She was scared, nervous and completely lost. She could hear her heart beat real hard and could feel it pounding against her ribs. She was on West 85th Street. As she entered Central Park and walked along the familiar track towards Turtle Pond she was glad that it was raining. She had forgotten her jacket at home. She had been forgetting a lot of things lately. For three weeks to be precise. Her mind was a complete mess. The jacket was just another thought lost in the myriad of emotions. As the cold October rain kissed her cheeks she knew it would drown any tears that may break through at any moment. Her eyes had betrayed her before. She knew they would do so again.
“At least today no one will know”, she thought to herself.
She remembered their last meeting. It had started so well and ended so disastrously. That was three weeks ago. These three weeks that followed had completely isolated her from the world. The three weeks had wreaked havoc in her life. They were not letting her live. It was an effortless act to place the blame on these passively passing hours rather than the way their meeting had turned. The blank and aimless days were to blame. The sleepless and long nights were to blame. That is where the problem lay she kept telling herself.
Three weeks ago they had met at their regular spot. In Central Park, next to Belvedere Castle on the edge of the Turtle Pond. They had met there regularly for months. Twice a week, thrice a week, sometimes even often. This is where she had fallen in love. This is where she had learned to live and her life had begun. But on that day something had gone wrong. She couldn’t figure it out. That evening the love of her life had said that things weren’t going well. That they can’t carry on any more. That this is the last time they would meet. She was shocked. Since then, every moment of every passing hour she had wondered what was it that went wrong. How could this have happened? That evening, those cold piercing statements had taken a few minutes to sink in. Before the full blow hit her, the two of them had already kissed one last time and left. It was after this moment that her heart cried through her eyes. But with every passing tear, her heart wept a few more. It kept getting heavier and heavier. Now, three weeks later, it was ready to burst.
She was a few meters away from Belvedere Castle. She had decided to go to Central Park and try and reason things out. She was in love and knew that she always would be. For her this was going to be a battle for life. Not just her life but their. In a society that had opposed every move she ever made, her love was her only support. They had fought together. For her, it was her girlfriend, Kia who was everything. And now she was loosing her. Not speaking to her for three weeks had already drained all the life out of her. With what was left, she was going to fight her last battle. She had not told Kia about this visit. Kia didn’t know she was coming. She knew Kia would be there at this time. Central Park had always comforted her and helped her relax. Today this coalition had broken. In fact, with every step she took, her heart was pounding harder and harder. She stopped in her tracks. The anxiety was getting too much to handle. She leaned over drawing support from a tree and took heavy breaths. A storm was brewing in her heart. Around the bend was the place where she expected to see Kia. This was the moment of reckoning. She had to get her life back in place. She started walking again.
Around the curve, the nervousness and anxiety was unbearable. She could feel her entire body throb with every fast paced heartbeat.
“What if Kia refuses to reconcile?”
She could feel her legs giving way. She soldiered on. She had to. It was a fear she had to face today. As she crossed the Castle her eyes searched for that familiar body. She was desperate for a glimpse of the girl she loved. A body she had owned in a sense till a few days back. The rain had stopped. The sky had cleared just a little bit. It was approaching sunset and light was fading.
Her job was made slightly easier by the fact that not many people were around at that time. Among those handful of people she saw the lovely Kia. As her heart leapt with joy and sank in apprehension at the same time, she got a faint smile on her face. Kia was sitting facing the pond. As she took a moment to relax herself before approaching, she saw a girl walk up to Kia. From a distance she saw Kia leap onto her feet and embrace the girl. She watched expressionless and motionless. The sight had pierced right through her fragile heart. Just stood and tried to understand what she was seeing. She could see Kia smile from where she stood. She could see Kia happy. A natural joy. An amplified version of the faint smile she got a few seconds back when she had seen Kia after three weeks. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself. For the first time her heart quietened.
As the Sun set on New York city and Kia and the girl locked their lips on the edge of Turtle Pond, she calmly and quietly turned around and walked off into the dark.
Nikhil Pawar
Next Nobel Laureate(in Literature)from our country is going to be Sir Nikhil Pawar ( I threw in the Knighthood for added flavour!!)
Hi Sir Nikhil Pawar!! I think the same thing that you Swati!! hehe … Well, I suppose you do not know who I am so I am presenting, my name is Ana, I am a friend of David that has been there with you very recently ..
I’ve been reading what you’ve written and I find it incredible love me! that smart! Also in your letter in “India wake up” to the Prime Minister.
when I read things like this I have a question: which is what I have done in my life?
I love your way to write, express yourself and your conscience of the world around us ..
I do not know if you continue in Delhi, but I would like to know you, I will go there the day on August 1 and later visit Calcutta where to turn the entire month of August if you want to make a visit …
I say goodbye with a big hug and if we do not know at the end, not change keeps writing I love continue reading ..
Thanks for the kind words Swati and Ana.
Was my first attempt at fiction writing. Hope to improve on this. Though the Nobel thingy is stretching it too far, I like the Knighthood
And Ana that post on India Wake up is not by me. Its written by some other Nikhil. So i can imagine where the confusion arose.
Its really nice to hear from you though. David had spoken of you. Hope to see u in India soon.
Unquetsionable effort For the Story !!
Still teh expressions portayed here are simple.. the freshness of such relationship is not highlighted. Its about female falliing for female we are talking about here.. And if the writer is penning from expressions of the rejected lover.. it should have been more intense, depth and gripping.. if we go by the nature of women.
would agree with you… when i read my own post the first time I realized that I may not have captured the intensity of emotion a girl would go through. Had considered shifting the characters from three girls to three boys but then went ahead anyways.
But gunjan… its an “overall nice attempt”
Nikhil, I don’t have any idea how the girls feel, but I surely know how I feel when I read, and for a moment I saw myself in New York, walking trough Central Park and even smelling the hot dogs, thank you. You don’t know how much I would like to have at least, half of your talent to write, and more know while I’m struggling to write down my thesis.
I cannot say more that Congrats for the short story. I’m looking forward to read more of them. For when the book??
By the way, for when the report of the eclipse?? In Armagh was seen and unseen. The clouds just allow us to enjoy it for a couple of minutes.
a book!! i so wish! but i’m a long way away from it yet.
can lend u a hand with ur thesis though
Hmmm.. Wat u analysed i.e making it a male triangle was far more Nice Attempt. So good going may be u shud take tips from me to sink into females mindset someday..