Eyes
I enjoyed writing this very much. I hope you like it.
Short Story
EYES
Eyes as blue as the clear sky of
October. As deep as the ocean. As clear as glass. As hard as ice. Her eyes were
nothing like he has ever seen before. New, fresh but still ancient and rotten.
He fell in love with her the moment he saw her eyes from across the street. It
is said that when love finds you, physical appearance doesn't matter and he
finds himself compelled to love and cherish her in all the possible ways.
He doesn't know if he approached her
or she approached him, but they met and he thought he found everything he ever
needed. She is a beautiful woman. Pale complexion, long dark hair, perfect
features, lean body but she looks like she is lost. Lost in darkness and light,
lost in world and herself. He has never met any woman like her. She was
different and difficult to understand.
She looks surprised when he talks to
her, gasping like no one has ever spoken to her before.
"What date is it today?" she
asked.
"12th march" he replied.
She seems to think for a minute and
then smiles and says, "We will meet again soon."
He is shocked for a second, but when
he looks at her, she was gone.
He can't sleep, he can't eat, he can't
work, he can't do anything. His mind is replaying the incident with that woman.
He is lost in her thoughts, her words – "we will meet again soon".
Those words are stuck in his mind and heart. Hope is a very bad thing. It can
cherish or destroy a person. But he is a positive man and always hope for the best.
He will wait for her, even if it takes years to find her again.
His mind is stuck but the sun is
rising, so he gets ready for another day at work. A day can't start without a
cup of coffee, so he completes his daily routine and goes to the office.
How can anyone hate love? How can
anyone destroy such a beautiful thing?
And then he saw her, outside the
coffee shop. Her hair flying with the wind. She is nervously looking for
someone in the crowd. When her eyes meet his, she smiles and waves at him. He smiles
and waves back.
They go to the coffee shop. This
coffee shop is one of the best coffee shops in the city. Black and red
wallpapers with coffee mug photos, comfortable sitting arrangements, good
lightings and mesmerizing background music, private tables, swift staff. He
orders for himself but she denies everything. She just sits there and keeps
looking at his face. He tries to talk to her, but she avoided his questions
about her.
"My name is Sam. At least tell me
your name."
"Mary. My name is Mary and I want
your help."
They part their way. His mind is
swirling with thoughts about her. 'What happened to her?', 'Is she ok?', 'Did
someone hurt her?', 'Why would she need my help?', 'How can I help her?' so
on…. He reaches home and completes his routine before going to bed.
He dreamt about her last night. A wild
dream, nothing clear, just blurry images about her and death.
Today is Sunday and he is late. He was
supposed to meet her in the graveyard at 9'o clock, but he overslept and now he
is running very late for their meeting. Graveyard is a very odd place to meet,
but she requested to meet there.
"Hello, Mary. How are you doing
this fine morning?" She just stared at the grave.
MIRABELLE
HATHAWAY
BELOVED
DAUGHTER, WIFE AND MOTHER.
DIED
IN 2020.
"Who is she? Do you know
her?" he asked. She blinked and turned her head towards him as if she was
surprised seeing him there.
"She was my step sister. I never
knew anything about her until she died." "or murdered" she
whispers. "I want to know more about her. Will you please help me with
this?"
"Ya sure, I mean of course I will
help you. Do you know anything personal about her? Like where she lived or was
she married or any workplace? It would be easier to find information about her
if we know something about her or have any personal link to her."
"No, but she was married to a man
named Clain Solokiv and had a son. Will you look them up? I need to know if
my…um... if the baby is ok."
"Sure, no problem."
"Um.. graveyard is a very weird
place to meet, don't you think so," he asked after a little while. But she
was starring at him, smiling faintly, as if she was recalling some memories
from the past.
"No, I like to spend my time
here. So peaceful and quiet. No disturbance. Just me and my thoughts"
"Hmm… interesting theory. Well,
we can make a graveyard date. Can't we?"
"Maybe next week, but now let's
get going" she replied sweetly.
They left the graveyard, smiling and
whispering like they held some secret. They cross the street, but a voice stops
them.
"Beware, boy. You are being
followed by the dead. Nothing good comes out of them. They are inspired by
revenge and hate" An old lady said, "They are…"
"I'm sorry sir. My grandma is a
mental patient. She keeps babbling, please forgive her" says the boy
standing next to that old lady.
"It's ok. We don't mind. Treat
her well" he said to the boy. The boy looks at him confusingly as if he
was shocked by his statement.
He turned around to leave but couldn't
find her anywhere. He thought maybe she walked away while he was held up by the
lady.
He goes home and fiddles around the
whole day. He starts looking for the girl's family at night. The husband, Clain
Solokiv is a businessman, not very successful but he have a farm in the
country.
"Hi, Mary. How do you know I live
here?"
"I just know."
"Hey, that's not fair! You know
so much about me and I barely know anything about you."
She chuckle softly and replied,"
I will tell you everything you need to know, but first tell me, did you find
anything?"
"Oh yes." He tells her
everything he managed to find about the man.
She sighed softly and said,
"let's take a walk in the park."
"Have you ever loved anyone in
the past?" she asked suddenly like she was waiting for a long time to ask
him this question.
He was so surprised by this question
that he stumbled and nearly faceplanted.
"Um…a…I don't know what to
say…"
"Truth, Sam truth."
"Well yes, I used to love a girl
in high school, but you know what the weird part is? I never saw her. We used
to leave letters for each other. I loved her without seeing her. What a fool I
was! I don't even know if she loved me or not. I don't even know her name. We
used to use initials of our name."
"You remember hers?" she
asked after a while.
"M"
"Do you miss her?"
"Sometimes. She was like a fandom
character you fall in love with. What about you? Have you loved anyone in the
past?"
