send my daughter away after loosing my son I thought it was best. I know that it must have been hard being without your parents. Liz said ,with a solemn look upon her face.

It was hard but I knew that they were doing what they had to for all of our sakes. And my uncle is a good man. There are times that I wish I could go back home and every thing would be the same but I know that I never can again and that my life will never be the same again. So I just keep going and hopeing that every once in a while I can catch a glimpse of him or my folks and that hope or should I say wish actually came true recently. Only they had no clue who I was, and I couldn’t tell them. That was the worst part of it all.

Child no matter how hard things are remember that they will always get better sooner or later. My daughter left her uncles home a while back. No one knows why, but we keep hoping that she will show up somewhere. Liz told fay. If you do see her or catch up to her what will you do then? Fay asked hoping to get a heads up on what to expect. We will do our best to bring her home. I will tell her how much I lover and how much we have missed her. And then kick her square in the ass for up and leaveing like she did. Liz replied. What if there was a serious reason to why she left? Fay asked. Then she should have talked to her uncle, he is a very strong and powerful man he would have taken care of any problem that she may have had. Why are you asking all these questions? Are you thinking of returning home yourself? Liz asked quietly. No, I can’t go back. Although I wish I could. Like I said before my uncle was a good man, but If  I return there will be a lot of people that will get hurt. And I can’t do that to my family they have been through enough as it is. Fay replied to Liz sadly.

Well enough of this sad stuff, lets get out of here and find my guys. Liz said to fay with a smile. What first since you’re the expert? Fay Asked Liz. We get that door open is whats next. Can you  pick locks? Liz asked Fay. Yes that is one thing that I can do. But I can also cast a spell called open lock on it. Fay said shyly.  Then why haven’t you already done that? , Liz Asked sharply.  Because my magic tends to go hay wire, at times and I try not to use any of it. Fay replied. I have been around some messed up magic so don’t you worry about that, little one. Liz said with a laugh.

Fay cast the spell and the next thing they knew every door in the little compound came open. Liz looked outside and smiled. The first thing she saw was her husband looking around, trying to figure out who or how the doors got opened.  Liz thought it was funny, when the girl said that her magic goes hay wire she wasn’t exaggerating. She looked over at Fay and said, thank you child. I don’t know how you did it but Im sure glad you did. Fay replied, Melm I have no clue either. My uncle used to say that I have my father’s gift for destruction and magic. Hell he gave me a padded room to practice my magic in, and the guy that was supposed to be teaching me stood outside the door and watched. Liz replied, That isnt much of a teacher in any direction you go.

The wemon talked as they walked toward, the guys. Fay started to feel awkward about being around all three of them at the same time. She began to shy away from the men hopeing that they wouldn’t relize who she is. And then she decided that she wasn’t going to think about it anymore, and what ever happened , just happened.

Where are we? Asked Calvin.  Liz looked at him like he was nut’s and said, how should we know. They took us the same way that they did the rest of ya’ll.  Ean laughed at the two of them, it was like they hadnt been apart. They would always argue about anything and everything. He looked at the two if them and said the real question is who the hell opend those doors like that?  That would be little one over here, Liz replied. Fay spoke up, little one’s name is Fay and I did it on accident. And that’s why I don’t use my magic. Its to powerful, and instead  I try to put it into my weapons. Ean looked at Fay and said, either way you go Fay you were able to open all these doors plus some. And not many people could do that atleast not at your age. I don’t know what age im supposed to do what with my magic, but I do know it is to much for me to handle. Either way I can hold my own, and I will do what ever it takes to get this bullshit over with. I have other jobs that I need to get done and im not really sure this one is worth it. Fay replied with a shy smile

Mac finally spoke up, I don’t know what you elves plan on doing but I think we should get moving and try to figure out what were supposed to do. Calvin looked at Mac and replied, the human is correct we need to be moving on, And see what this place has to offer. Know why do you have to go and be like that? Asked Mac.  Like what? Calvin asked knowing exactly what Mac meant. Why do you have to call me the human? Mac replied solemnly. Fay peeped in, Mac he was just pulling your leg. You know a little elfish humor. Mac looked over at ean and Calvin and noticed that they were both laughing there ass’s off at him. Mac shook his head and walked away. Why did you have to ruin our fun child ? Calvin asked with a serious look on his face. Fay swallowed hard and answered, I was just preventing a fight that we probably don’t need right know.  She is right Liz said. We need to get moving and try and figure out what’s going on.

They looked around the compound  for about an hour and found that they werent locked in. apparently when fay unlocked the doors to the rooms she unlocked the compound or were they already open. They noticed that there wasn’t anyone within miles  of the compound but a strange human male did find a set of instructions for the group and this is what it stated.

Here are the instructions for your next moves. Take one hour to regroup, figure out who can do what and make it work for you. Figure out who your leader is going to be and who the scout will be. Then start heading south to the next safe point. Your test begin know!

Thank you,

Mr. Johnson

Fay looked at the man and said well then I gues we should get started. She handed the note of to Ean and said you and your kin have been doing this sort of thing the longest maybe ya’ll should be the leader’s .She then  turned to the man and said my name is Fay what’s your’s and what can you do? If you don’t mind me asking that is. He replied, my name is Ezeekial but they call me zeek, and I am a mage. Well im supposed to be a mage anyway. What do you do? He asked Fay

Quietly. I am one of those people that take their energy and put it into their weapon. I am also considered a scout or at times even an assassin. Take your pick and that’s what I can do. She turned to Mac and said so what is it that you do?  I am a sword welder and a shootist. Any weapon I put into my hands I can pretty much use. I am not afraid of a good fight or even of getting caught. He then turned to Calvin and asked what is it that you do? Calvin looked at him and said I am a swordsman and like Fay over here I take and put all my Entergy into my weapons. I can come up behind you a cut you head off and you will never know that I was even there. He then turned to Ean and Liz and said why don’t you two explain what you can do and then we can get going. Liz looked at Fay and said I am a outlaw and a swordsman, and although I am not afraid of getting caught I prefer not to. She then turned it over to her husband. Ean looked at the group of people and said I am a level ten mage, and yes like my wife I am an outlaw and if I do get caught it wont be for long but no im not afraid of it. And if any of ya’ll are then you need to speak up know so that we can fix it.

No one spoke up and they decided that Mac and Fay should do the scouting. Fay in the tree’s and Mac on the ground. Zeeke took up the end while ean was at the front with Liz and Calvin in the middle. They all agreed that Ean would lead the group. Before the hour was up the group was well on their way to the first check point.

Calvin watched as the young woman ran off into the tree’s. He knew that she reminded him of his neice feonna . But he couldn’t figure out why he wanted to so badly hug her and tell her that it would be ok. He knew that it wouldn’t be right and it would probably freak her out. She acted more human than she did like an elf. Calvin figured she was probably raised by humans that would be the only reason why or she was orphaned and had to act that way to survive. Their was no telling and he didn’t have the time to dwell on it. He speed up so that he could talk to Liz and Ean.

Mac felt out of place with all these elves and mage’s although the young one was cute, but he figured she was probably of limits in age and race. He knew that the Elvin people preferred to stay with there own kind seeing how they would tend to out live humans. But the girl could be older than she look’s Mac thought to himself. He shook it off when Fay popped down out of one of the trees and said we have trouble up a head. There are about five ogres and some orc’s up a head. Go warn the others and do it fast. As soon as she barked the order out she wished she hadn’t. She liked him a lot and didn’t want him thinking that she was bossy or a total bitch.

Fay climbed back up the tree and at that moment she realized that none of them had any weapons and she would either have to use her magic or fight in hand to hand combat. She didn’t mind the combat but she did mind using the magic. She also felt like a dumb ass for not realizing she didn’t have a weapon and leaving the compound without it. Come to think about none of them were carring weapons. She knew that her mother and father would be pissed also and she could here her uncle saying didn’t I teach you better than that. She realized that he had done the same thing. Fay began to laugh and she went up a head to find out what she could see.

Mac ran back to the group and told them what was happening. Liz looked at Ean and said I am going to catch up with Fay I think I would make a better scout than Mac and I am faster. She then turned to Mac and said I mean no offense sir. None taken Ma c replied. I am more of a muscle man anyway. She nodded and took off in the same manner that fay did and mac could swear that they were kin to each other. But he wasn’t about to say a word.

Liz jumped and glided across tree’s untill she caught up with Fay.  How does it look little one she asked as fay turned to see who was behind her. Well there are five ogres and I am thinking seven or eight orcs out there but there could be more. I never learned to use long range with my eye’s but I can definitely here them. Fay answered with a smile. Your right about the number I think we can take them. We just have to give the guys time to catch up. Liz replied quietly.

How long do you think it will take them to get here? fay asked her mother. About twenty-five minutes for Calvin and Ean. And for the humans about forty minutes. If the guys play it smart they will stay in the trees. The humans probably cant but Ean and Calvin can. Liz replied. So now we wait, right?  Yes we wate little one. Liz replied. I wish you wouldn’t call

Me that.  I mean no offense its just that my mother and papa used to call me that. That is one of the only things that I remember about them. Fay no sooner got it out of her mouth than she regretted saying it. She had waited for many years to here that said to her and here she was asking her mother not to say it. She had often thought of just telling the truth since this whole thing had started , but she knew that it would come to no good. After it was said and done with they would dissapear again and she would still be hurting only this time she would be in more heart ache.

Liz broke Fays train of thought when she said, if you miss them so much why don’t you go back to you family. Fay said do what? You heard me child, if you miss them so much then why don’t you go home. Liz repeated herself. I wish I could go back home. But that is no longer a choice for me, And besides my parents arent a part of that home. They dumped me off there when I was for years old, right after my older brother was shot and killed. And instead of staying and protecting the one child they had left they ran off to the Elvin lands. Well at least the last I heard that’s where they were. Fay new that she had really done it this time and couldn’t chance her mother telling the others who she was, but she couldn’t hurt her either. She wasw mad at her but she didn’t have that in her. So fay cast a silence spell on her.

