THE LOST TREASURE

The midnight oil had burnt entirely,the moon had eloped that night and the stars were busy playing hide and seek.Her eyes were bland,dry and dark,her face white in sharp contrast with the deep blackness of the sky.She had been looking out of the window,gazing past the emptiness over an hour now.The wind moved stealthily making ghostly whispers,the doors creaked,the tap in the kitchen sink leaked.There were no sounds except these uninvited disruptions,the day had been gloomy too,she wondered how many hours and days had passed since that disaster happened but she couldn't recall,then suddenly as though the skies couldn't suppress their agony any longer it started pouring.She went outside ,stood in the middle of the silent infinity and lifted her eyes up, not in search of any answers but looking for the heart of the sky which like hers seemed to be hurt.                                                            

The next morning the wind had become chilly,those purplish blue eyes awoke with a sudden startlement, just a second ago she was on the verge of discovering her lost treasure but that seemed years ago now.

She got dressed up in a morbid white, her black tresses covered up her pale face.The road outside was empty and wet from the night before’s sudden outcry.

She started walking hastily,she was disturbed.Why had all this happened to her? And what did the dream mean?

She couldn’t decipher. . .

Beth ! Beth! Hold on, young lady! Exclaimed a voice hurrying to catch up to her. .

She turned around,her Moorish eyes looking for the voice she had thought she had dreamt off.

But it wasn’t a dream.He was there ,those brown eyes that had haunted her for so long,there they were,right before her.

She stood in utter bewilderment,froze to the spot.He smiled at her, drinking her pale beauty from his eyes, but something  was wrong,he could sense it.

“Why Beth? Is everything alright?”,said Lee.She parted her lips to say something but choked.Then summoned up the courage and said,”How’s Anne?”

“As she’d always been. . . pretty.vivacious,mystical but not mine.”replied Lee.

“What are you saying lee,the last I saw you,you were madly in love with her”squeaked Beth.

“Yes, my dear, I still am madly in love with her, but the irony of life is sometimes the person you love with all your heart doesn’t always reciprocate the same and I guess I forgot to tell you,she never loved me.

But the wind speaks to me of some other heartache.What happened Beth,why do your sparkling eyes give away your hearts dullness?"

He looked at her earnestly and it was then the sun gleamed out of the clouds.She blinked her eyes and he lost his heart at those ebony lashes kissing the pale white skin.Would she ever know that his Anne had been no one else but her all this time? Even if she didn’t he couldn’t help it,he had loved her since forever and not even forever could  now take that  love away.

“Lee” , she said, “Chris left me”, and then her dried eyes wept after so long, like a lifeless soul lives again,like a chained bird soaring up in the heavens again, her locked emotions burst out.

    He embraced her,holding onto her tightly.They were silent except for the sobbing which came up every once in a while but she felt a great sense of comfort after a long time.

After a long silent walk they sat down facing the lake.The lake that submerged in its waves so many memories.The memories of the times gone by, they sat on their favourite rock, overlooking the blueness of the water and redness of the setting sun.The wind blew with great vigor.

“Look at the sun,Beth.It feels as if if it has lost all its fire and now just smoulders slowly, the skies above sparkle with its redness, the clouds flying away scared of burning and look  at these winged beauties flying towards the placid sun, they soar through the clouds unafraid, they sing to the melody of the wind.The very thing that scares the clouds away,fills these birds with a greater euphoria and the thing to be noticed is they never get burnt by the sun’s heat, do they Beth?

She jerked her head in negation.

So Beth be like those birds, don’t get scared by the glare of the sun, face it, feel it and you never know the very thing that seemingly burns you might have the power to heal you.The very thing that may seem ugly and painful might become beautiful and joyous like the setting sun.Such is the power of love,Beth,it can make or break you,only if you let it!

She looked at him, where was he when she had needed her best friend the most?

It didn’t matter, now the pain seemed to have vanished away to a distant land.

“Lee, yesterday seems so far away, now life seems beautiful again. Oh dear! How much I’ve missed you, dear Lee! How alone I felt, look at the skies above, the clouds are gleaming like the smouldering embers.” She looked up and closed her eyes.

    “I’ve missed you too Beth!”, sighed Lee,both of them thinking thoughts alien to each other looked at the mystical sky.

Oh ! Beth, if I could only tell you my heart,I went away for I felt you had found your soul mate.If I had only been there, I would’ve never let your eyes loose their sparkle.Can’t you hear Beth, the longing of my heart.My lips are sealed but can’t you feel my love for you on the wind, for I’ve opened my heart to it and it whispered in my ears yesterday night that you needed me.

“Beth”, he called out.She opened her eyes,she had had that dream again.

“Lee, I’ve had the same dream since a very long time,I had it just now Lee, in my dream I walk up to this lake and keep walking in the caressing waves of this water till I’m submerged in it and then I hear a voice, that voice is a strange unearthly voice that says my lost treasure is hidden in the depths of the lake, I plunge deep in it and on the bed of the lake I see an ancient chest but just as I’m about to open that chest, I run out of breath and I open my eyes again.

   Today, Lee, I opened the chest and saw a big, magnificent diamond  lying in it. I held it in my hand and looked at it spell bounded and guess what, I saw something in it!

“What did you see Beth?” , asked Lee,not knowing what was coming.

“I saw a pair of deep brown eyes looking at me and at that moment I knew I had found my lost treasure.It was you Lee!.

Her words seemed to ring like a magical melody in his ears.So the wind had crept up to her the nights before,the lake had known of his soul.He gazed into her blue Moorish eyes , smiled and said, “I love you  dear Beth! I’ve always loved you,you were my Anne,you were my world Beth,I’ve waited for you all my life and I’m ready to wait till I breathe my last breath.I promise to be by your side through the white nights and the dark days, through all the love and all the hate.I’ve been many moons apart from you but I could always sense your soul.Don’t ask me why I never broke my silence, I’ve waited for you to see.The soul of the world spoke to you and am glad it did so , now.

She had tears in her eyes.He wiped them off and held her in his arms.Their lips met and a sudden warmness swept over her, he kissed her and all the love kept inside him came out like a rush of water which he couldn’t control.The wind, the sun, the clouds , the sea , all seemed to have gained one single identity.There was no Earth,no space, there was no time, just two souls being one.

When they parted, the world seemed to have been swept by their love too, the stars shone brightly and when those blue and brown eyes met once again, they created a fire that burnt in their hearts forever and warmed the soul within.

She had finally found her LOST TREASURE.

painted by-pramati

   -PRAMATI