»
Main Forums
»
Passions in Prose
»
A Rainbow Vanished!
| Passions in Prose |
|
A Rainbow Vanished! |
|
|
Sudhir Iyer Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943Mumbai, India : now in Belgium 
|
A throbbing pain in his head, a pain that could even psyche out the demons from their lair, hurt his already demented grey matter. Yes. The pain was what brought him to consciousness. Back to reality, to the extreme pain racking every limb of his body, hanging like wasted appendages. Back to darkness around him, to a realisation that he lay at the bottom of a ravine. Thoughts followed each other in his hurting head. They pointed out as clearly as an antonym to the darkness around, that he had ended up there in the first place because he did not see the sharp turn on the mountainous road and had hurtled down over the edge with his car. They showed him the divinity of his charmed life that he was still living in body and in soul and had somehow by same fluke, an improbable chance of providence, escaped burning in the scorching raging fire that ensued the leaking from the gas tank of his damaged car. "God, I must be lucky", he thought. He heaved a huge sigh of relief. Moments of peace settled in his mind. The act of survival calms many a troubled and unsettled mind. Suddenly, the pain returned more furiously than ever. The ferocious return brought him to another realisation - a realisation that he wasn’t yet there, where he wanted to be; near his love, his one and only love. His dearest, for whom he was running beyond control, like a wild horse let off his stable, unshackled, unbound, free to rush across to the greens, to wherever he wanted to. A realisation that dawned upon him that he was to rushing to stop her from leaving him. That final realisation brought him to his senses. Arm broken, skin torn like a sheet of paper from an old, tattered book hanging out and about to fall, and protruding bones almost dangling from his body. He was bleeding profusely. Severely wounded, anybody would have given him up for dead but the strength of his love pushed him. He pulled himself up, and dragged himself back onto the edge of the highway. He did not even see any rock that still hurt his knee. Neither did he realise the bleeding shoulder that was leaving a scarlet mark of blood like a trail of a victim being drawn by a man-eater in the darkest of woods. He was the prey and the event of meeting his beloved was the lion. All he saw was the vision of the woman he loved so much, and the woman he stood to lose forever - if he wasn’t on time. He had a deal and he had to fulfil his part of that deal. He began to move with renewed vigour. A long time later, he lifted himself onto the road. He was crying - thinking about how much he loved her - and that she was going to leave him now. He had to get back to her. He began to crawl forward, his arms reaching out for his love with every stretch he made. The bloodstains he left glistened in the moonlight, as it reflected off the road. With absolutely no sense of time and place, he stumbled on forward. Graceless like a worm squirming in agony yet fighting by the nature of the beast within him, inch by inch, one at a time, he crawled. ~~~ And somewhere far away, the woman he was returning to was waiting for him. She was giving him a last chance. She had accepted a lot of stick from him. All the vagrant days of staying away from home, travelling from city to city, from one watering hole to another. Coming home like a visitor, a tourist on a sightseeing tour. A night was all he would spare from his job, a thousand miles away, in a month covering thirty days and as many nights! Yet she had stayed on - because she loved him dearly. Often he had promised that the next time he returned, he would find a job closer to home, in the same town, and be with her all the time, raise a family. To family - that was his promise when he had called a week back. Children - that very thought gave her heart a serene peace, the hope in her soul flickered well and she couldn't help but start day dreaming about the joy she could share with the prince of her life. Blooming flowers in the garden, her children whose happy sounds would flood the empty wells of her four-walled prison shaped closet that was labelled a flat. Yes, this cemented block would become a home. Warmth of love would provide heat in the coldest of winter and its breeze would soothe the summer's flames. Thoughts, they seemed to fly off merrily in all directions. Yet, he wasn't there at the appointed hour .She was getting restless again. Finally, she decided that now she could not take anymore from him. But the love for him and the dream of children made her cling on to a hope that he would come soon. "One more hour - I’ll give him one more hour." The final hour, it was going to be! ~~~ Occasionally, a vehicle would rush past him on the road, and a weakening curse would follow the whirr of the fading motor distancing itself from the bruised body. It was a long time before some kindly soul stopped by the wounded man and picked him up, put him in the back seat of his car. He had to stop himself and show ample self-control to keep himself from throwing up. He had never seen so much blood in his entire life. "The man is definitely dying. He needs a doctor fast and he needs a whole lot of blood", were the thoughts on the Good Samaritan's mind. Still unaware of the location or the time, the wounded man stared unwittingly full of hope in a perpetual daze. All he saw was the road, an open ground, the moon and dark moonlight-bordered silhouettes. He felt himself to be running - running to reach her silhouetted figure in the faraway distance, to fall in her loving arms thanking her to have given him the one last chance. Little did he realise that he was in the back seat of a car, being driven to the nearest place where he could receive help and medical attention! He never realised that. He never could have for he was already in a daze caused by the loss of tremendous blood. All he could see saw was the road - and he was running and the figure was getting farther away from him. He couldn't understand why. "Please wait for me, please do", he started to cry. ~~~ The final hour was up. She got up, picked herself up from the seat at the petrol station where he had promised to meet her. Tears swelled in her eyes, and dejected streams of