She shivers in the wind like a last leaf on the tree. The wind raises electric. She’s sweet, warm and looks exquisitely stunning in her crimson gown with her curves exposed slyly. He lets her hear his footsteps; he saunters forward and wraps his arms around her. His warm breath brushes past her curly locks to send shivers deep down her body. The air has awe in itself. He grabs her shoulder to a firm grip and suddenly shakes them violently. His mid night blue eyes flare with so much rage. His jaw clenches tight, he raises his fists and hits her so hard to knock her down to the ground. She could taste blood in her mouth. A perfect countenance was smeared by nasty bruises.
When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations; it’s not reasonable to regret when it comes to an end.
Abhay was a guy you could not but fall for. His mid night blue eyes set deep above the high planes of his cheekbones, russet coloured skin, jet black tousled disarray of spiky hair and tall-masculine physique made him stand out like an archangel amidst the vile human clan. Half the college population craved for him (the fairer sex) while the other half despised him out of envy. He didn’t have many friends in the college owing to his high profile repute except one who had accepted him with all his flaws; Shravani. Shravani, a teenage girl with brown curls marked by golden highlights, topaz coloured eyes and enticing curves; a stimuli to arouse the ogler in you. Abhay and Shravani were like two poles of magnet, never apart. Both of them seemed to cherish there out of the world friendship. They had created their own world; a world so perfect with no boundaries, no responsibilities and no one to be answerable to.
Everything seemed to fall in pieces until their life was jolted by a tornado named Priya. She joined the college in mid semester. She seemed like a beautiful angel descended from above with the innocence of a neonate in her obsidian eyes. She entered the college draped in a white salwar kameez. Her aura seemed to cast a spell on anyone and everyone. Even Abhay seemed to have fallen for this beautiful angel. He wanted to change himself for her, desired to make her a part of his yet so solitary life. He craved for spending more and more time with her. Time started rolling and the spark of love between Abhay and Priya started growing into a flare. Their closeness created a wedge between the friendship of Abhay and Shravani. Abhay still cared for their friendship but Shravani’s heart was jolted by a hurricane of emotions which were beyond her comprehension. Her friendship had taken the form of obsession and irrational craving. She held Priya responsible for stealing Abhay from her (as if he was her monopoly). Shravani did see the concern of Abhay for her but that seemed to not suffice her craving. There was a conflict between her irrational emotions and her valued friendship. Now the very same Abhay’s touch made her heart thud erratically. She had fallen in love with him and there was nothing she could do to deny it. Her love made her reason to let him have his happiness yet whenever she saw Abhay and Priya together her heart was overwhelmed with an unbearable ache. She had to do make a decision.
25 December; it was the prom night, the last day of the college. Abhay was still unaware of the feelings which Shravani had for him though Priya could sense the turmoil. She sympathized with Shravani and trusted her reasoning. But the vicious night had a plan of its own. The sight of Priya cuddled in the arms of her beloved aroused the flare of rage and envy in her. Seeing Abhay out of sight, overwhelmed by wrath, she started accusing Priya of having stolen her love from her. She referred her as a ‘perpetual parasite in their relationship’; a girl no more worth than a whore who enticed Abhay by her nasty yet alluring tactics. Priya could not contain such an insult in front of the huge gathering and she fled with tears streaming her eyes. On returning Abhay heard what had underwent in his absence. His jaws clenched tight and he went out to look for Shravani and make her repent for what she had done.
There she was standing still in her crimson gown contrasted by the sylvan surroundings and engrossing darkness. She shivered like a last leaf on the tree…
The only gift Shravani got from her futile love was nasty bruises smearing her face. Though she regretted insulting Priya in a fit of anger, she could not regret falling in love with Abhay. In the time being Priya too had come to stand besides Abhay in his most distressing moment of life. A distressing and piercing calm spread all over. The tranquil was disrupted by a gun shot. Pools of blood spilled over.
What could have happened in that iota of time? Who lost his life in the pangs of vicious, dark love? Could it be Priya who paid the price of having stolen Shravani’s most prized possession? Or would Shravani have killed Abhay so that if he couldn’t be hers, he could also not be someone else’s? Maybe Shravani thought of killing herself only to become insensitive to all the pain to lie in the womb of never lasting slumber and give her love the only thing she had- her life.
Can jealousy out rule a person’s rationalism to the extent of making him commit a murder? Or is it the ‘sublime love’ which reigns supreme?
I leave the answer to the readers to decide what that crucial moment might have brought with itself…