Im sorry for what I have  just done but I cant take the chance of you telling anyone what I just said. It should wear off once im out of the ficinity. But like I said before my magic doesn’t always do right. Fay then stood and started to walk away then turned back to her mother and said I really am sorry for this. And the bad part of it all is that I have begged the gods to get just a glacne of you and circumstances have made it to where I cant take the chance. Oh and tell the others im sorry and I really do wish I could go home.

Liz sat there trying to talk and nothing was comeing out. She new that Ean could lift the spell without to much of a problem. But what she didn’t know was how this girl could do this and then apologize. She so badley wanted t just clock her one but then that would give them away. So she sat and watched as this child just walked away, Still not even realizing that it was her daughter. But it would be different for Calvin and Ean, and they would not be happy.

Ean leeped from tree to tree the whole way he was searching for the girls. He wanted to catch up with them so that they wouldn’t have to weight for long. Calvin wasn’t to far behind him, he was going a little slower so that he could make sure he wasn’t be followed. Nether of them had any idea of what had happened between the women. But they would soon be on the hunt for fay as well as for the ogres and orcs .

Ean finally reached Liz and noticed that she was alone and had a very angry look on her face. He wasn’t sure if the ogres had gotten to fay or if she had done something to Liz, but either way it wasn’t good.  When he finally got to were she was at he asked her what had happened and when she didn’t answere he knew that some thing wasn’t right, He asked her again, Liz what happened why wont you answer me? She just pointed to her mouth and made a gesture for silence. It only took him a few minutes to figure out that she couldn’t speek. And he started asking other questions he told her to just node yes or no. Did the ogres do this? She shook her head no. Did Fay do this to you? She shook her head yes. Did she cast a spell on you? She shook her head yes, this time with tears in her eyes. While she was waiting for them she had realized that fay was there daughter Feonna. Ok know one last question and ill fix this little problem. Did she cast a silence spell on you? And she shook her head again becoming frustrated with her self. Ok hold still because if her magic is as strong as I think this is, if I miss it could be very bad.  Liz grabbed Eans arm and looked at him with a worried look on her face. He said, don’t worry it wont be bad for you just anyone near you. She shook her head in lafter she remembered how Ean was when he first got his powers and knew that fay had taken after him in that area. Ean looked at her and concentrated on the spell he then gently layed his hands on her mouth and said some words that she couldn’t understand. He then lifted his hand and simply said speak.

The first thing that came out of Liz’s mouth was im going to kill that little wench. She has been lying to all of us this whole time about who she is. I couldn’t figure out why she wouldn’t get very close to you and especially Calvin. But know I now why, it’s because she isn’t who she says she is. Calm down Liz and explain what you’re talking about. That girl fay is actually Feonna our daughter.

About the time Liz told Ean about fay Calvin had come up on them and all he heard was fay is actually Feonna. And he about fell of the tree branch that he was standing on. This whole time she was right in front of them and they didn’t even know it. He loved that girl like she was his own but at this moment he was with Liz on wanting to kill her. And he couldn’t figure out why she was doing this. Why wouldn’t she just come clean and come home. Either way in no longer mattered they just needed to catch up to her and make her give an answer and when this is all over with he was going to take her home and lock her up.

Mac and zeeke finally caught up to the others and they explained what was going on and that fay had taken off on her own. Mac looked at Zeeke and then back at the others and said, well lets get rid of these idiots and then ill help you go get her. Ean smiled at Mac and said this isn’t your problem but thank you anyway. Mac replied, we are stuck together as a group, so I and Zeeke here might as well help you. Liz grabbed Ean’s arm and said lets just get going so that we can find her.

The group headed out to where the ogres stood and began to attack them. Ean through fire balls at the first two closest two him. They fell in balls of fire never even knowing what hit them. Zeeke decided to follow suit and through two more fire balls, but instead of hitting his target they turned an inch away from them and went straight for Calvin. Calvin saw them coming and took off running away from the group. The fire balls chased him no matter which way he ran. Zeeke saw this and winced, knowing that he wouldn’t here the end of this one for a while. Mac pulled his broad sword out and began slashing at orc’s and ogres. He cut one of the ogres heads clean off its shoulders. And then stabbed another one in the chest when he pulled his sword out he turned and in one move sliced a orcs head of.  He then turned and saw the fire balls chasing Calvin like two heat seeking missiles.

Calvin didn’t have a clue why this was happening but he wasn’t about to let these things catch up with him either. He had tried to make it so that they would hit a tree but it was like they just went around them. He had been running for a while when he happened to look up in a tree and he saw Fay, laughing her ass off. He knew that it had to be funny but at the moment it wasn’t very funny to him.

Fay hadnt went very far she had made a commitment and had planned to keep it. She turned back after only a few feet and sat and watched everything that went on. She knew that her mother was pissed. But she couldn’t tell with the others. She now sat watching stray fire balls chasing her uncle. She decided it was best to help him especially know that he had seen her. She was going to return to them, but was extremely afraid of her mother at this point. She cast a spell forcing the fire balls to turn the other direction and causing them to hit a large group of orcs . When they impacted it made a blast so large that it blew every body off there feet including fay. She fell of the tree branch landing right next to her uncle.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at The ones in the shadows.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Why you should care….

The Chrono-Car, and used it to explore the fourth dimension.

He revved it up, and traveled back through 23 years’ history,

And then the engine used up all supplies of his magistery.

Now trapped back when his childhood self had only just turned seven,

And frequently thrown out those brown bread sandwiches with devon

His mother made; Brint chose to spare himself the wierdest meeting.
He steered clear of the school, where he’d endured a frequent beating.

He met a blond haired lady his own age, and slowly courted;

And then they got engaged, but his indulgences were thwarted.

She dyed her hair to brown, and now looked strangely too familiar.

Their three year romance took his thoughts to days of juvenilia.

For Tina now resembled all his deepest recollections:
The teacher in his sixth class year, for whom he held affections,

But couldn’t share, because of different ages and those fissures

Dividing them, because her only known first name was “Mrs.”

So “Tina Long,” her married name, before the timeline altered,

Confronted him with guilt; since he had well and truly faltered,

By stopping her from meeting Mr Long, when he had entered,

And tried to buy a life from her, which he had really rented.

Tormented by morality, he pondered all the choices,

Recalling all those recent dates in cheaply hired Rolls Royces.

Should he arrange for Mr Long and her to meet and marry,

And then seek someone single in the past, where he’d still Tarry?

Or should he marry Tina, and let Mr Long be cheated

Of destined love, if what had gone “before” was not repeated?

He thought that she should know the truth, and do her own deciding,

Confessed (except Long’s name), and hoped his teacher would start guiding.

She said, “I’ll marry you, and have no wish to still discover

Identities of might-have-beens,” which made Brent really love her,

“Why don’t you choose an alias, to safeguard your persona

From sharing names with your young self, who must remain a loner?”

Invent a name like Mr Long, and be my true intended.

Don’t worry how the broken threads of time will all be mended.”

“Did you say Long?” asked Brint, “That means the Mrs Long who taught me

Was married to my older self, while 6th class Brint was naughty.

My childhood self was jealous, while I was my greatest rival:

Your adult husband, while my younger self would seek survival

In mucking up at school. No wonder you gave much attention

To teaching him the right ways, and gave him an hour’s detention.”

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at LONG JOURNEY.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Daddy’s Boy.

BANG

To watch a sunrise
And then see it set
In this harried life
It’s as good as it gets
God must know
The pleasure it bestows
To all His children
He created here below.

There are many
Who say
There’s no God
To whom we do pray
And without Him
Our surroundings
Would be here anyway,

Because
Worlds collided
There was a big bang
And from the din
And confusion
This wonderment sprang.

How utterly ridiculous
It would be
Of me
To conceive
An explosion
Making a tree.

Tom Fenning
2/26/2006

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at BANG.

