LLC02: Till Death Did Us Apart

Arnab paused for a moment, to take in the sights that lay in front of him. The snow capped mountains served as the perfect backdrop for the little cabin that lay in front of him. The place held hundreds of stories, few of them told but many untold, lying quietly for the time to be ripe. Letting out a low whistle, Arnab pulled out the key from the pocket. It was dusk and his hands shook as it made contact with the door handle. After a little struggle with what seemed to be a lock from the Victorian era, he managed to open the cabin. Sitting before him was a treasure that he had come to explore. In fact on his very first day, he had zoomed off to the cabin without even dropping his luggage. After all, he had a couple of days to find a story he was looking for.

As an author, he was always looking for stories that were waiting to be told. It was by pure luck that he had chanced on this place. A friend of his had casually mentioned about a village he had visited on one of his expedition. He had said that the village was amongst those worst hit during the India-Pakistan wars.  The entire population had been wiped off sans a handful of people. Yet the village had managed to get up on its feet. Arnab felt a thrill and had grabbed the next change he could get to see the village.

The village lay nestled amongst the mountains, near the border, secluded, aloof from the outside world. On reaching, he had received a more then a warm welcome. However, when he asked about the war, he had been directed to the cabin. The cabin in question was the only standing proof of the horrors of the war. It held all the documents, belongings, lost papers, unclaimed goods, all lay waiting for someone to come looking for them.

As Arnab entered the cabin, his nose met the stale air heavy with dust. The eerie silence seemed to muffle the cries of all those who had met their tragic end that day. Browsing through the documents had revealed that the massacre had occurred somewhere in mid of January on a bright morning. The attack from the enemy had been sudden and fatal. The Indian army that been assigned to reach there, had been delayed by a day. A day too late, thought Arnab. The village, then a small place with a healthy population of few thousand, had been razed to the ground in a couple of minutes. When the army had reached, destruction lay all around. As a grim reminder of the horror and as a mark of respect, they wanted to build a monument. But the villagers had demanded that they build a place to store all the things that were left of the ones they loved. A museum, a sanctum of sorts. The result had been the cabin, filled with mainly official reports and artifacts with tags describing them. However there also were a number of hidden, forgotten fragments of memories, in form of photos and other odd things.

Though the last three days had been disappointing, and the frustration mounting, with only a day left, he moved inside the cabin with hope. He switched on the lone bulb that hung from the plastered ceiling of the cabin. Closing the door behind him, he moved to the shelf from where he had left that afternoon. After browsing for what seemed ages, his eyes suddenly fell on a small book. The book had a leather cover with no headings. As he opened it, it appeared to be a diary of sorts. He casually flicked through it, to find it was empty. Disappointment. The buyer had planned on using it in future but never made it. Just as he was to place the book back, a piece of paper jutting out from the book caught his attention. He opened the book only to find a folded piece of paper. Wondering if it was a list of chores the person was to do, he opened it. To his surprise, it was a letter. Immediately he abandoned the book and moved under yellow light of the bulb. He spread the paper on the floor, flattening it out evenly. He bent closer to read it.  The fading ink, the ages old paper and shockingly, a few blood spots, made it difficult to read

But as he read, he was shocked and awed at the same time. It was a love letter that Ryan had written to his sweetheart Kiaah. A love letter…………………….

At the end of the letter, Arnab was shocked and bewildered at the same time. He had a story and yet he had nothing. Who was Ryan? Who was Kiaah? What happened to Kiaah? Had she too died? How did Ryan die? A storm rose in Arnab’s mind as he tried to figure out the letter in front of him. He got up and rushed to the official record of all the people who had died that fateful day. He immediately found Ryan in “R” but he could not find Kiaah. As he shut the book, he felt a sense of excitement. It meant either she had been the handful to survive or was amongst those who had been vanished. Either way he felt that it was a story, the story he wanted, a story waiting to unfold.

