Preeto ff-woh saat din-Last part-completed - Page 8

Halfway across the evening, biji noticed the sky going from dark gray to almost black and a loud thunder snap made her cry out in panic, "preeto puttar, dekh zara kahi parde upar to nahi reh gaye." There was just a single curtain left, but she wanted to be alone with her thoughts for a little while and the roof was currently the most peaceful place in the house. The storm clouds stood waiting in the distance. As she breathed in the night air, a familiar corner of the terrace beckoned her. It was the place where, in another full moon night, she had faked a fall in his arms and later broken her fast. The fog blurred every detail with its ragged veils, punctured only by the faint glow of light escaping from distant illuminated windows. But she didn't need her eyes to see him. Her mind told her, now was the time to be nervous and worried about facing him, but her heart was falling into an old habit of feeling safe around him. Trapped in the conflict, preeto closed her eyes and gathered herself.

There's always a period of curious fear between the first sweet-smelling breeze and the time when the rain comes cracking down. She waited for Rajbeer to speak but the silence crawled on."There is someone else with whom you should be now."Her voice sounded feeble even to her. "I need you to do me a favour." As his silhouette started moving towards her, her thoughts started running completely haywire. The sky was now suddenly ominous, as if some great disaster was going to occur any moment. He stopped a foot away, his misty breath visible to her. "Do you know how hard this is?" The clouds rolled away from the moon for a moment and his eyes looked up at it giving her a moment of relief. "Whenever I see the crystal moon disappearing in the darkness ...or the dried leaves falling off in autumn". His eyes found her face again. Their shimmering in the fading light of the evening totally hypnotising her. "The ash burned black by a flaming fire"...Rajbeer moved closer and Preeto felt the ground go unsteady under her feet. "Or the tracks left behind in the wake of a sudden tear drop".... she couldn't hold her ground anymore and started walking backwards. "Why does everything... d lights...d aroma...d din...carry me to you?"....a sudden thunder in the distance and Preeto lost her footing. A typical moment, an atypical couple...as Rajbeer slipped his hands under her waist and her petite form came to rest in his hands. She took a moment to open her eyes, but he had already fallen deep into them.

The bitter wind caressed their faces, just lightly whispering through her hair but unable to move through the intense gaze they had on each other. She felt his hand on her bare waist. She became lightheaded and her brain was fuzzy but she couldn't look away from his eyes. Something flashed in his eyes and he continued. "I feel as if everything that exists around me is tied down to you...slowly & invariably tugging my heart to wherever you are." She couldn't think; she knew she should move away but her body refused to respond, it wanted to stay right there, in his arms. He narrowed his eyes and leaned a little closer. "If little by little, you stop loving me" he pulled her sharply against him and his lips brushed her forehead as he pierced into her eyes. "I can also stop loving you." her breath got caught in a stitch as she tried to make sense of the words hurtled onto her. "Of course you can make it easier for us both." Preeto's brain tried to regain control, a difficult task under the heat of his eyes and inside the circle of his arms. "By forgetting me all at once, and then..." She felt his hand move to her back and she shivered from his touch... "There will be no need to look for me".... he moved his hand upto her neck slowly and in a sudden movement gripped her hair. "For I shall already have forgotten you."

The white curtain had been billowing in the winds waiting, but finally the howling winds picked it up and it flowed through the sky, onto them covering them completely. The isolation from the rest of the world made Rajbeer forget why he was there. He reached up to touch her cheeks. His fingers caressed her skin and her eyes drew close as she turned her face into his hand. "Only when you decide to leave my heart once and for all, only on that day, and at that hour, I can finally be free from you."

As his words seeped in slowly, the rain finally began as a slight drizzle. Preeto struggled and they slowly got up. Rajbeer clenched away the curtain from above their heads and the heavy, big drops drenched them in seconds, like an overturned bucket from the sky. Her open hair was wet and fell onto her face, down her neck, and spread across on her shoulders. The rain dripping off his hair did little to shift his gaze, and she yet again found herself in his eyes. Neither of them had said much and yet all she could hear over the rain was the sound of them both trying to catch their breath. He moved some of the wet strands out of her face and then left his fingers in her hair. "But if No matter how far I go...no matter how distant we are".... his eyes burned into hers, they dazed her and made her tremble... "you still feel that you are destined for me." His whisper blew a soft breath across her shoulder, making a delicious shudder go down her spine, and instantly she closed her eyes, shut. As she reopened them again, she found his face was close enough to make out the droplets sticking to his eyelashes...too fearful to fall off and break his stare. She unconsciously held her hands up against him and immediately felt his thudding heartbeat under her hands. "If every night of yours is filled with visions of our faded memories..." He leaned his face closer and rested his forehead on hers. "In me all that fire is reignited, Preeto". She felt his hands tighten in her hair and on her shoulder and felt his ragged breath on her cheek. "In me nothing is extinguished or forgotten". He closed his eyes again as he breathed in the scent of her hair and tried to focus as he whispered into her ear. "My love feeds on your love". His breath caressed her cheek, feeling the coldness of the rain replaced by another, burning sensation. "And as long as you keep living in its embrace ...it will continue to seek harbour in me." he whispered into her ears, but his words sucked the blood out of her heart...and the light out of her soul.

The rain Still continued its hammering on her -- dark as her world...black as her loss...& blind...as the light that had died in her. The silence was eerie as they warily watched each other. The only noise now was the rain, pattering softly with the magnificent indifference of nature for the tangled passions of humans. Rajbeer finally lifted his head and Preeto blinked away the rain as she looked up at him, feeling lost. The rain breathed its last and fell like the blood from her starved heart's wounds. Her self-murdered heart was finally dying of the wounds of the sad uncomprehending dark. Its last faint spark being dowsed in the downpour. She realised suddenly, that it had stopped raining. Rajbeer's eyes hardened and she swallowed as her throat went dry. He tightened his jaw, and she waited for something which never really came. He had nothing more to say. He untangled himself from her and as his fingers traced her wet cheeks, her eyes closed on his touch and a drop made its way out of its hidden corner. He took a step away from her trying not to let the lost look in her eyes affect him. As he backed slowly, she trembled and remained where she was. He moved across the terrace and turned to look at her once, just for an eyeblink.

As he reached the end of the staircase, he looked down at his hands. They still bore the freshness of her soft skin and the smell of her hair."No Rajbeer, No." He tried to pull together the composure that had deserted him the moment they were close. He had somehow prevented himself from going over the edge completely. But what could he do? When it came to her, he just couldn't think clearly, no reason, no logic, it was all just..."Madness...this is madness Rajbeer." He stopped his thoughts there and then. He knew it would haunt him later but for now there was work to be done. He took in a deep breath, trying to clear his mind but everything seemed to smell like her. He ignored the voice in his head screaming at him as he walked away attempting to put in the maximum distance between them.

The road soaked with rain, glittered under the street-lamps. The silence around her clamming her senses. The darkness suddenly stood up like a brick wall. Silence and darkness together...were frightening. There was nothing for her to find outside and nothing left inside. Just blank. just empty...

Mere Qareeb Nahi Mujhse Juda bhi Nahi,

Ye Raaz Magar Un Par khula bhi nahi

Suna Hai Un Ko Pasand Hai Khamoshi hamari,

Isi Khayal Se Hum Ne Kuch Kaha he nahi