3
December 22, 1991
The streets around the Srirangam temple were all flooded with people. Vaikunta Ekadesi was the biggest festival of the city and people thronged the temple from all over the state to get a glimpse of their Lord Ranganatha during his majestic procession in the streets of the town. People waited for hours for the ‘Sorghavaasal thirappu’ to enter the premises of the lord which they believed would get them a place in heaven. Most of them weren’t there for that though. Mohanasundaram and his family were among the privileged few who were waiting near the starting point of the queue. Their prayers were for far more materialistic and none of them wanted a place in heaven anytime now. Waiting with them was their family friend and neighbour Srinivasan and his daughter, Priya.
“It’s almost time. They’ll open in a few minutes.” A voice was pacifying the crowd. Hundreds of voices were chanting pasurams and Vishnu Sahasranamam, oblivious to the hot, humid air and the sweat drenching their whole body. As the clock ticked four AM, the door was thrown open and the devotees were ushered into the premises. The chantings grew louder with fervent shouts of “Govinda Govinda!!” filling the air. Amidst that overwhelming crowd Arun prayed silently.
“God! Amma’s health must pick up. Please make her strong and healthy.”
Standing close to him, with eyes closed in devotion, was his mother with her simple prayers which were always about him or their family.
A few metres away, Priya prayed with her eyes wide open, taking in every bit of the magnificent display of devotion everyone else seemed to be displaying. Personally, she would prefer to go to temples when they weren’t crowded. That was when she would feel comfortable discussing her problems with god. This mad crowd irritated her. But still she prayed:
“I must do my tenth exams really well!”
She desperately tried to close her eyes. The thick smoke from the camphor was making her eyes burn. Her eyes watered whenever she batted her eyelids. Anyone looking at her then would have thought she was experiencing some religious ecstasy. The two strands of hair falling over her forehead stuck to her skin due to the sweat and didn’t dance the way they usually did when she walked. She folded her hands and the clinking sound her glass bangles made a few people towards her. The band aid on her left forearm looked totally out of place.
Priya’s mother died when she was three. Her father was everything to her. It would be safe to say that she was excessively pampered by her father and Priya grew up to be the most effervescent girl in the agraharam. She proved to be the naughtiest and loudest too. The band-aid was the result of her latest ‘hanging out in the rain’ she did a couple of days back. She had slipped and fallen on a rock near the canal. Her friends had been stunned and had run to her only to find her lying on the muddy ground with a bruised left forearm. To their astonishment she had been laughing. When asked, she had said ” I was thinking what would have happened if Deepa had fallen instead of me.”
Deepa was the fattest girl in their group. Everyone except Deepa rolled with laughter. Laughter was Priya’s special charm. She never smiled, it was always a loud laugh.
As the crowd kept pushing her from behind, Priya could think of only two things about the Ranganatha temple she loved. One was the majestic urchavar statue draped in diamonds and rich silk. Another was the hot puliogare the town was famous for. She collected the prasadam and left for home.
About an hour later, Priya and Srinivasan were sipping their coffee, seated in archaic wooden chairs in Mohanasundaram’s home. The light seeping through the skylight added luster to the otherwise ordinary hall. It was one of the hundred year old houses which filled the streets of the agraharam.
“Maami, I want another cup of coffee.” Priya ordered affectionately.
“Priya! Why are you troubling Meena maami?” her father frowned.
“Oh! It’s ok. This is no trouble at all.” Meena retorted, smiling at Priya.
“There you are, Maami. Bring it a bit fast.” Priya settled herself on the swing by the radio.
Priya spent more time in this house than in hers. She would use any excuse to come here. ‘Meenu maami’ as she called Meenakshi was one of her closest friends.
Watching Priya from his room window was Arun. The partial sunlight made Priya look like a golden statue perched on the sylvan wooden swing. Arun’s heart beat faster whenever he looked at her face. He didn’t know if it was right to feel this way but that was how he felt for the past few months. As she turned her eyes in his direction, Arun dropped his eyes to the physics book lying open on his table. One of the reasons for Arun’s good scores in recent exams was that he turned to his books whenever he needed an escape from thoughts. In the past few days, the study time had shot up tremendously. Whenever a thought about her sprang up, he punished himself with half-hour of studying.
As Priya started her second cup of coffee, the discussion turned to Meenakshi’s health. Her blood pressure had shot up off late and she had fainted a couple of times last week. Priya was concerned about Meenu maami’s health, but when the talk turned into medical jargon about ‘count’, she couldn’t concentrate. She turned towards Arun’s room and caught him looking at her. He quickly shifted his gaze. Priya smiled to herself. She immensely enjoyed watching Arun react whenever she caught him like this. He never talked to her much when his mother wasn’t around. Priya wouldn’t keep her mouth shut no matter whether Meenu mami was around or not. She would endlessly tease him about the way he wore his spects, the way he combed his hair, even the way he walked. She would laugh at her own jokes which were mostly too boring to make Arun even smile. She didn’t know exactly when her incessant urge for annoying him blossomed into affection. She was too afraid to use any another word for that, even in her mind. By the time Priya completed her cup, the conversation among the elders changed from blood pressure to hospitals to cities to offices and Srinivasan realized he was getting really late for his office. As Priya left the house, she couldn’t suppress an urge to have a glance at Arun’s window. He was staring at her as she had expected. But this time he didn’t turn away. He only smiled shyly. Priya had never really felt self-conscious and shy in her life. But at that instant, when their eyes met, she was filled with a new wave of emotions she had never experienced before. Her face erupted into one of her rare smiles and she left the place hastily.

4
As the clocked ticked 12 AM, the alarm in Priya’s bedroom started screaming out aloud breaking the peace of the night. As she switched it off, she went back to sleep when she suddenly remembered why she had set the alarm. She looked at the calendar hanging precariously from the plastic hook on the wall. Even in the light coming from the 15 watt night lamp, two things noticeable about the sheet were the awesome Ravi Varma picture at the top part of the calendar and the date 23 which was circled twice with a red sketch pen. Priya knew for sure that she would not forget Arun’s birthday, but she didn’t want to take chances.
She switched on the light and took out her school bag. She removed the gift packet she had personally wrapped the present in. Decoration was certainly not her forte but she thought it would be nice to wrap the gift herself. It had cost her three months’ pocket money to buy the HMT watch. It was one of the least expensive models available. But she thought Arun would understand. She had gone to the shop with her closest friend Tara to choose the watch. Perhaps her father would have happily accepted for presenting Arun a watch. She could have saved her pocket money. But she felt a strange sense of satisfaction from the fact that she had sacrificed something for Arun. Moreover, she wanted the gift to be a surprise. She quickly dressed into the first salwar she could grab from her wardrobe and left for Arun’s house. She reached Arun’s window in less than five minutes.
“Arun! Arun!” She shouted in what she thought was a whisper. Arun didn’t even notice and was sound asleep on his cot on the other side of the room. Priya lifted a piece of gravel from the ground and threw it at Arun softly or so she thought. She was bang on target and the stone hit Arun on his forehead.
“Amma!!!!” Arun woke up with a start. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There, on the other side of his window, stood the girl of his dreams in the mid of the night. The moonlight mingled with the sodium street lamp’s light and again the golden statue thought crossed his mind. It was almost a minute before he spoke.
“What are you doing here?”
“Happy birthday and many more happy returns of the day!”
He had expected her to remember his birthday but hadn’t imagined that she would sneak out at midnight to wish him.
“Oh Thanks…”
Before he could think of something nice to say, she placed the gift packet on his hands through the window. For a second, her fingers touched his. The warmth of her hand and her whole being seemed to flow through the mehndi of her fingers to his hands. As he stood there, transfixed, Priya left the place with one of her rare smiles. He kept staring out of the window for a long time after she left. After a full ten minutes, he remembered the gift and started unwrapping the gift packet. As the pink wrapper came off, he could see a metallic grey watch inside a humble watch case and a piece of paper on top of it. Instinctively he took the piece of folded paper. He could see the neat curves of Priya’s handwriting even before he unfolded the paper. As he started reading, his heart began to miss beats.
“Arun,
Happy birthday! I have been waiting for this day for a long time to tell you something. I think you already feel I am a foolish girl. Perhaps this will prove you right! But I have to tell you that I have started liking you. Whenever I am with you, I forget time and I forget the world. I don’t know what this is called or what this will lead to. I don’t know if this is right. I don’t want to think about all that. I have a gut feeling you too feel this way about me. If not, please don’t tell me. I can’t take it. Hope this watch reminds you of me every time you look at it. I pray to God all your wishes come true, and mine too…
With Love
Priya”
When he finished reading it for the fourth time, he still couldn’t believe a word of what she had written. He was not ready to accept the letter.
‘What if this was just one of her pranks?’ Even the thought was horrifying. His worst fear was her laughing over something he would say.
He laid down on the bed staring at the ceiling for a long time. He slept off, clutching the letter close to his chest.

