Bathed in the light of the sun, the moon was shining brightly behind me, lighting my path towards the moment of my life. Nothing felt more supportive to me in the world. As I hurried through the streets, behind the few small wooden shops that led to the center of our small town, my heart started racing like a tired bird trying to escape its nest. I have been running around throughout the day preparing everything. "Tonight it is," I said to my best friend, Thomas, regarding my plans earlier that day. I could see the disbelief and worry in his eyes. He is all that I will have left in this wretched town after tonight.
The night was becoming denser, "Just a little more," I thought to myself, gathering up the last bit of strength I had inside of me. When I reached the town center, I could make out a fragile silhouette in a distance, holding a dim lantern, as I approached the dry fountain in the middle. I stopped in front of her, gasping for breath with hands on my knees. "You are here!" I whispered to myself with a sigh of relief and gratitude. As I reached for an embrace, it filled my heart with fright when my hands found hers trembling. I saw pure terror when I looked at those ocean eyes. "What's wrong, Sophia?!" I asked. My question only seemed to flood her eyes with more tears. "Arthur-" she struggled as she spoke sobbing in between, "Someone told my father about us leaving tonight! He locked me up in my room, and- and I had to escape through the window," she blurted out, finally letting go off the flood of emotions locked up inside, crying like the innocent soul she was. I felt miserable. There could be no one else who knew about this. Never did I imagine that the taste of betrayal would be so bitter.
Coming back to my senses from the shock, I realized that we must escape while we still had the chance. "Sophia, it's going to be alright! We should go now, let's hurry." I said. She raised her head and nodded to me as her teary-eyes followed something behind me. "Arthur-!" she screamed clutching onto my sleeves. I heard the sound of a few brisk strides and as I turned, I saw her father! "BANG!" A single gunshot echoed deafeningly as I felt a soaring pain piercing through my chest. A numb coolness started spreading across my body. I heard time never stops, but at that moment I could tell it was a lie.
I could feel her head against mine as she kept calling my name. The lovely musk fragrance was still coming from her like always, and somehow it caressed my soul off all the exhaustion and fatigue. I could hear her gentle soul crying and sobbing. And after a long few seconds, darkness started consuming me completely. As I looked at her for the last time, flashes from the very first afternoon we spent together started pouring in.
The two of us basking in the afternoon sun with our shy fingers intertwined. Her smile, her touch, the beautiful humming of her voice. The birds chirping above us as we are laying on the grass. The sky with a majestic golden hue. We promised each other 'forever'.
...A promise it remained only.
Wordsmith: Tazoar Ahsan
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