Suddenly he was hit by this idea. He remembered the day he had landed here. On inquiring about the war, the headmaster had directed him to the cabin. He was delighted to hear that the war memories had been preserved thus. Amongst the other things the headmaster had told, he had casually mentioned an old lady living close to the cabin. He was told that the lady had been amongst the survivors. But the excitement of the cabin had nearly wiped the idea of meeting her from his mind. He wanted untold tales, not stories of survival. A flicker of hope rose is his chest. Yes, the lady would surely know Ryan and Kiaah. She had been a survivor, so she would know if Kiaah had escaped or met the same fated end.

He stood up, folded the letter and placed it in his breast pocket. He picked up his stuff and rushed out of the cabin. After a mini battle with lock, he finally managed to lock it and hit the road to the lady’s house.  In an excitement to reach there, he didn’t notice that it was almost dark and the temperatures had gone down. At the end of the road, he saw a little cottage, with warm yellow light filtering from the windows. Some cheerful voice singing over the radio could be heard. As he reached the front door, he gave a sharp rap.

A maid appeared after a few seconds. She looked surprised to see a stranger at such an odd hour.

“Yes?” she asked

“Umm…hi I am Arnab. I am an author and I would like to meet your mistress, if she feels up to it. I know it’s late but I won’t take long. Please…” he said in a hurried tone.

The maid gave a dirty look, annoyed at being disturbed at such an hour, that too by strangers. But it wasn’t her decision to make. So she said “wait” and went inside.

The wait seemed awfully long. Finally the maid came back

“You may see her but remove your shoes at the doorsteps” she barked, clearly disapproving of her mistress’s decision. This made Arnab realize that he may have pressed upon the lady’s hospitality at the wrong hour. But he had very little time in hand, and if he had to search for any answers, he had to start now.

But what he saw took him by surprise. He saw a very old woman sitting on a wheelchair, her feet soaking in what seemed to be warm water. The radio was playing some absurd song on the table besides her. A merry little fire crackled in the fireplace, at one corner of the room. She wore a warm smile, spreading warmth all around. Arnab felt welcome and at home. She said

“Terribly sorry I had to be seen in such a mess, but I was so eager to meet you. I heard that the village had a guest, an author. You are a charming young fellow. You remind of someone” she whispered in her soothing voice “but that’s enough of chatter. Mina here says you wanted to ask me something? Fire away!”

Arnab did not understand where to begin. He wanted to offer his sympathies for the horror that the woman had seen, but he did not want to upset her. So he decided to hit the nail on the head.

“Actually I came here looking for a story and was searching for the same in the cabin, when I hit upon this name. I checked for her in the list of deceased but did not find her. Her name was Kiaah. I thought you may be able to recollect her. Remember anything? What happened to her? Who was she?”

But as soon as had he uttered this, he knew it had been a bad idea. The lady’s eye shown with such ferocity, that Arnab almost retreated a little. Her wrinkled handle turned down the radio as her eyes refused to leave him. The maid had also stopped her chores and now stood silently, observing. The atmosphere had become different than the one he had encountered when he arrived.

“Young man, why do you ask?” she questioned him.

“Please call me Arnab and I have a letter addressed to her from her…..umm……” hesitated Arnab, unsure of what adjective to use” umm…..love……Ryan”

As if the woman had been touched by god himself, she swiftly moved forward and caught his hands. “Show it to me, NOW!”

Arnab obeyed, gently removing the letter, and handed it over to. Her hands shook as she opened the letter. She tried to read but her eyes failed her. She looked at Arnab and said in a tone that baffled him, “don’t u know my name child? I am Kiaah” she said as a lone tear spilled from the corner of her eye, “A letter from Ryan! Please read it to me….please” her tone pleading, quivering with emotions.

Arnab immediately took the letter and began reading………..

Dear Ki,

The elders have called upon me to protect the village. I must go. But not for once do I regret going, for I will go to protect you.