5
Arun clutched at the steering wheel and turned it to his left with all the force he could muster. He was stamping the brakes with his right leg and pressing the horn with his hands. The car came to a halt with a loud screech. The front bumper of the car was less than an inch away from the qualis that had stopped without any signal. Arun continued to honk even after the vehicle had stopped and lowered his window glass, ready to use the foulest language he could think of.
“Sorry, sir. Had to put a sudden brake to avoid the pit.” The driver of the qualis said from his window with a silly smile.
Arun shrugged and muttered a “Get Lost!” under his breath.
The sky was getting darker by the minute. Arun switched off the ac and rolled down the window. The sandal perfume had turned too thick and he was starting to have a head ache. After another half hour of driving, it became unbearable. He stopped at the next motel for a coffee.
Arun took out his cigarette case and lit one. he silently watched the Rings of smoke from the cigarette rise up and mix with the rain drops that had just started falling.
January 5,1992.
Arun felt intoxicated by the thick smoke from the agarbathis which were filling the air in Srinivasan’s house.
Srinivasan was deeply into the morning prayers and just nodded at Arun when he came there.
Arun had thought about it a hundred times before coming now. He could no longer take her silence. After that night Priya had never shown up at his house. Even when they accidently met at the temple, she hadn’t spoken a word. He had called her aloud and she had hurriedly left the place. Arun was terribly confused about what was happening. He couldn’t understand whether it was guilt or shyness that was making her avoid him. He silently prayed it should just be shyness. He had lost all sleep. He couldn’t remove her from his thoughts even for a moment. Each word that she uttered, each of her laughs and those rare smiles kept haunting his mind.
After what seemed ages, Priya came out of her room draped in a dark green churidar. For a moment Arun forgot why he had come there and kept looking at her face. She couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes and talk. She just managed a feeble “Hi..”
Her voice woke him up from the daze and reminded him of the night of his birthday. The lump in his throat returned and wasn’t allowing him to speak. After a long time he managed to mutter
“I need to talk to you…”
“Ok…”
She muttered and started walking. He followed her and, as she slipped into her high heels sandals, shouted.
“I am going out, pa. Will be back soon…”
“Ok” Srinivasan shouted back from the Pooja room.
Both of them started walking aimlessly. Till they reached the end of the agraharam, neither of them spoke a word. The silence was making the lump in his throat bitter and heavy. He felt an alien urge to cry out loud. It was she who broke the silence.
“I am sorry, Arun…”
He could’ve as well been run over by a lorry. Even that wouldn’t have shocked him and hurt him so much. His heart was racing and he could almost hear its beats.
‘So she feels sorry for telling you all that. So she doesn’t really love you!’ a voice said in his mind. he found that hard to digest. He felt himself drowning in some invisible sea. He could hardly breathe.
“Why are you sorry?” he couldn’t recognize his own voice. It sounded distant and strange. He didn’t want to know the reason. He had this instinctive feeling that his fears were true. She didn’t really mean what she wrote in that letter or must’ve felt guilty and must’ve stopped thinking like that. Arun was rescued from a flood of such thoughts by Priya. She said in an unususally calm voice.
“I am sorry that I gave you that letter and have been avoiding you ever since. But I was shy and I still am. I am not used to being shy. To tell you the truth, I don’t want you to tell me that all this is wrong if that is what you intend to say.”
Arun could feel the blood rushing into his face and the lump in his throat magically disappeared.
“No. That is not what I want to say…” he said and continued to walk.
They reached the bank of the river. Cauvery was flowing with her usual fervour and the morning sun was setting the water in flames. They sat down beneath the banyan tree which was the hang out for the agraharam boys. Since it was a Sunday most of them would’ve been playing cricket in the streets and no one was around. Arun looked up and saw that the sun was reaching its peak. Both their faces were covered with sweat. He didn’t know if it was the heat or the excitement. He assumed it must be both.
“So, tell me what you wanted to tell…”
Their eyes met for the first time that day.
“Priya…” They were gazing directly into each other’s eyes.
“I love you very much and all my thoughts are filled with you and only you…”
She lowered her eyes and smiled. He could see her cheeks go red.
“I know…” she muttered without lifting her eyes .
“What? Then why were you afraid?”
“I don’t know… Why do you keep asking questions?” Her smile widened and filled her face.
But to Arun’s surprise, he found her eyes were moist.
He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes again.
“Hey! What happened?”
“…I am afraid now. I don’t know what will happen if this doesn’t work out…”
He took her hands in his and the mehndi seemed to emanate the same warmth.
“I promise…” he paused and then continued.
“I promise that I will always love you and whatever happens, will not even think of someone else.”
“Will not even think of someone else? What does that mean?”
“Idiot! You know what I meant.” Arun said with a mock anger.
“Same to you…” Priya muttered.
“What?”
“The promise thing…”
“How dumb! Cant you even repeat that?” Arun asked with a smile and she started laughing. His hands were still wrapped around hers. Their legs were immersed into the water and fishes were tickling their feet. For a few moments, they forgot time and forgot the world.
“I have to go…” Priya whispered.
A gentle breeze from the stream caressed her face and made the two curls across her forehead dance.
“No. you don’t. ”
“Yes…I have to..” she withdrew her hands and left the place hurriedly with a smile.
“Hey! Wait”
“Bye, Arun.” He saw her disappear into the agraharam. He continued to sit there and replay in his mind all that had happened that day. He didn’t know that day that he would be replaying it a thousand times in the future.
Present day
The rain had become fierce and the wiper was working furiously across the windshield. Arun kept wiping the windshield from the inside to prevent it from getting misted over. He had rolled up the windows and there was a silence as of the grave. He felt uncomfortable and switched on the CD player. Soon a A R Rahman instrumental filled the air. The drumming of the rain against the windows combined with Rahman’s tunes and created a strange music.
February 14, 1992.
Fridays were exceptionally boring for Priya. In the afternoon she had to endure two continuous hours of History. She wasn’t least bit interested to know who killed who for which territory. She could never really understand the use of learning so much of what happened so long back. And her mind was filled too much with thoughts right then to concentrate on what Mr.Ganesan was trying to tell. Arun had asked her to wait near the Arun ice cream parlour after school. It stuck her as strange because they always met only on Sundays when she didn’t have any tutions. And their favourite spot was near the river, away from all the crowd. She couldn’t refuse him as he seemed to get more angry nowadays with her for smallest of reasons. As she was dreaming of what Arun was going to say, she heard her name being called out. It was only after her benchmate nudged her did she realize that Mr.Ganesan was asking her a question.
“Priya, what country did Hitler occupy first?”
In his face was triumph as he had surely caught her dreaming. He got some satisfaction in making fun of her in front of the whole class.
“Sir…It is…” Priya tried in vain to recall what he had said a little while back. She assured herself that she had heard a ‘land’ and gave her answer with full confidence.
“It is England.”
The whole class burst out laughing and her bench mate was muttering “Poland! Its Poland” Priya rolled her eyes and endured another five minutes of Mr.Ganesan’s thoughts about her future. After that, she sat down and waited for the bell to ring with all patience she could muster.
When it eventually did, She ran out of school like a six year old towards the ice cream parlour, touching her face with her handkerchief to remove the sweat.
From the time Ram had told him about what Valentine’s day was, Arun had raked his mind hard to decide on a gift to give Priya. He had fished the Florence shop which was the only decent gift shop in the locality for nearly an hour without any success. The gifts that were good were invariably too expensive for his pocket. But he wouldn’t buy the cheap ones since they looked dull. He had still been thinking of what to buy her when his eyes fell on it which was on display on the platform opposite the shop. Even before he came out of the shop, he had decided it would be his gift for her.
His thoughts jolted back to the present as soon as he could see Priya’s silhouette against the evening sunlight. They didn’t look at each other until they were really close as if the whole world was watching what they were doing. Priya muttered “Lets go” and walked two paces ahead of him. Arun placed a hand over hers and stopped her.
“Wait a minute. lets get some ice cream.”
She froze on his touch. That was what happened to her whenever they touched even if it was an accidental brush of their hands.
“I don’t want ice cream…” She started to protest when she recovered from the trance.
“But I do… So we will have it.”
“What if people see us here or in the shop? You are not at all worried!” She kept murmuring as they entered the shop with him. Even in the dim lighting of the shop, he could see that she was smiling the restrained smile that she reserved for times whenever she pretended to be dissatisfied.
“What?”
“Nothing…”
“What?”
“Nothing!”
She was forcing herself not to smile openly.
But Arun could detect it even before it reached her lips. He could see the smile in her eyes moments before it blossomed in her face. It was one of the numerous skills he had developed in the recent past.
They bought two vanilla ice creams. He knew it was her favourite flavour. He had observed her buying the flavour whenever the ice cream wagon passed their street. As they walked a few paces away from the crowded alley, their hands touched lightly and by the time they turned the corner to walk towards the river bank, they were holding hands.
“So what were you smiling for, pree?”
“Nothing… Hey what is in that bag?” she asked pointing to the green, plastic bag he was carrying.
“I wont tell till you tell why you smiled.”
“Aiyo! I was smiling thinking about how the nerdy pazham in you has gone and how bold you have become to be roaming around streets holding my hand. You used to be afraid of looking at me in the eye.”
“That was different. Then and all seeing you itself used to make me so happy.”
“And what do you mean by ‘then and all’. huh?”
Arun just smiled.
“So you have grown tired of me? Is that it?”
“You know I didn’t mean that.”
Priya released his hand and the mock angry, restrained smile returned. They reached their favourite spot and sat down beneath the tree. The sudden downpour of the previous week had been totally unexpected and it had nourished Kaveri and the river flowed like a beautiful princess dancing across the country. Even now the sky had blackened and the radio had predicted heavy rains. They could see the swarm of fishes swimming beneath the clear water. Arun fetched the ‘gift’ from the bag and placed it in her hands. She uncovered the wrapper as fast as she could to reveal the miniature painting. The frame was wooden without much decoration. It was the picture of a beautiful girl. Her hair was blown away as if she was playing on a swing. A peacock feather was tickling her face. Her eyes were closed as if cherishing the moment and a blushful smile adorned her lips. Priya gave a smile which Arun thought was better than the girl’s.
“The feather is real!” Priya whispered.
“Yeah, I saw that. So, how is it?” he asked though he knew how she felt from her eyes.
“I never thought you’ll gift me for Valentine’s day! It’s wonderful!”
Arun was little disappointed to know that Priya indeed knew about Valentine’s day. He wouldn’t tell her that he had no idea such a thing existed till a couple of days back. He also wouldn’t tell her that gift was not the first one he had chosen for her and all the other ones he wanted to buy before this were too expensive for him. Arun realized that all that didn’t matter then. The first drops of rain had started falling. Arun noticed that tears were welling up in Priya’s eyes.
“Hey what happened, dear?”
He touched her hand. Her gaze was fixed at some point on the other bank. The droplets from her eyes rolled down her cheeks.
“What pa?” Arun asked, concern clouding his vision as tears clouded hers.
“I have never been this happy, Arun. Never in my whole life!”
Arun smiled and continued looking at her.
“I am so happy that I cant help fear something would put an end to all this happiness.”
“Don’t be silly.”
“No. You wont understand. I have not been lucky in life. I lost my mom early…I have heard people talk about how it was my bad luck which got her…. ” she couldn’t complete the sentence.
“I love you Arun. I really do.” She said, without shifting her gaze.
He gently turned her face with his hand towards him. Two drops of the rain fell on her cheeks and mixed with her tears and rolled down to her chin. He could feel the wetness on his lips as he pressed them softly on her cheeks. The pad of his thumb was wiping her eyes. He reached very close to her ears and whispered soflty.
“I love you too.”
It had started raining real hard. But both of them had their eyes closed and were oblivious to the surrounding. The sound of the rain against the water muffled the shocked voice that was calling out a name.
“Arun!”
Arun opened his eyes with a jolt and even before he got up and turned, he knew what he was going to see. He stood up and turned within a second.
It was the only time in his life when he wasn’t happy to see his father. The tall frame of his father against the rain looked like an imperfection in an otherwise wonderful scene in a drama.
“Come home!” Mohanasundaram muttered through clenched teeth and started walking towards his house.
Arun shot back a quick look at Priya’s face. She just sat there, with a devastated look in her face.
“Bye..” he muttered under his breath. He knew she too, like him, had become deaf out of shock. He looked at her for a moment. he would’ve looked on for longer had he known it would be years before he saw her again.
It was all a blur. He could hardly remember what happened between the time when his father saw him on the river bank and the time when he was standing in front of his father. He was too shocked to think about what to tell his father. He was preparing himself mentally to confront his father’s anger. But he was least prepared for what eventually he faced. His father spoke in a broken voice and for the first time in his life, he saw tears roll down his father’s face. His father had told him plenty of times in the past that, come what may, men should not cry. He started speaking after a long pause, an emptiness Arun couldn’t take.
“I have always been proud of you, Arun. When my friends complained about things their kids did, I would thank god silently for keeping you good. ..” He paused again.
“I have not achieved great heights in life…” he turned away from Arun whose eyes never left the floor.
“I wanted to study well, land up in a good job and have a rich, affluent life. When I was your age, I used to believe all that was possible. But I failed in all that.”
He paused again like a man who had loads to tell but couldn’t find the right words.
“I turned out to be mediocre in everything I did… I got an ordinary 9 to five job and slowly got used to being ordinary. But the day you were born… Holding you in my arms, I decided, in being a father, I couldn’t afford to be ordinary. I wanted to be the best father, someone you would grow to love and respect. I always thought it was one of the few things in life I succeeded at…”
Arun’s eyes had started watering. He could hear those hundred voices of his friends complaining about how their parents were strict and scolded them for every little thing they did.. Be it coming home late, or waking up late or not getting good marks. His father had not spoken one harsh word to him as far as he could remember. A bitter lump was forming in his throat making it difficult for him to breathe.
“I used to swell with pride whenever people complimented about how disciplined and obedient you were. I forgot all the mediocrity I reeked in. I was proud that I had brought you up as a respectable person. I can see how wrong I was.”
The tears had frozen in his father’s eyes. There was an emptiness much worse than the tears. A feeling of guilt for hurting his father was thawing his heart.
His father cleared his throat. His composure seemed to have returned and his eyes shone with some decision.
“Promise me, Arun…”
Arun looked up from the floor for the first time. He could see his father’s vision penetrating his.
“Promise me you won’t see her again. You won’t talk to her… She is a motherless child!”
His eyes were welling with a sense of deep disappointment. He hesitated a little before he added.
“A child- that is what she is.. You must have been mature… OK… let bygones be bygones… Trust me… what I am asking you to do is in your best interests only. So promise me.”
Arun could no longer control his tears and found some relief in letting them flow un checked.
“But… But I really love her, father… I know how silly that sounds coming from a seventeen year old. But I do love her. I wouldn’t do a single thing which would bring you any shame. I respect my family and hers too much to do anything that we would repent later. But I do love her.”
His father seemed to flinch on hearing the word ‘love’. The two of them kept staring at each other for what seemed eternity. Reluctantly, Mohanasundaram broke the silence and said in a clear voice. It sounded more like a judgment read out in a court.
“Then promise me you wont see her or talk to her now. Till… you study well and settle in life. You will have time for everything else later…. Trust me…”
Arun kept looking at his father.
“Arun!”
“Yes, Father… I… I promise..” His father’s gaze loosened and Arun realized the lump in his throat was gone-Replaced by a burning sensation.

