The others had left the village but he decided to stay put. “They are going to kill us all, we should depart right now.” The village chief said to him. He replied, “She is coming, I know she will be here.” The chief could not change his stubborn mind. He tried his best to tell him that it was pointless to put one’s life just to wait for someone he loved to turn up. The chief was the last to leave the village to escape from the invading barbarians.
The man waited for her by the lake. He was certain that she would be with him no matter what happened. He began to drown himself in deep thoughts while waiting for her. He remembered the time when he first met her face to face. She was painting picturesque scenery of the lake one evening. He watched her from a distance, noticing her delicate hands decorating the canvas with so much passion and tenderness. He approached her and said, “Hi, my name…” She snapped, “I know.” He was puzzled. She placed the brush on the palette and put them aside. She began, “You are always here when I’m around. I was beginning to wonder when you would come up to me to introduce yourself.” He smiled in embarrassment. She too replied him with a rosy blush. Their first meeting was the beginning of a beautiful relationship, it started with a smile.
They met again several times and each time, they got closer. They started to open up and shared their life experiences. Every conversation was filled with joy and laughter and ended with a feeling of lost when they had to leave. But the following day, the cycle kept repeating till a point of time. She was on the verge completing her painting when he was leaving. He walked away after saying a simple farewell. She turned around as she watched him slowly fading from her sight, leaving his footprints on the sandy ground. She rose from her seat and called out, “Please, don’t leave…” He hesitated and froze. By then, she was already behind him. He could see her shadow, standing still behind his back and gave a final turnaround. They stood motionless for a moment as they looked at each other once again. “Please, don’t leave me here.” She pleaded again. “I won’t.” He said almost immediately. They ended that solemn dusk with a comforting hug. He held her tight in his arms so that she could hear his heart beating at a frenzy pace. It gave her a sense of security and warmth that she would never want to let go of. “I will be there for you if you should ever need me by your side, I promise.” He whispered in her ear.
Time flew as if no one cared. However, for them every minute they were apart seemed like a lifetime. And when they were together, they refused to let any moment slipped away. This time, they were alone by the placid lake, undisturbed by the commotion at the heart of the village. She willingly rested her head on his shoulder and let her feelings drift. That look in her eyes and the sound of her laugh made him decide that she was the one for him. Sunset over the distance warmed the evening once again, the waters reflected orange, lucid rays. He told her, “You know something, this argument between your village and mine seemed to escalate faster than I had anticipated. I wonder if…” She suddenly interrupted, “Shhh. We will run away together if we have to. For now, just let’s just leave things as they are.” The long wait had blossomed into a kiss. Perhaps this was what they called as love.
Relationship between their villages turned sour and it looked as if nothing was going to change the fact that they were eyeing for war to solve their dispute. No one was allowed to have contact with the opposing village dwellers, let alone leaving the village. They did not visit the lake after that. And now, he put his life on the gallows by waiting for her by the lake. He regained his consciousness from his retrospection when he heard footsteps resonating from afar. It was her. She did not leave him and so did he. She leapt into his arms with tears flowing from her eyes. Three months of separation was overwhelming for them. The feeling of lost and loneliness was instantly dissipated into thin air. Time and distance had made their love stronger for every passing day. “You did not leave me just like you promised.” She cried. “I always keep my promise.” He responded.
This bliss however was short-lived. Danger was still lurking. “We have to leave now, there is not much time left before they hunt us all down. We are the last ones.” He exclaimed. Just before he began to run, pulling her hand, she stood still, rooted to the ground. “Will we be back here?” She asked. He paused for a minute. He answered in a saddened voice, “Someday, we will walk this road again, we will breathe its fresh air, we will.” Little that he knew, the evening was the last sunset they would ever saw. The soldier appeared with their pointed bayonets. They cornered them to the edge of the lake. The barbaric soldiers did not care who they were. Those bloodthirsty beasts would not be satisfied till they created a haven of carnage. They thrust their bayonet at their abdomens. He held her hand tightly and said, “Stay close to me, I will never let go of you.” They trotted forward again and stabbed them with great force that they were thrown into the lake. Screams of pain was echoing throughout the village, cold, red blood gushed out, over-pouring the lake waters. The water turned red immediately. His arms were wrapped around her as they tumbled into the deeper waters. Water entered their nostrils, blocking the passage for breathing. With much blood lost, they were too weak to get themselves out of the silent blue.
As such, their bodies continue to rapidly descend deeper. Flashbacks electrified his mind, playing the scenes when they were together, just like a roll of film showing a slideshow. He made sure his arms locked her so that she would not be carried away by the current. To her, spending her last minutes in his arms was worth waiting for. They reached the bottom of the lake, resting peacefully till they were deprived of oxygen. And so their tale ended in tragedy. Although this was what they called fate, fate too decided to allow them to perish together in death. Perhaps ‘till death do us part’ may not be proper anymore because who knows, fate might just create another opportunity for them to be together in the afterlife.
This story is inspired by “Measure of a Man” by Clay Aiken.
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