 I wanted to tell this to you personally, your hands in mine, your eyes lost in mine. But time may be too short and so I write this letter, to tell you that I love you. Yes Kiaah I love you with every inch of my body and will do so till I breathe my last.

Yes Kiaah, I love you. In fact I have been in love ever since we first crossed those iron gates on first day of school, hand in hand. I was in love when we moved secondary school. I still loved you when we meet in the woods, away from those prying eyes. I have and will always love you.

I know not what feeling you have for me. But it will never change what I feel for you. I never, in these long years, once understood that this was love. I was comfortable with you, around you. You meant my world, my joy, my pleasure. I convinced myself that this was friendship. What a fool I was!

But today as I face uncertainty, I realized that nothing meant more to me than you. I realized that behind all those meetings, those jokes we laughed and those sorrows we shared; was love.

I do not know if I will come back. But if I ever do, I want to spend my entire life with. Tell me Ki, will you marry me? Will you hold my hand in this journey of life? Will you be my mate in life and death?

Tomorrow morning before I leave, I’ll give you this letter personally, so that I can take one last look at you. If I were to die, Ki, it was your picture that my eyes would want to close with.

Yours

Ryan

As Arnab finished, he felt a ball rise in his throat. The room fell silent as the gentle sobs of the old woman filled the room. Arnab, not knowing where to look, gazed at the yellow flames in the fireplace till the sobbing died away. After what seemed ages, Kiaah found her voice

“Ryan was everything to me! Oh how I miss him. Where are you now Ryan, where? Where…..?”

Arnab gradually took her hands in his. “Tell me” he said “tell me what happened that day? Please Kiaah, for your sake, for Ryan’s sake, for your love’s sake……”

Without looking up Kiaah began, her voice laden with emotions……..

“I and Ryan lived here in this very village. He lived in the house next to ours. In fact the house that we lived in, stood on this very soil, till it was raised to the ground in the war. We had a common backyard from where our families greeted each other daily. A peach tree was the only physical evidence of the line separating the two houses. The tree had been our secret messenger. Whenever Ryan wished to meet me urgently, he would place a white sunflower below the tree. It would signal that he was waiting for me in the woods, beyond the house” she said smiling coyly.

“We both had been best of friends from the very beginning. We went to the local school together, sat on the same bench and ate from each other’s Tiffin. We loved each other’s company. At that tender age we knew nothing of love, but we knew for sure, that we completed each other. I still remember, he would take all the blame for the apples I would pluck from the farm nearby” she said giving a wet smile. It seemed that she was now in a different world of hers, beyond the pain, beyond the longing, a world in which her Ryan was alive. She continued

“Soon we grew up but our friendship remained the same. In fact we had grown fonder of each other. We would spend all of the time we got from our chores, in each other’s company. The life in the village had been care free and we had never thought of a life beyond. Love had bloomed silently in between us, but we remained quiet about it. Those were the times when love wasn’t so easily confessed. How I wish I had told him that I loved him.”

“But time and tide wait for none. The evil eye fell upon our village.  My village had been blissfully disconnected from the outside world. For the smallest news we had to rush someone to the nearest district headquarters. So like those innumerable news, the news of the war also reached us late. I still remember the night before the fateful day” she said. Her eyes, fixed in a downwards gaze, held the intensity that scared Arnab.

“It was a chilly winter like any other. We were cleaning the dinner table, when the message was brought. The enemy had reached near the village and would attack anytime soon. The army had been called. But till they arrived, all the males of the village were called to take up arms to protect the village. No sooner did I hear this, than my heart was filled with fear. I feared losing Ryan. Dropping the vessels I ran towards his house, determined to talk him out of going. I would ask him to run away and come back after the war. But just as I reached the backyard, I saw a white flower below the tree. It meant he wanted me to meet him, first thing in the morning. I wanted to run to him, hug him, talk to him but I thought better of myself and came back in. I spent the night restlessly, falling asleep only to be awoken by nightmares of Ryan dying.