7
The car had entered the city’s outskirts. The city had changed loads from his last trip. Like the rest of the country, the streets were flooded with ads for cellular phone services or some aerated drink. The rain had stopped and the city’s notorious sun was at its peak. Before long, the temple’s gigantic tower became visible. Arun touched both his cheeks one after the other in a quick reflex…
As he drove the car along the road by the bank of the river, his eyes fell on the river. It was no longer the dancing princess. It looked more of a carcass of an old lady who was once beautiful. Small kids were playing cricket on the river bed which had dried up enough to make a good pitch. A thin stream of water was flowing in the middle of the vast expanse of sand.
Arun eyes kept searching the road for the arch where he would have to take a right. As the car kept crawling slowly, he could recognize most of the houses he was passing by. And as he turned the car to the right and entered the arch, he shot a glance to his left. The banyan tree stood there unchanged, oblivious to all the turns the lives of the two people who once used to frequent its shelter had taken. Arun couldn’t bring himself to look at it for more than a brief instant. He stopped the car when he saw the blue building that shone with a brand new layer of paint.
Before the door opened, he could hear voices welcoming him in unison.
“Hi! Arun! How long it has been!”
“Hi…” he gave one of his bogus smiles.
His eyes were searching frantically for Vijay.
“Where is Vijay?”
“He has gone out. Should be back in an hour.” His aunt Suseela replied. “You can keep your things in that room and take a shower. You must be tired from the travel.” She said pointing to a large, cozy room. The smell of the fresh paint was all over the house. The room he had been allocated had been painted in pink. The place looked too clean and orderly.
After a shower in the boiling water, he was at their large dining table, devouring the dishes that had been prepared especially for him. It always amused Arun how his aunt could exactly remember every little thing from his favourite dishes to his childhood antics after so many years. For years he had missed all this warmth and genuine affection of his home town people. Many of his relatives had, like Arun’s family, moved off to other cities, some even to other countries. But whenever they met, they would always relish talking about their town. He could never feel the same closeness with any other of his recent relatives. Veena came from an upper middle class family and Arun never felt comfortable with all her people. There was always this diplomacy whenever they were around and he could never really be himself. He would desperately pray for them to leave soon whenever they visited him which they often did since most of her relatives seemed to have settled in US.
When he hinted at his discomfort to Veena, she had boiled over and had spent hours explaining him how unsociable a person he was.
After he had eaten the heaviest meal in years forgetting the diet restrictions he had started following to reduce his ever-growing tummy, he was about to retire for a small nap, when he heard Vijay’s voice he rushed to him.
“Hey pudhu maapilla, how are you?”
“Hi!! Oh God! You have become a fat pig!” Vijay greeted with his usual smile. His eyes always shone and his face hadn’t changed much from what he could remember. Arun found it hard to believe he was just seven months younger than himself. The soft, child-like features were still intact. But for the dark mustache he was sporting, he might’ve passed for a teen.
“Shall we go for a walk?”
They walked towards the river, the same path Arun had taken long back, holding Priya’s hand.
“So, how is your job?”
Vijay was a chartered accountant and worked for one of the major firms in Trichy.
“It’s good. The thing I talked to you about over phone.” Vijay said and hesitated a little.
“Yes, tell me. I have lost all sleep since the day you called. What are you hiding from me?”
“As I told you, I have found her. In fact, she now lives in Trichy only. Her father passed away a year back.”
“You told me that already.”
“Yeah, and as I told you… She is ill… and has no one to take care of her.”
“Don do this to me, Vijay! Just tell what the problem is.”
Vijay looked away from him towards the river bed. The afternoon sun was momentarily hidden behind a cloud cover. Arun’s heart was beating faster than ever. He could feel it in his throat. He knew the answer to his question before Vijay mouthed the words. And for a moment, Arun hated to be there. He wanted to run away- away from the bitter truth. He wanted that blissful ignorance he had been living with. He had fooled himself into believing that she too, like him would be having a normal, if not happy life. Arun couldn’t let go of that falsehood he had snuggled in. Arun looked at Vijay, the hapless look of a lamb about to be butchered. As Vijay told him the truth in graphic detail, Arun could feel himself go numb. The remains of his conscience started hurting him with each word he heard and he knew it was not going to stop at all. He realized life would never be the same again.