rushing tears flowed from the source where they had been trapped by the dam of hope. Hope shattered, the dam had now burst as she wept uncontrollably. She left no note. There were no words to say. He wasn’t going to come back. She left. ~~~ The wounded man was in her arms now. He was staring up at her face - her beautiful face - the face of the woman he loved. She was holding his bruised hand, his head - and he gripped her arm even tightly. “She had waited!” he thought with relief. “She had waited and he had reached her. It was all over. They were together again. All his troubles were worth that moment of happiness. The pleasure of the knowledge was beyond him. He began to cry tears of happiness” She wiped the tears and said something to him. What was it? He couldn’t make out. Probably she was saying, she had forgiven him and that they would stay together forever. Forever, what a word! He thanked God for delivering him in time to his love. He flashed a brilliant smile with eyes gleaming, full of glee. ~~~ It took a long time for the nurse to free the dead man’s grip on her wrist. As she was rolling up the covers over his face, she saw the smile on the dead man’s face still present and the last few tears rolling down slowly over his dead cheeks. His dead eyes stared at her. She quickly closed the eyelids. The smile stayed frozen on the face, the smile of sheer unabashed joy - the delight of a young boy seeking a glimpse of the ethereal beauty of a rainbow. A smile thinking about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Unnerved, she pulled the covers over his face. “One crazy lunatic, dying with a stream of tears, a thousand-watt smile and an intriguing glare”, she thought to herself. ~~~ Another rainbow had disappeared. The tears like rain had dried up and the clouds had left, the sunshine remained like the smile. ~~~ [This message has been edited by Sudhir Iyer (edited 08-18-2000).] |
||
| © Copyright 2000 Sudhir Iyer - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Whoa....this one sure did take me on a wild ride. I kept thinking, 'well, is he gonna somehow meet her or not?' Heh, the ending clearly hollered 'NOT!' Wonderfully written short story, Sudhir. Alicat |
||
|
Dusk Treader
Moderator
Senior Member
since 1999-06-18
Posts 1187St. Paul, MN |
This was a wonderfully written tale Sudhir, great metaphors and imagery that carried me away with your story. Liked that last line much too.. Enjoyed this one much! Abrahm Simons "Keep on dreamin' boy 'cause when you stop dreaming it's time to die" - Blind Melon |
||
|
sweetcollege_girl Senior Member
since 1999-12-03
Posts 872just about where I want to be |
DITTO!!!!!  Great story, Sudhir!  "For every beauty, there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth, there is an ear somewhere to hear it For every love, there is a heart some |
||
|
StarrGazer Senior Member
since 2000-03-05
Posts 679Texas |
Sudihr, this was great, intense ...could really feel the tension in the story ... Nice job Shan |
||
|
Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
I have to admit, you got me with the very last line. Placing in library... [can you tell, words fail me now?] Karilea When you want to be loved, look within...KRJ |
||
|
Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
He was the prey and the event of meeting his beloved was the lion. That's AWESOME! Wow Sudhir.. dedication. This was heart-breaking, while at the same time heartening. To read of such an intense devotion, only to see it rendered incomplete... Sigh. I too loved the last line, though the one above was my fave part. Chris |
||
|
Paula Finn Member Ascendant
since 2000-06-17
Posts 5546missouri |
What a wonderful read...sad so sad...yet he was with her in the end wasnt he? |
||
|
Dawn Eclipse Senior Member
since 2000-01-31
Posts 637The Horsehead Nebula |
Wow! This one kept me on my toes, thinking aobut what could happen next. Great story! I enjoyed it. "Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other course, no other way... No day but today" ~Broadway Musical RENT~ *Cassandra Roseen* |
||
|
Sudhir Iyer Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943Mumbai, India : now in Belgium |
Thank you all ever so very much... from all my heart... I am glad that you enjoyed reading this as much as I did inventing the story...  regards, sudhir |
||
Marge Tindal 
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
Sudhir~ What an immensely intense story. Kept me guessing ... and hoping. I am the heart that likes happy endings and cries at sad ones. 'He was the prey and the event of meeting his beloved was the lion.' What a conceptual vision. Love ya'~ ~*Marge*~ ~*The pen of the poet never runs out of ink, as long as we breathe.*~ noles1@totcon.com |
||
|
Rosebud1229 Senior Member
since 2000-04-05
Posts 1813North Carolina |
very well written, and so sad to start with I though they were both in car accident and he was trying to save her. Very Ironic to the fact. It seemed like he was finally going to go home for good, but I AM happy that he thought he made it home to his wife. |
||
|
Sudhir Iyer Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943Mumbai, India : now in Belgium |
Thank you Marge for your wonderful response... Life is not so happy for most people, though stories with happy endings leaves the readers with a smile and that results in the writer providing the reader a "spot in the sun" so to say... and so I understand that many like happy endings... that's also maybe why perhaps there are heroes and super heroes...  Rosebud, thank you very much for reading and taking the time to respond... regards to all, Sudhir |
||
|
LoveBug
Moderator
Member Elite
since 2000-01-08
Posts 4697 |
Wow... my friend, you are a great storyteller. You had me from beginning to end. I especally love the ending: "Another rainbow had disappeared. The tears like rain had dried up and the clouds had left, the sunshine remained like the smile." Beautiful... just beautiful. "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -Oscar Wilde "The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief" -Shakespea |
||
|
Sudhir Iyer Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943Mumbai, India : now in Belgium |
Oh Lovebug, such nice words... you have given my heart a raise... thank you so much... regards, sudhir |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