"Once."
He waited for her to elaborate, but
she was done.
"Sam, I have to go now but I need
you to meet me at the National bank tomorrow. Will you be there?"
"Of course."
"Locker 2275."
He doesn't know what is in this
locker, but Mary gave him a locker number and password. He is supposed to take
the envelope to her parent's house. She told him that she can't come with him
because they fought before she ran away. Now he is stuck with this job.
He is starting to feel that this girl
is using him, but nonetheless, he wants to help her this last time. He takes
the envelope and goes to the address given by her, and he is in shock by what
he finds there.
A big and prestigious bungalow, lots
of cars, butlers, maids.
'They are very rich' he thought.
"I'm here to meet with Mr and Mrs
Hathaway. Their daughter sent me. I have an envelope she wants them to
have." He informs the butler. He is led to a spacious living room.
"Hello, Mr Sam. I'm Adam Hathaway
and this is my wife Rose. How can we help you? I was informed that you have
something our daughter left for us."
"Yes sir. I am supposed to give
you this envelope and wait till you read all the papers."
A butler comes and whispers something
to Adam. A few minutes later a man and a child enter the room. The man was in
his mid-twenties or early thirties. The boy is barely 6-7 years old.
"Ah…let me introduce you to my
son-in-law, Clain Solokiv and my grandchild Ian."
They exchanges pleasantries and then
Adam explains about the envelope.
"My wife left an envelope and I
didn't know about it, strange. Anyway, let's open it."
Two letters. That's what they got.
"This letter is addressed to us" Adam informed.
DEAR MOM AND DAD,
WHEN
OR IF YOU GETS THIS LETTER. I WILL BE DEAD. YOU KNOW I DON'T LIKE TO BEAT
AROUND THE BUSH, SO LET'S GET TO THE POINT. CLAIN IS NOT A DECENT MAN. HE IS A
PATHETIC PERSON WHO USE VIOLENCE TO GET WHAT HE WANTS. HE BEATS ME AND IAN MORE
OFTEN THAN NOT. HE JUST WANTS OUR PROPERTY AND MONEY. HE FORCED ME TO WRITE MY
WILL AND LATER CHANGED IT HIMSELF, BUT I AM LEAVING MY ORIGINAL WILL WITH THIS
LETTER FOR YOU. HE TRIED TO KILL ME ONCE, BUT HE FAILED AND I KNOW HE WON'T
MAKE ANY MISTAKE AGAIN.
YOU
BOTH FORCED ME TO MARRY HIM, EVEN AFTER KNOWING I LOVE SOMEONE ELSE. HE WOULD
THINK I AM AN DISHONEST PERSON. HE WOULD THINK I DUMPED HIM. I KNOW YOU CAN'T
AND WON'T BELIEVE ANY OF THESE THINGS JUST BECAUSE OF A LETTER, BUT YOU HAVE
IAN. HE IS MY PROOF AND THE REASON FOR THIS LETTER. MOM-DAD, I WANT YOU TO
OFFICIALLY GET HOLD OF MY SON'S CUSTODY AND NURTURE HIM PROPERLY AS YOU DID FOR
ME.
I LOVE YOU BOTH AND WISH THAT WE COULD HAVE
MORE TIME TOGETHER. I WISH YOU WOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME AND LET ME MARRY SAM.
BUT EVERYTHING IS POINTLESS NOW. TAKE CARE OF MY IAN.
-
MIRABELLE HATHAWAY.
The world erupts into chaos. Clain
started denying it all, but Ian told them the truth. The original Will and all
the proof states that Mirabelle was correct and the police arrestes Clain for
murder.
But the world is frozen for Sam. He
knows this handwriting. This is the handwriting of the girl he loved. 'M' for
'Mirabelle'. He couldn't process all this information.
Rose approaches him and asks," You
are the Sam who she loved, aren't you? She always used to talk about you. I
recognized you the moment I saw you. She loved you dearly. Here, take this box.
These are the letters you used to write her. We saved these and now you can
have them."
"But I love your other daughter
now."
"What do you mean? We don't have
any other daughter."
"Your stepdaughter, Mary. She
instructed me to do all these things. She gave me the locker number and
password. She told me about you all."
"What are you talking about, young
man" inquired Adam "Mirabelle don't have any step sister. She was our
only child."
Sam can't understand anything. If they
are telling the truth, then who is Mary? Why is she pretending to be someone
she is not?
"Do you know anyone with dark
hair, fair pale skin, lean body?" he asked.
They both look at each other like they
are discussing something telepathically.
"Come with us. We want to show
you something."
They crosses a hallway and there, at
the end of it is a photo. A girl with long black hair, holding a book.
"That's her. She is Mary. You
know her?"
"She is not Mary, Sam. She is our
daughter Mirabelle. We don't know if anyone is playing a cruel trick on you.
But she is not Mary."
Sam doesn't know if he is spinning or
the world around him is spinning. He can't find his footing, can't stand
properly. And then he understands everything. Every weird look, the old lady's
saying, her odd requests. He is running, running like his life depends on it.
Out of the hallway and living room, in the garden.
"Mary, Mary, where are you? Mary.
Mirabella."
She materializes in front of him and
smiles softly, "I'm sorry Sam. I had to do this. I never meant to leave
you, but my parents forced me to marry Clain. I'm sorry. And thank you so much
for helping me ."
He looks into her eyes, eyes like a
prism, reflecting every color and emotion, as she disappeared into thin air.
The end
written by Deerghata shukla.
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ReplyDelete👌👌👌
ReplyDeleteIt's better to be loved and lost than never to have loved at all... loved the beginning of the story...
ReplyDeleteLove this, you could make the first part into a poem if you really wanted to
ReplyDelete