8
They never met after that day. Arun’s father did not talk about the incident after that day. Arun got busy with his studies and he assumed or rather wished she too would concentrate in her studies.
Meenakshi innocently commented on how busy Priya had become and how she had stopped visiting them. Arun’s mind was a cauldron boiling with images of the moments he spent with her, the things they had said, the beautiful silence when they met and exhausted all topics of conversation, her innocent face, his father’s frame against the rain towering over them. But time made the images less hurting and after a few weeks, he found he could live for hours without having a single thought about the entire thing.
April ended and so did his exams. There was a lull in his house as of the mid sea. It proved to be the calm before the storm for soon the thunder fell. His father had got a transfer to Chennai.
Meenakshi hinted that she and Arun continue living in Srirangam while Mohanasundaram worked in Chennai. But he would not hear any of it. And so in the month of May, while Arun was still waiting for his eleventh results, they shifted to Chennai.
He completed twelfth in the only school that had agreed to admit him direct in twelfth. He spent all the sleepless nights buried in his books. For his mind, his books were the only diversion from the barrage of thoughts which at times paralyzed him with unspeakable loneliness. But despite himself, he couldn’t help wetting his pillows with tears at times, as he struggled to make sense of all that his life was shaping into.
His marks in the final examination proved to be much beyond his family’s expectation. He hinted to his father that he wanted to do engineering. but His father wouldn’t listen. He wanted Arun to do B.Com and then C.A. It had been his dream years back.
And so Arun did B.Com in one of the oldest colleges in the city. College too couldn’t change much about Arun, for he found solace only in the dim lit libraries and his work. Amidst the aimless, faltering people in his college, he soon emerged the topper and painted himself with the dark nerdish image. None of his college friends would have even believed if he had told them he once fell in love and was hoping to catch her hand someday in future. For all of them, he was a nerd machine, devoid of any interest in life.
With time his resolve grew, that he would fulfill his end of the promise and ask his father to ask for Priya’s hand. The only fear he had was Priya’s father marrying her off before Arun could settle. He wished dearly that Priya had been much younger than himself.
But an insane voice told him he would win. He never doubted for one moment the voice’s conviction and convinced himself that Priya wouldn’t let him go.
In those long nights when he had no work and his mind kept flashing images of the past into an invisible screen in front of him, he would seek refuge in staring at his watch. It always puzzled him why he started using it only after coming to Chennai. As the seconds hand ticked against the dead silence of the night, he could almost feel Priya’s heart beat out to him from somewhere hundreds of miles away. He would sleep off pressing the watch tight against his ears.
And he eventually completed B.Com. No one was surprised when he ended up getting the gold medal.
Towards the end of the course, his father sat down next to him one fine day and started instructing him on how he should start preparing for the CA prelims. That was when he disagreed with his dad for the first time. He told his father politely that he wanted to do a MBA.
“But MBAs nowadays have no value! It’s worth it only if you do it in some big university. all that is very difficult. See C.A. is the proper thing to do after B.Com”.
Arun applied for MBA and silenced his father when he eventually got a seat in one of the top notch colleges in the country. He grew up from the nerd teen to a smart, astute young man like the hundreds his own college was filled with. All his friends who had pitied him for joining B.Com when they had entered professional courses like engineering and medicine looked at him in awe when at the end of two years he landed in one of the biggest firms in the country. He kept switching jobs for better ones till he landed up in a lofty posts in a MNC based mainly in US.
The two years of the MBA course taught him more of life than the preceding twenty one years. the place was filled with different people from different parts of the country. He adapted himself well to the changing circumstances. he realised that it was one of his innate virtues: to adapt easily. Maybe that was his weakness too. He found whole new friends and and used the new environment to re-invent himself. But he kept his sweet, little secret of his Priya to himself and was more confident now that he was only a step away from keeping his end of his promise to his father. His initial doubt came the day he blabbered about Priya to Siddharth, his best pal. It was a Saturday night and they were both high on spirits. The topic of conversation was girls.
Siddharth was listing all the girlfriends he had had since his high school days in Mumbai and all the ‘fun’ he had had with each of them. He asked Arun casually if he had had any ‘feelings’ for any girl in his life. He was famous for his ‘asceticism’ when it came to girls. If he had been sober, he would have warded it off with some stupid tale. But the spirits took him on a journey down the memory lane and before long he was describing Priya, their meetings, and eventually their promise. When he came to the part where he kissed her and got caught by his father, Siddharth blurted out the last question Arun had expected.
“Was that all? Just a kiss? You could’ve done it no… Alone, in the river bank when it was raining, god! that could’ve been fun!”
Arun threw the beer can at him with trembling hands.
To most of his friends back in Chennai, his life was idealistic and filled them with envy. Only a very few of his friends even knew of what he had to endure in that summer after he passed out after completing MBA and landing a good job.
It was the June of ’99.
He had gone home and asked his father what he had been preparing to ask for years by then. His mother had already started talking about getting him married. His mother had gone out to the market. His recently retired father was reclining on the easy chair with ‘The Hindu’ in his hand.
“Appa, I wanted to discuss this with you.”
Arun’s father stared at him with a questioning look.
Arun sat down beside his father.
“This might sound a strange I am asking you this. But…”
“What is it? You don’t have to hesitate so much. Come on.”
“Have I been what you wanted me to be? Do you reckon that I have settled in life to some extent?”
“Why are you asking this? Of course you have. Me and your mother are proud of you.” Mohanasundaram replied without having noticed the extra stress Arun had put on the word ‘settled’.
“Amma has started talking about my marriage. And I want to tell you now that I still love Priya. I can and will never forget her. I want you to ask her hand for me. I have kept my word and don’t even know where she lives now or how she has been. But I love her and want her to be my wife.”
“What are you talking about? ” Mohanasundaram looked petrified.
“You couldn’t have forgotten!”
“But you never even took her name after that. I assumed it had faded away. This is shocking. I never knew it was this serious. Why didn’t you tell me all these years?”
“I didn’t because you asked me not to!” Arun nearly shouted in what was the only heated conversation he had with his father. He left the room with that, afraid he might say something disrespectful. After nearly an hour, his father came to his room. He looked more composed and his voice sounded firm and determined.
“Arun, I never thought it was this serious. I can’t tell you how proud I am that you chose to heed my advice and I now trust your feelings for her now. I accept that I am still apprehensive about few things. Like, how can you be sure that girl feels the same way now? She was a kid then.”
“I know she would be feeling the same way. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know to explain. I simply can feel it.”
“But we don’t even know where they live now. After I came to know about the thing, I couldn’t bring myself to face Srinivasan. I told him everything the day before we left for Chennai. He said he’ll handle Priya. He said she looked a little lost then. He would never be harsh on her. But both of us decided it would be in the best interests that our families didn’t keep contact. I hate to tell you this. But knowing Srinivasan, I think he would have married her off by now.”
“No… It can’t be. she wouldn’t have accepted. I can bet my soul on that. ”
“I wish I could be as optimistic as you are. But…”
They both remained silent for a long time.
“I’ll search and find her. It won’t take long. I’ll find her. ”
“Don’t tell your mother all this until you find her. He gets worried about even the smallest of things. It isn’t good for her health.”
And so the search started. He took a month off and left for his hometown. His mother didn’t know. Vijay was living with a few of his friends in Trichy then. He was the only person who knew everything that had happened between him and Priya. In those seven years he had not once spoken to Vijay about Priya as he felt it would be defying the promise he made to his father. The promise had been a sacred one for Arun. For him, it was the ultimate test of all that he had held dear: his love for Priya, his devotion to his father.
Arun would always be thankful to Vijay for giving him company in the longest month of his life. The first thing Vijay had told him over phone had been that he had no idea where Priya was as her father had left Srirangam when Priya completed her twelfth. He told him she had changed a lot. All her endless talks and laughs were gone. She kept mostly to herself those two years. Vijay had spoken to her only twice in that time. He had been apprehensive to talk about Arun to her. So he seemed to have no idea how she felt about him at that time. Vijay promised Arun he would never mention Arun’s visit to even his parents. The first few days of the month both of them spent on the streets of Srirangam going from house to house, pretending to have come for just a visit and casually asking about Priya. but everywhere they turned they met with the same answer. No one seemed to know. They didn’t have any relatives Arun knew of.
After a week, he finally got a breakthrough. He got Deepa’s address from one of her friends. She was married to a lawyer and lived in Thillai nagar. Arun could hardly recognize her when she opened the door. She had become thin and tall. Arun had met her once twice or thrice before. But he would always remember her as the fat, round faced girl who, like Priya, could never shut up. After ten minutes of casual talk about the developments their lives had taken, he came to the subject.
“I am looking for Priya. where has she gone? I have been enquiring all over Srirangam. No one seems to know.”
“Do you mean you still haven’t forgotten all that there was between the two of you?”
“You knew?”
“Of course! Priya never hid anything from me. I think I was the only person she spoke to about that. She was devastated after you left town. She said you were ignoring her from the day uncle caught you both. She was afraid you had given up on her. ”
“Where did she go? Where is she now?”
“Her father took her to Madurai. I don’t know where she is now. She said she would call me up later and inform me. But she never did.”
“Did she tell you anything else?”
The only thing Deepa could come up with was that Priya had mentioned someplace called Tirunagar once.
Priya’s father had been a Maths teacher at the Government High School. He had taken early retirement at the age of fifty. This had been when Arun was in ninth. He could still remember the day when Srinivasan came to their house and discussed in great lengths how he was going to spend his time from then on. He had married at the age of thirty four. He had always led a simple life and Arun had remembered his father mentioning about some ancestral property Srinivasan had inherited.
He had already enquired at the school to know about his whereabouts. The authorities had been far from helpful and had asked him to go to the Government pensions office to find out where he lived. After meeting Deepa, Arun decided to give it one more try. This time he caught an office clerk who was happily conversant when Arun bought him a tea and Vada in the school canteen.
“Sir, I remember Srinivasan sir coming to the school to tell us that he was moving to Madurai.”
“Did he give any other details. Like where he was going to live. Was he going to take another job?”
“Great man he was, sir. He used to give me money to pay my daughter’s tution fees.”
“I know all that about him. Do you remember anything he said about going to Madurai?”
“I think he was going to work in some school. He mentioned he might. You see. He has a girl. He has to earn no. to marry her off, it would all need money. I always thought he did a mistake when he retired so early.”
“Did he mention the school? Who were his friends here? Who can I ask? No body responding at the office.”
“He didn’t have many friends, sir. There was Ganapathy who got transferred. Srinivasan sir kept to himself most of the times. He was a religious man. Used to keep chanting mantras during breaks. ”
“Listen. I understand how much respect you had for him and all that. But this is urgent. I need to find him now. Do you know where in Madurai he was going to?”
“He mentioned Thirunagar. He said he had a relative there. I think he said something about JV school or something. Or maybe it was someone else. See I am getting old. I don’t remember things well nowadays. It’s confusing. He didn’t give any details. He said he’d be coming to Srirangam frequently. But he never did, sir.”
The clerk continued to explain how much of a mistake it was to retire early. When Arun left him, he stuffed a hundred note in his hands saying ‘buy something for your kid’, the clerk gave a toothy smile wishing he knew more about the old teacher. Arun left for Madurai the same day, realizing for the first time that he was on a wild goose chase. For the first few days he was optimistic. At one point when all he could do was to go from house to house enquiring about them, he was beginning to lose it. It was after a week in Madurai, on a Saturday when he finally gave up. Vijay had joined him for the weekend. They had spent the whole day on the streets. Arun would always remember the evening in the years to come.
9

Sendhil, the cleaner boy, looked impatiently at Arun and Vijay and the plates with half eaten dishes in front of them. Customers like these irritated him. They kept talking and would never finish eating. But this two people were worse. They weren’t even talking. They were just staring at nowhere in particular for about an hour now. He had many bad experiences with such customers. They were rich and could afford much better places. He didn’t understand what made them come to this wretched restaurant. His job was to remove their plates. Mani, his latest ‘assistant’ will then wipe the table clean. But he would be spanked by his employer if he took the plate before the customers were done with eating. He’ ll not be spared if he took them away too late. So ‘timing’ was very important. He had his eye on all the tables, ready to pounce the moment someone gestured that they were done with the meal.

Vijay scanned the restaurant for the want of a better thing to do. For the past half hour he had been trying to think of some way of asking Arun the one question that was staring at them:’how longer did he plan to continue this absurd chase?’. He was leaving that night. That weekend had been one of the longest of his life with he and Vijay searching the streets of Thirunagar, a suburb in the outskirts of the city. When he was convinced he had found the right words to phrase the question, Arun broke the silence.

“It’s useless…”

“What is?”

“This search. I am going to Chennai tomorrow.”

“But…” He did not feel like asking why when he knew the answer.
They did not speak for another five minutes. Arun was fighting back the choking feeling. He refused to believe that he had fondled a dream that was too stupid in hindsight. He had lived a fairy tale and it was time to wake up.

“I have been so damn foolish!” Arun blurted out and swept across the table with his hand in frustration, the tumblers and one of the plates fell to the ground. Sendhil almost screamed a curse. The restaurant’s owner rushed close. Vijay got up in time to avoid the water splashing all over the place.

“Sorry, sir. I’ll pay for the broken tumblers, sorry really.” Vijay was pacifying the owner.
The owner knew they had eaten for a good amount and did not want to lose such customers.
“It’s ok, sir. Not a problem. Just take care of your friend.” he said motioning Sendhil to clean up.

The two of them walked out of the restaurant and walked through the crowded street. An old Sivaji song was blaring from loud speakers in a nearby street.
“Are you sure? You can try other sources.”
“It’s not about finding her. She just didn’t keep in touch with anyone. She would’ve if she had even remembered all that.”

Vijay tried not to look sympathetic. He had said the same thing a hundred times before this.
He just patted Arun on his shoulder.

10

And so the years passed after he returned from Madurai, awakened to reality. He tried not to think of her or his defeat in making his dream come true. It hurt more maybe because everything that he had held too close to his heart felt too trivial- a product of adolescent confusion he had carried with him for years, that had become an integral part of him.

He flooded himself with too much work to escape from his emotional trauma and almost succeeded. Eventually his mother brought up the topic of marriage. After a period of refusing bluntly, He gave in and did not involve himself in any part of the process for ‘choosing’ a girl.

Veena was yet another girl who was brought up to be married off to an NRI. Arun realized there were the city was filled with so many of them-good looking, seemingly delicate and all girly smile, ready with their passports and maybe even the Visa application filled except for the husband’s name. His parents and that of the girl decided that Arun would be the name to fill up that column in Veena’s papers.

