||SINGING ME HOME||
The huge banners stood in all their glory against the starlit sky. The ground was packed with a mad rush of the crowd who swayed their bodies to the beats of the drums. It was the largest music festival of the country and all the renowned singers of the nation were present. The band took on the centre stage and the sounds of metal filled the surroundings. She still had a long wait to pass; hers was the last performance of the night.
"It would be like a dream come true. Can you imagine the attention the people will shower on me when they come to know that my wife is one of the most famous rock-star of the country?"
" Goodness. You blabber like a baboon. Can't you ever shut up?"
"I. Love. You."
She tried to shut the noises in her head as she advanced into the hall. More than half the seats were still empty and the musicians were still busy tuning their chords. Her sister waved at her from the distance, her face bright with a smile. She waved back, her thoughts betraying her actions. It was hard for her to believe that time could do such wonders to people. The one who had once tried to kill her stopped at nothing today to bring a smile to her face and the one who had been her savior...
It hurt her to even think of him. His sparkling gaze always gleaming with mischief, his messy disheveled hair, his deep voice waking her up from her slumber and more than anything, it was his love for her. It was his love for her which had turned him into a killer, her killer. She would never tell anyone but it was him who killed her every day.
The hall was almost filled by now. Most of the people had taken their places and yet a few huddled together in groups to find a spot of their choice. The lights started dancing on the stage marking the little time for the show to begin. Her visions blurred away as the past began to take control of the future.
"It was my life she threatened," she shouted, "And I am within my rights to forgive her."
"No", he said, and for the first time in the evening, she was truly frightened, "No. It was mine."
Forgiveness had always been her strongest virtue. She had forgiven her father for abandoning her as a child, she had forgiven her first love for leaving her standing alone at the altar, she had forgiven her family for disowning her when she had needed them the most and today, for one last time, she had forgiven her sister for plunging the knife into her. It was by sheer miracle she had lived and she refused to believe people when they called it a merciful act of the Almighty. If this is what they called mercy, she was sure that she didn't want it.
She stood at the centre of the stage and bowed at the people in front of her. The media called it a weird gesture for a western singer but that's what she always had been, a perfect blend of tradition and modernity. Her family had always been her first priority and it was this family of hers she had lost her love to.
She started her first song and the hall fell into a soulful silence. Music flowed from her like it was composed from pieces of her own soul. And in a certain way, it was.
"Why are you marrying him?"
"It's the best for everyone."
"For you? For us?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does, to me."
And then his face had appeared. He was the victim in the game and it was a rule that no one ever blamed the victim. Her first lover and her sister's present husband, he was a constant reminder of the travesty she had committed. She had refused to believe the one she had truly loved. She had placed her doubt in him and in the haze of the same doubt, she had agreed to marry the player for the sake of her sister and where had it brought her but to crossroads of misery and pain.
"He is blackmailing you. You don't have to do this."
"You are no one to judge. She is my sister."
"Just so that sister of yours doesn't end up in jail, you are ruining your life! A bitch..."
She had been shocked at the use of his words. She had been shocked at the hatred he harboured in his heart for her killer. Above all, she was shocked at how her love which was meant to heal him was pushing him towards his own personal hell.
"Leave! Right now! And don't come back ever."
And so he had; left. Not a single backward glance had been cast her way, nor had an explanation been demanded. No sooner had the words escaped her lips, he had turned and left leaving nothing but an all-engulfing vacuum in his wake. Had he not known that all she had ever wanted was for him to hold her tight and never leave? Had he not realized that it was he who her heart craved no matter what everyone else tried to claim? Had he not heard the truth behind the excuses she everyday blurted out just for him to sweep in and take her away? Had he not understood that it had always been him, him and no one else?
As her first song came to a close, the hall erupted with the loud claps and whispers. It was her cue to begin. One song flowed after another as she felt her pain slowly drain away and a quite bliss settling over her.
She hadn't married the victim in the end for she knew he would never be her other half. But the one who could have been her other half had refused to forgive her; not for what she had done to him but for what she had done to herself. That had been his punishment for her ignorance. He had left her with a wanting which no one could ever fulfill.
Till the end, he had promised her his love and she knew every word he had uttered had been true. She remembered his soft lips melting into hers and his last murmur of a goodbye. She had seen him walk away from her and it was then she had known that even if she spent her whole life searching, she still wouldn't be able to answer where exactly had they gone wrong.
The melody for the night had ended. She stood still as the lights flooded all around her and people rustled to their feet to give the renowned singer her due. For a moment, she caught a glimpse of him in the darkest wings of the hall. She strained her eyes but it was only darkness that met her eyes. She stood alone in the hall full of people who clapped and cheered for her. Closing her eyes as always, she could see the tiny house in the woods, the white picket fence with the purple flowers peeking in and him, his fingers tightly laced in hers as they stared into the horizon at the setting sun. Forcing a smile on her lips, she wished for him to sing her back home.
*************************************************************************************
In the shadows he stood, his face beaming with pride. He appeared a happy man and it was only when one looked deep enough that he could sense the loneliness and pain behind the masked eyes. Not one person present there knew his name, nor did anyone know where he had come from but to the most observant of the crowd, he was a face as regular as the singer herself. Like the two halves of a whole they performed; his pain lacing her voice, his absence being the void of her echo. He had loved her once and he still did but where it had once been a soothing balm, today it was nothing less than a turbulent storm. He felt her look in his direction, her piercing gaze trying hard to fathom the darkness in which he stood. His dead heart skipped a beat and then as silent as a fading memory, he retreated back into his shadows and disappeared.
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