Finally at the break of the dawn I tried to sneak out. Everybody was awake and tensed. The males were getting ready for the day. I knew nobody would miss my presence for some time. So I took my change. But no sooner had crossed the kitchen, when a deafening blast gonged through the city. After that everything was thrown into a pandemonium. There was cries intermingled with blasts. The air smelt of smoke and blood. Fear griped me as I ran towards Ryan’s house. Suddenly he appeared in front of me. He grabbed my hand and asked me to run with him. We fled half running, half walking.

Like all other villagers, we ran away from the mountains, from where the enemy had come. I would never forget the scene that met my eye. The ground was littered with bodies of people whom I had spent my life with.  People around us fell randomly, prey to whizzing bullets. Houses were on fire. Screams of pain, despair, sorrow, and help filled the air. It was clear that there was no retreat and end was certain. Suddenly Ryan pushed me down and ordered me to remain down.

He covered me, using himself as a shield, his back to the direction raining hell. He clasped my hands in his and looked me in the eye. He told me not to worry. “Everything will be alright, Kiaah, everything will be fine. I am here Kiaah, your Ryan’s here.” The fear in his eyes betrayed his voice. We shook in fear as more people fell around us. A blast rocked the ground just yards away from us.

“Look at me Kiaah” he said. He looked me in the eye and moved his head closer to mine, so close that I could feel his breath. Time seemed to have slowed down as we realized the proximity between us. Just as our lips were about to meet, Ryan felt a sharp jerk across his back. As we both looked down, the most magical moment of my life evaporated into horror. A slow growing red blot appeared on his plain white shirt, inches above the navel. I could not comprehend what was happening. Ryan again looked at me and just as began saying “Kiaah…ah, I ……”as another bullet penetrated his heart. He held my head in his arms and said “Don’t…..move…….Kiaah…..Don’t………..move”. With that the love of my life fell silently. He died there, his face close to me. He had scarified himself for me, scarified himself…… He died so that I would live…….”

At this point Kiaah broke down completely. Tears rolled down Arnab’s cheeks as he made no attempts to wipe them. His heart pained to see the old woman suffer. He cursed himself to have brought the woman such distress for his god damned story.

After a while Kiaah calmed down. She tried to get up. The maid rushed to her aid and pulled her to her feet. She walked out of the room without a word. Arnab felt sad and moved, as he sat there alone. It pained him to think of Kiaah living each day of her life, with memories of her love dying in her arms.

Suddenly the maid appeared. Her voice was still quiver from the crying as she said “Memsaab wants to see you. This way please.”

She led Arnab through the backdoor, out into the backyard. It was a dark chilly night. In front of him, he saw an ancient tree. Kiaah stood below the tree. It was the peach tree, the silent observer of a love story that had gone wrong. Arnab hurried besides her. She pointed in front of her. It was a grave with the tombstone bearing the words “TILL DEATH DID US APART”.

“I buried him here” said Kiaah “at our spot. I wanted him to be close to me forever more. He died saving me. His last wish was to see me alive. Many a times I wanted to die, kill myself, but his wishes was the only thing that kept me going. Thank you for bringing this letter to me” she said clutching the letter in her hands.

“Now I can die in peace.” As she said this, she bent down to keep a white sunflower on his grave. Arnab didn’t understand this but then he didn’t want to understand it either. He had intruded upon her privacy for long. A little too long. It was his time to leave. The world needed to know the supreme sacrifice a guy had made for his love. He thanked her profusely and he left with one promise, that her story would be told.

2 MONTHS LATER

Arnab saw a parcel on his desk. It was the parcel that he had sent to Kiaah, containing the book he had written about her story. A letter said that parcel was being returned as Kiaah had died 2 months back. In fact on the day, after his visit. Suddenly it dawned to Arnab, the white flower had been Kiaah’s message to Ryan, to meet her. For she was coming to where Ryan was……….

__END__