Arun had no complaints about the entire thing. She looked good,
and initially soft-spoken. Even though he was not entirely sure
if he would again be emotionally attached to
anyone as closely as he had been to his childhood crush-he had convinced himself it had been just that, he ventured casually to matrimony.

On the first night he spent with his wife, he thought it would be dishonest if
he didnt tell her about his ‘childhood crush’ and so he narrated the entire episode with as much non chalance as he could muster and was half expecting her to react, to yell at him for hiding this till then. But much to his surprise and disappointment she just said, “How Sweet”. That was when he realised that his dreams were a thing of the past, a ‘sweet’ thing that happened too long back. He badly wanted to shake her by the shoulders and shout “No! it’s much more. It’s my madness- a part of me that has lingered for years now.” But he realised it was pointless- no one cared now.

He was never unhappy with Veena. In fact there were those few moments of intimacy when the ghosts of his past did not haunt him, when he could look into Veena’s eyes and tell her he loved her. But he knew something was missing in him, in their relationship- he did not care to find out what it was. It would be one of the many things in his life that remained incomplete.

And then Priya was born. Despite all his efforts to crop out the memories, holding
the little baby in his hands, the only name he could suggest was Priya. He had looked at Veena expecting her to raise her eyebrow. But She had completely forgotten the ‘sweet story’ by then and the name turned out to be one of the few things they agreed upon.

Little Priya brought in more color into his life, and even bridged the void between him and Veena. He would rush home everyday to hear her speak the new words
she had learnt, to tell her those tales about people of a faraway land, to see her yes sparkle in awe as he would describe in his best possible tone the tales about magnificent castles and armies. Life seemed really good to him for sometime. So much that he even thought the confusions were things of the past. But then, like other things, that peace too was not to be forever, for it all crashed down when he got that call from Vijay one monday morning informing that he had met Priya. The choked feeling returned and so did the bitterness in his throat.

11

Present Day
Arun drove to ‘The Ponni’, one of the recent restaurants that had come up in Srirangam. It was only two miles from Vijay’s house. The restaurant, true to its name, was just on the bank of the river, in a stretch where there was considerable water flowing in the stream.
His heart was racing from the time he had called her. The telephone conversation had been too short. She had picked up on first ring, when he had told her who it was, she remained silent for a long time. Arun was angry, he wanted to shout, to scream, to cry. He did none of it.

“Thanks a lot for coming, Arun.”
She had said in a voice which did not sound excited or accusing.
It had been unpredictable and distant.
He had asked to meet her. She had suggested the restaurant and time.
And she had cut the call.

Arun sat down at a corner table and checked his watch. Time was five twenty.
He had a pang of disappointment that she unlike him had not come early. He mentally prepared himself to meet her. Vijay had said it will be a shock. It was one of those moments of his life, when he had no idea what
was going to happen next. He knew he was disappointed, shocked. But he did not know which of these emotions was dominant right then. He guessed it was anticipation of seeing the person who was so deep a part of him and yet so distant. He had no idea what they would be talking about.

The restaurant was empty except for a couple of families dining at the other corner of the place. Arun was watching one of the kids who was playing with a ball. It was a small girl, wearing a bright green frock that was too big for her. She kept stepping over it. And when she ran to get the ball her brother had thrown at her, she fell down face down. As she was getting up with great effort, a woman in a red saree walked in to the restaurant. The child looked up at the woman and started screaming out of fear.
The woman quickly covered her face with her right hand. The child’s mother rushed in and apologised to the woman.
Priya started walking towards Arun’s table. Arun kept staring at her face, which was disfigured badly on the right side. There was a mesh of dead flesh that looked squeezed hanging on the right side of her face, hiding most of her right eye. Her right hand had only two fingers. The whole of her face was scarred. Arun was not prepared for this. His insides were churning. He managed to mutter.
“Please, sit down.”
She hurriedly tried covering her face with the saree, sensing Arun’s shock.
“Hey, you don’t have to do that! Really. Vijay told me about the accident.”
“I thought he would have. But still you seem too shocked.”
Arun could not recognize her voice. It was definitely not the high octave voice of a girl he had always associated with her. It sounded like an old woman. On the phone too he had thought her voice was odd, but assumed it was because of bad signal.
“How are you, Arun?” She was looking at him. There was no emotion on the part of her face which was not yet dead.
“I am OK…”
They both were silent for few minutes. It seemed like hours-decades-ages as the truth was ringing on Arun. Priya broke the silence.

“I guess you too are confused about where to begin.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Let me help you. You wanna know what happened to me. About the accident?”

“I am not sure I do.” Arun almost shouted.

“Are you angry, Arun? With me?” It was more like the voice he remembered. But not fully.

Arun was silent.

She looked at his hand, on the dull watch ticking on his left wrist, and the first smile of the evening blossomed on her face. Arun was watching her forgetting to blink. The woman of his dreams was right there in front of him, within an arm’s length. There were hundred questions that needed to be asked, a hundred explanations, a hundred stories about where life had taken each of them during these years they had been physically apart. But he realised that all that did not matter right then. He was with his angel, the princess of his heart. he felt a mild urge to slap all thosee who had told him it was just a ‘childhood crush’. But his heart was too absorbed in the present, in every moment as he sat there opposite her, to be bothered by any other thoughts.
They had ordered things without thinking about it, both thinking of what to say next. And then, just like the olden days, Priya started talking, breaking the ice.

“It was so sudden- everything about the accident. I was twenty four then. I was going back home with appa after attending a friend’s wedding in a rickety mini-bus. It was crowded and appa was sitting near window. The bus got into a deep puddle, lost balance and rolled over. It was instantaneous. I lost consciousness. And woke up to find myself in this beautiful form.”
Arun realised she must have narrated the accident a thousand tiumes before. She sopke about it without any emotion.

“I am really sorry.” He muttered half to himself. She ignored it and continued to eat the dish that had arrived a little too early. Arun turned towards the river, watching the splendid orangy light of the evening reflected in the water.

“I came looking for you…” Arun said without looking at her.

“I know. Vijay told me.”

There was a serene silence when he too pretended to be eating the food he had no hunger for.

“Shall we eat ice cream? You always liked ice creams.”

“Not anymore. We’ll order if you want.”

“No, No need.”
She smiled to herself.

“So your tastes have changed.”

“With respect to food and ice cream, yes.”

“Hmmm.. Hey how is your wife? Vijay said you have a daughter.”

“Yes…” He took a pic of Veena and his Priya from his purse, unsure of how to answer that question

Priya looked at it for a long time.

“What is her name?”

“My wife Veena and my girl is Priya.” She looked up at him and there was a flicker of emotion which he couldn’t classify.

She hurriedly turned towards the photograph.

“Your Priya is cute and your wife is really good looking.”
Arun tried to think of something to say. There had been a grain of longing and pain in the latter compliment.

“What about your work? ”

“How much longer should we keep talking as if we are just old friends?” Arun asked sharply without preamble. He knew he was now talking to his girl who would understand him and not the ever so clever and curt Veena. He could be himself to this one person.

She appeared little surprised and became silent. Arun paid the bill and slowly walked towards the river. She followed him silently. The sky had darkened with heavy clouds and so was their hearts. He continued to walk till his feet was immersed in the shallow stream.

He looked towards the distant horizon. She came close behind him.
“Why didn’t you contact me Priya?”
“It was complicated. I…”
“You too thought of all that as just a passing cloud?”
“NO.”

He felt her coming closer to him.
“Appa had started talking of wedding and i kept refusing. I always knew you’ll come for me.”
She had moved closer still.
“And then the accident happened. I became orphaned. I moved to a working women’s hostel. Every day when i see myself in mirror, I’ll turn away. I don’t find fault with the thousand people who react on seeing my face nowadays. There was not a shoulder I could cry to.

“But I was determined to face it bravely. And the only thing that kept me going was your thoughts. Somehow, deep inside I knew you would come back for me.”

He couldn’t breathe. He touched her hand and held it tight in his. The rain started pouring down without warning.

“It is time. I should be going.”

The meeting was going to be incomplete just like so many things in his life. He stood there watching the rain.

“It’s raining. I will drop you.”

She did not protest. They walked towards his car. Within moments they were driving towards her house, as she kept showing directions. In few minutes they reached the sylvan house she was now living at. She opened her door and got out adjusting the saree.

“Then why didn’t you contact me?”

She kept silent.

“Why didn’t you contact me?”

“I was afraid! I was afraid that my present condition might disappoint you.”

“You thought I’ll leave you because of an accident? because of a few scars on your face?”

‘NO. I always knew My Arun would keep the promise. That you would come for me and take me with you. I knew a half disfigured face wont change your love. But if you had seen me and had even had a little disppointed look in your face, I would’ve died. I was afraid of facing that eventuality. i didn’t want the single bubble of hope i had pricked. ” All the strength and nonchalance had left her face. Pain was painted on their faces. She was crying, with the tears mixing with the tears of the sky. Arun had reached beside her.

“I can’t explain more.”
Priya said between sobs.

“You don’t have to…” Arun whispered into her ears and took her in his arms, hugging her close. She let the tears of all those years flow to his shoulders. He moved his face close to hers. She instinctively turned to her right to avoid the disfigured part from touching him. He kissed her right over the scars. Both of them stood there in each other’s arms, forgetting the world, forgetting the accidents, the confusions, the things that had torn them far apart. In their minds, they had traversed time and were again the sixteen and seventeen year olds, whose hearts were just then painted with warm love.

They wished time stood frozen, like it never did. At last, she broke the hug, planting a shy kiss to his forehead. His eyes were still closed. His lump in the throat had left him for good.

“I love you, Arun. I will continue to do so. That is what will keep me going.”

“I love you too.” He whispered, still refusing to let her out of his arms.

“No, Arun. It is not right. You have a wife and your own cute Priya.”

Arun wished this part never came, that they had continued to hug.

“Shower on them all the love you have for me. Live life happily, Arun. The knowledge that you are living happily somewhere, that will make me feel good. Will you do that for me?”

He remained silent, looking at his angel, fearing he would lose her again.

