The Ruined Rainbow

CHAPTER 81

Sahil

The morning stillness is evident, prominent yet ominous. The menacing silence seemed to provoke the imprisoned heart to thud; the inanimate onlookers pondered thoughtfully. The proprietor of the wretched soul sat in utter doubt and disbelief, his eyes wide open but not registering anything afore him. His eyes continually showed him the dream of his life despite her leaving the room long ago.

After the abrupt, improvisational and gut-wrenching embrace, I wanted nothing more for it to continue. That seemed to catch the teeniest shade of life in my corpse.

When she initiated the kiss in the spur of the moment, I froze in stupefaction and shock. For that bizarre instant, I was conscious only of the simmering and the most pristine touch of her lips on mine. It astonished me how well I recognised this touch and how much I craved it. My insides had suddenly coiled into an intangible yarn, tight and clenching.

Then the kaleidoscope of emotions I had stood combating against since her arrival...the glimmer of happiness...the anger...the intractable pain...the rage...the resentment...the inexplicable sadness...the weird loathing...the rebellious cravings...the forbidden pleasure...the furore of them, magically quelled inside, and the prominent urge and desire that spontaneously took birth inside me...was to savour the moment...to live in this magical, improbable and esoteric moment...

Bravely grabbing the weest hue of life, I deepened the kiss, holding her cheeks, unconsciously desiring to bring her as close as possible, trying to drift into this seemingly beautiful dream, powerfully dazed. And with a somersault of my heart, I delightfully could hear the chaotic pounding of her heart...her heart was racing insanely as mine was, I had thought with an air of contentment.

And when she had stopped, I had precisely known why.

Though heavily disoriented, disgust and burning rage had spiralled into my mind, and I felt utterly stupid and mocked. With smouldering eyes, I had blankly registered Ayesha's apology and her running away, and the front door mildly clasped shut.

I sat in complete stillness, taking in the events that transpired a few minutes ago into my mind, and a searing disgust directed at myself caused chaotic pain. I quietly took it in, doing nothing to ease it. It seemed more natural this way.

An eternity later, I stood up, utterly sapped for energy. Limping to the windows, I separate the curtains ferociously. I noticed how the quiet seemed to dwell for ages. I realised the rain had stopped long ago.

The Sun was ascending at that moment.

It was that climacteric when the Night collapsed tiredly into the day's arms...That instant when the Moon was bidding his farewell for the day to the Sun...That moment when the stars were wrapping themselves with the cloak of Morning...

And through the glass window, I caught my reflection.

But strangely, it wasn't me.

Standing afore was a shadow of a stranger who looked identical to me...his lips were stinging red but weirdly curved upwards...there was a peculiar sheen on his face...and an unfathomable brilliance in his eyes...

I come forward, unable to believe it until I am just an inch away from the glass.

I extend my hand in wonder as if to touch him...to feel him...

My fingers come in contact with the ice-cold glass, and then he is gone. Now, all I can see is the reflection of my pathetic self.

My fingers curl up in despair, feeling the chillness of the glass spread to the fingers in my palm...Needful for fresh air, I open one of the