Our Forgotten Fairy Tale

Editor’s Choice: Love Short Story – Our Forgotten Fairy Tale

The rain still poured like the day she left- thundering and indifferent.

My windowsill pounded with the monotonous tatter of the raindrops, falling with each other like the tears we cried. I wondered where she might be, who she was with and whose thoughts hovered in her mind.

I lay quiet and almost breathless in my dark empty room. The absolute stillness was broken only by the patter outside. Books, papers, clothes and everything were strewn all across the floor- the room was a mess and my mind completely shattered. My heart was slowing breaking- once again.

Once again. Because she was somewhere, still alive.

I last saw her, sixteen years ago. Sixteen years ago, when we had our one last fight, our one last argument, and a kiss we never knew would be our last- I saw that beautiful face. We were young and fearless, the only fears being ones of separation.

The night was late and it was pouring. She barged out of the house, followed by my futile words of stay. I could hear her tears and my wandering thoughts running ablaze in my head. I did not know what to say or what to do. I ran behind her, trying to grab her wrist and pull her into me.

“Stop, please! Wait,” I mumbled and screamed.

She did not hear me but moved forward.

“Seya, wait. I love you!” I said, giving up.

“Too late for you. Too late for us,” She turned around and said.

“Never say that!” I grabbed her, totally now. “Can’t you hear this heartbeat? It’s for you, goddammit!”

“I hear it, I hear it well. Somehow mine doesn’t beat for you.”

Her words broke me and she broke away.

I saw her walking away from me- into a world I did not know anymore.

Time was running out. And my thoughts were blank.

“Seya! You promised!” I cried. She turned around and we stood silent. “You know, you promised to never leave my heart broken. You lied to me. You lied.”

“I lied. I’m sorry. You don’t even have to forgive me.”

“Please,” My voice slowly dying.

“I’m not your perfect person. If love was enough, you and I would be together. Turns out, it isn’t enough.”

And then our life ended.

Just as she finished, a car, out of nowhere, crashed into her. In a reflex, I leapt to her and a second car came ramming into the first, screeching and then there was some pain. Through my blurring eyes and my pounding head, I looked at her, one last time- into her beautiful lifeless eyes. My arms outstretched to hers, one final time to be one.

And all was dark.

No one ever heard from her, saying she was gone. I lost my wills to live and even tried to embrace death but my love wouldn’t let me leave. And sixteen years later, a simple phone call ended my struggle to live a normal life.

I was now driving. My hands freezing on the wheel, my heart pounding with anxiety. And the fear of discovery as I drove in through the gates of an unknown building. I turned the engine off and sat still for a second. I tried to gather my words and find my breath.

I walked up the reception and asked for her. The receptionist asked me to wait a while till Seya’s doctor came to me. He asked me to be discreet and not ask too much. He said that no one had come for her and they had finally found me underneath a lot of old contacts.

They led me though two huge doors and then through two more. And finally into a simpler, quieter and more suffocating room.

She was there. Seya, the love of my life- lost and dead for the past sixteen years.

The doctors left and we were alone. She was looking outside the window. Her hair, perfectly braided and her lavender perfume filled the whole room.

“There are a lot of unhappy people in this city,” she said.

“Why do you say that?” I asked as I took a seat.

“Because the clouds are crying so hard. The sorrow of others disappears into the skies, to the clouds. And then they cry for those who can’t.” She said and finally looked at me.

I smiled at her simple thoughts and barer philosophies. Her next words tore my world apart.

“And you are?” She asked me.

The walls of my heart lost their ability to provide me with life- their source now obscure. I lost my breath and bit my tongue. Suddenly, the room became darker and the rain more painful.

The discovery was that, she did not remember me. Her accident led her to a memory-less oblivion. Amnesia- as the doctors put it.

She did not remember me, her life or ours.

“It’s me, Seya! It’s me, Ayaan!” I said, repeatedly. Every word and every try, making my hopes fall off the cliff of life.

“I’m sorry but I do not remember you,” she meekly replied.

“It’s me,” I said, one last time.

“You’re scaring me now,” She looked into my eyes. I got up from my seat and next to her. I took her hand in mine and just looked at her pleasing face. Her solemn, soft eyes. Her smooth, unblemished skin. Her cold hands on my nervous and shaking. I squeezed her hand and I rose. I slowly pulled her into me.

“It still is beating. And you were right. It was never enough.”

I walked out in the rain, with my heart broken and sad, sadistic words of my love coming true.

Sometimes, love is never enough.

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