“I couldn’t control the urge to see you, to know what had happened all these years with you. So only I contacted Vijay. This day, the last few hours, they are enough for me da, enough for a life time. I will live happily in those memories. ”

He was still silent.

“Take care, da. Go now. It is getting really late. Take good care of Veena and Priya.”

“I will. You take care too.” He couldn’t recognize his voice. A part of him refused to wake up to reality, the part which had wanted to remain for eternity in the warmth of that hug.

“See you then. But not for anytime soon.” She said with a smile. She turned back and walked to her house, wiping off the tears she had so well controlled. She did not want him to remember her crying. He started the car and drove in the rain. As the rain lashed against the wind shield, he started replaying the moments of the evening in his mind. But he was in no hurry, for he had his entire life ahead of him for that.

—————————————-The End——————————————–

[Please DO mail your comments to toarjun@gmail.com or post them in my blog: www.arjunscribbles.blogspot.com. Your comments will definitely help me in improving my writing.]

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at The Promise.

With emotions at the breaking point and tempers running wild,
Though he said he was the victim, he was more like Satan’s child,
He was angry and so empty and confused at how he felt,
And he knew that very soon his life would melt.

For he couldn’t stand the pressure and he couldn’t stand the heat,
Though he tried to live with reason he just knew that he was beat,
So he struck at those who hurt him and the ones who caused him pain,
And the ones he loved he treated with distain.

And though many tried to help him, he just pushed them all away,
Yet if only he had listened, he would not be here today,
But it’s done and it is over and he lives within this cell,
And it’s here that he will bid his last farewell.

And he’s fighting with the demons of a life he used to lead,
And his wounded soul is bleeding, for he planted wild seed,
And he lies inside this chamber, behind bars that will not bend,
And it’s here his life is coming to an end.

They would call him ‘dead man walking’ as he ate his final meal,
And the judges wouldn’t listen as he gave his last appeal,
Now his trembling heart is pounding as he’s strapped inside this chair,
“I’m the victim and it really isn’t fair.”

For he felt his life was drowning in much ambiguity,
Now his soul will meet the future, which is called Eternity,
Where he’ll fight the many demons of a life he used to lead,
And his wounded soul will suffer, cry and bleed.

by David Ronald Bruce Pekrul

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at The Execution.

The last three chapters:

Part I

Etta and the Lie

Etta had just moved in with Jeffery when the lying began. She had told people that she was childless, married for money and lived a upscale life style. The trouble was she could not remember what was true and what was not. She knew she had a family of children but when she told Jeffery she had 10…where did that come from? Ten!!! She knew it was not true. She knew that no man would get started making babies and not stop until there were ten while married to her. She would have not been that good of a mother.

She did know that she came from stock that did not see the fault in telling lies, using people and getting what they wanted without a thought about the consequences.

Her sister, Mary, had never left the home place on the other side of the swinging bridge. She did not see the need for it. She was much older than Etta and had endured her childhood with an eye to survival.

Mary had kept a place in town on the corner of a block near the church and close to the last child in the family. Blanche was the one that really made the money. Several men were left with a dime in their pocket and Blanche had it all.

So Mary’s house in town was beautiful, white with grand trees around it. The community had come to call her Aunt Mary and she wore a bun on the back of her head that was white and perfect. The antiques in her house were exquisite. She was a member of the local sorority ladies and invited speakers, pianist and men with authority to come and make a presentation afterwards. Local teachers boarded in the upstairs corner bedroom, down the hall from hers and respectability oozed from every pore.

In the little community where Etta, Mary, Blanche and Wesley were raised there was a history, a lurking under current of evil that one could only guess at. The people lived with it like those people that live close to disaster zone live…aware and blind at the same time. Third and fourth generation families were living there and if a new comer asked for the truth, there was no way to explain it all. What was, was.

So as Etta began to think about home… she knew that there she could be herself if she wanted to. She could let her guard down and choose to tell lies or not. People there were accustomed to the unlikely and warped.

Jeffery and his wife were beginning to be suspicious. While Jeffery wanted her to be his mother, live in the back room, his wife was not for it at all. They had both made it happen but they were beginning to wonder if they would live to regret it. If Etta were to go as she had come, without warning or notice, they all knew there would be a sigh of relief. And Etta knew that it was what she had always done…when things got uncomfortable, when she made her own bad luck, she left and created a new personae. Maybe the time had come. There was only one thing she needed to do before she went…she needed to tell the truth just this one time.

Part II
The morning had dawned with a huge bang. Somehow the cellar door had been left open and the wind was blowing across the back yard, whipping it back and forth. It had waken the baby sleeping across the room. Jeffery raised his head from the pillow reluctantly when he felt his wife jabbed him in the ribs.

What??? It was always that way with him…the choices or dilemmas saw him to running away. He had a difficult time facing what was to be faced. In this case the baby seemed the most important but then his wife guided him in the direction of the door and headed toward the crying baby herself.

There was something that did not seem right when he walked through the kitchen and out the back screen door into the yard. He could not remember the last time they has been under the house. “Why would the cellar door be open?” he wondered as he removed the twig that held it open? When he glimpsed inside, all seemed to be in order. He smiled at the thought of order as he peered over broken lawn mowers and twisted lawn hose. After he closed the door he stumbled across the lawn toward the back door. He needed to have his cup of coffee.

That was when he realized she was gone. The coffee was cold and her chair sat empty, the paper was not on the table and her slipper sat cold on the floor. He ran down the hall to her room. The bed was neatly made and he knew when they looked in the cellar next time the glasses and her suitcases would be gone. It caught his eye in the darkened room and when he walked closer he saw that there was an envelop on the bed.

He sat down with a groan. He didn’t call his wife. He knew she would have guidance to offer him. She might even be happy about Etta’s quick departure. He couldn’t face that, not now.

He held the envelop in his hand and waited before opening it. He knew that Etta had a story to tell…or at least she needed to clear a few things up. But now that he thought he had the answers in his hand, he was not sure that he wanted to know. She was too much like him. They thought and looked alike. It was so strange how she knew about him without really knowing. Then it came back to him…the night she came to the door, strange yet somehow familiar. The words…”your father said we looked alike”.

At the family reunion they had never really connected and his father acted as though he and Etta had never met when they were reintroduced. Etta, for all her maneuvering of people had never made a move to even get to know him. “She might have been overwhelmed with the crowd,” he thought. But she had not even looked at him. He really didn’t recognized her on that night she came to his front door.

So what had she meant…”your father said we looked alike”. He looked at the envelop in horror. On the outside were written the words, “The Truth”. Who was she? She had been there for over a year, living in his house, helping guide his children and he had not sensed who she was…well not really? The envelop grew hot in his hand and he began to cry. He wept for the mother he never knew, for never having brothers or sister, for the lost opportunity, for himself. He did so want her to be his…he wanted her back, he wanted to know she was safe and not in danger. He did so want all that. He began to open the envelop when he realized that he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t know, not ever. The reasons for her coming and going, the realization of what that held in the ebb and flow of his life…he did not have the courage to face it. Not today he said. She will be back. At least he had had her for a while, he really had loved her eccentric ways and colorful lies. He could see her gray hair and the bag she brought the groceries home in. He heard her singing “Save the last waltz for me…” and dancing around the kitchen humming “blue suede shoes”. He decided he would just pretend. The truth was not necessary..

Dad, the next to the youngest said, “Where are the potato chips. Did you know the peaches are rotten. Aunt Etta has been at it again!”

Part III

Etta was standing in the airport in Boise waiting for the red car to pick her up. Wesley had loved the car. It was the last one ever made like it and became a symbol in the neighborhood where he lived of his eccentric nature. Etta always smiled during those years she live with him when she heard whispers from the patio of the next house. They thought he was a bit crazy and called him the “looney one”. He had raised a garden on the curb until the uproar got to be too much for him then he moved it to the back lot and built a very large compost bin. He did not really use it but it annoyed the nexts on both sides and he like that.

The red car had been in storage and when she called the care takers at the house they had it serviced and were to bring it to the parking lot. The instructions were for them to park in the north west corner of the structure, leave the keys in the ignition and leave. She didn’t want to see them. Wesley was gone, the house would stand empty until Jeffrey decided to tell his wife about it and the inheritance. Jeffrey had never known about her or his mother. She just wanted to keep it that way. So she took the car and began driving west.

The valley was steamy with summer sun gleaming on green fields. The river wound through the fields until it left the road where she drove. The hill that lifted from the river stood between her and home. A cemetery lay at the top and remnants of a golf course could be seen. A cross marked where graves of pioneers had died and the sagebrush was limp in the afternoon sun. Cheat grass had turned a shade of purple in the dry heat. As she came over the crest of the hill she could see the houses of those she knew. I’ve had done the right thing, she thought.

There were two beautiful white houses in the town. One was owned by a prim school teacher and her book keeper husband. The other was owned by Etta’s sister Mary. The two knew each other well but had never set in the same room or even exchanged pleasantries. One was Methodist and the other Catholic.  One was upstanding the other pretending to be what she was not.

Etta drove slowly down Jefferson Street and stopped in front of the beautiful white house in the shade of the Elm trees. Mary came to the door holding the keys in her hand. They didn’t talk…now was not the time. Too many years and not enough sharing had led to blank stares. There was nothing to be said. When Wesley had died and Etta couldn’t be found, they thought she was dead. In a way she was and always would be. But now the keys were in the ghosts hands and the red car drove away slowly returning to the house across the river.

The swinging bridge was still there. A garage that had served as the storage of sorts had been cleared and the red car pulled into its cool refuge. She pulled her two bags from the trunk and walked across the bridge again. This time though she was not afraid. Everything that could have possibly happen to her had happened and she was turning all that misfortune, lying, striking beauty and angry retaliation inward. She was happy to be free at last to live out her life with herself. She didn’t feel guilty…not in the least. After all the river and the swinging bridge had taught her everything she needed to know.

b

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Etta.

‘Tis why we choose to go to war
my child is what I’m fighting for.

We both fight for our liberty
to see our children strong and free.

‘Tis really a strange twist of fate
that sees our love turned into hate.

It is lessen I must give,
I want my child, my child to live.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at I Do Not Hate My Enemy.