Woods.

I had heard them say that woods keep secrets. I didn’t believe in it just like I didn’t believe in magic before I met her. 

We are all ought to take a journey to woods in our lives; the paths where we meet a companion, whisper our darkest secrets to them with a faith that one day, the woods will burn in a fire taking away our scariest faces.
“I am grateful that our paths met.”

I said in a low tone. 

She smiled. 
The twilight had casted a spell on the air between us. The sky was full of bright stars but no moon. I witnessed two auroras beautifying my world; one that crawled across the dawn sky and the other one that dwelled in her brown eyes. Though, never in my life did I find a match to the latter one. 

We walked across the dark woods and mumbled our secrets to each other. 

We walked, sharing fractions of our lives and whispering vows in the dark until the path divided into two. 
“My journey with this world ends here.”

She said in a firm voice. Her face calm and glowing. 
“Where is your destiny?”

I asked. My voice trembled with fear.
“I have yet to cross one final path.”

She said.
“What is it?”

I asked. My body Sweating but strangely I was no more afraid.
“The path that leads to Him. The one shown by light.”

She pointed towards the rising Sun. 

The horizon had now come out of the blanket of twilight. 
“Promise me you’ll meet me there?”

I asked for a last vow. A tear rolled down my eye.
“I promise.”

She smiled and crossed the boundary, separating herself from my world. 
She was gone never to return; leaving me lost in the darkness of my woods despite of the Sunshine that lightened up the rest of the world. 

Sometimes, a path is meant to be crossed by us but, not belonged to us forever. 

Midnight Breeze.

“What’s with you and this midnight breeze? You always seem so consumed and electric on its touch.”I asked out of my curiousity. 
Every night she would sit by the barricaded window, turn her face to the narrow patch of sky and tremble on the chilly strokes of wind. It was the only time of the day I could see her peaceful and full of life, just like the other lively girls. 
I had always loved they way her hair slipped away and then back to her milky cheeks on receiving gentle tugs of the cool wind. 
She closed her eyes.

‘It feels like him.’ 

She replied taking a heart-full of fresh air inside her while a smile danced on her dried out lips. 
“What it takes to be happy..?”

I opened my mouth to utter her name but couldn’t. I sighed. 
“Murder.”

A plain reply left her mouth.
“Murder of what?”

I asked. Astonished. 
“Of your never-ending desires.”
An imprisoned tear escaped her eyes and rolled down the cliff of her cheeks. 
Maybe she was right. Maybe our increasing wishes compel us to have more. Maybe we forget to live in what we have in worry of what we might never have. 

Maybe life would never be the way we want it to be. Maybe letting go of yourself is the only choice sometimes. Maybe forgiveness is all what we need from ourselves.
I convinced myself that the only time in which I could ever get the enough of her was right there and then. 
She was soon driven into a calm sleep as the wind continued to caress her hair.

Parasite.

Luminous was the piano case from the seeping rays of moonlight. He sat by the piano keys on his rugged bench. His tuxedo, tattered and gray from the dirt of passing years, presented a worn out image of his sufferings and madness.

Harsh, scaly fingers sequenced a rhythm out of the shiny, white piano keys. An intense tune filled the air and every rising note peeked into the hidden corners of the room.

They call love, a parasite. It is that power that dominates all of you. Burying its claws in the soft cloud of your soul, it tears your assumed rains apart. A smile is what love takes to pull your soul out of your chest and when it leaves, you are left with nothing but a decaying flesh. Your bones turn into a sponge and your breathes turn into a thick smoke of sighs. You don’t remain you. You become love.

“What do you hear when you play it?”
I stepped from the dark into a brighter corner.

“Her voice.”
I stood there in a dark corner and felt my breathes dancing over the ecstasy he played. Every note filled with grief, yearned and longed to meet its end.

“What makes you play this beautifully?”
My eyes glinted a wonderful admiration.

“Her laughter.”
He kept raising the notes.

It was all piano and its cries in the air between us until he looked up and his fingers stopped moving.

I blinked my eyes open from the trance that prevailed the room a second ago.
“What is it? What are you looking at?”

He kept watching across the blank space with blood-shot, stoned-eyes. I witnessed a strange face masking his features. For a moment, I was unable to recognize him.

“Who are you?”
My voice had a tinge of fear.

He parted his parched lips to whisper his end.

“Her.”

And with that her, the parasite of love dominated his existence. And with that her, he was no longer him.

The moon completely drained his body with its light.
He was a Sun conquered by a moon.

Silence.

“I will lock you in words.” Her whisper broke the silence in air. 

She stared at him. Stared until the silence conquered again. 
A tranquil air enveloped their faces in a pleasantly cool blanket. Light drizzle stroked their skin and made it numb. Numb to their grieves, numb to their heartache.  
“Ever seen a city after a war?” He whispered. She nodded.
“Ever seen a city before war?”

Whisper. she nodded again. 
“What they both have in similar?”

Whisper. 
“Silence.”

She mumbled. 
“What fades away with time?”

Whisper.
“Ink.”

Mumble.
“What preserves time?”

Whisper.
“Peace.”

Mumble.
“What ties knots in hearts?”

Whisper.
“Promises.”

Mumble.
“What sets the heart free?”

Whisper.
“Love.”

Mumble.
“What stabs people to death?”

Whisper.
“Words.”

Mumble.
“What stitches the wounds?”

Whisper.
“Kindness.”

Mumble. 

“What do words do?”

Whisper.
“War.”

Mumble. 
“What does silence do?”

Whisper.
“Healing.”

Mumble.
“Will you lock me in a war?”

Whisper.
She shook her head. 

“Never.”

Mumble. 
“I am your secret. Lock me in silence.”

Whisper.

She nodded and blinked. 
And with the blink he was gone. 

And with the blink, there was silence again. 
She rested her head on the back of cement bench and closed her eyes to dream of him again. 

Brown.

Intoxicating was the smile that dwelled across her lips reflected by the mirror. Sunlight sieved across the front window and lit her cheeks red. She slowly caressed her dark hair while weaving dreams in her crystal-eyes. She would spend hours and hours smiling and whispering to her mirror. It was her friend. An honest friend. 
‘I’m afraid mirrors keep an evil eye.’
She blinked and the smile flew away from the reflection. She remained silent. 
‘Why don’t you ask it what will suit on you for tonight?’
I chuckled as I popped a peanut in my mouth.
‘Mirrors are honest you know. 

What do they say?’

I paused to think.
‘Oh yes, 

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the…’

I began to sing in a dramatic way. 
‘Brown.’

She interrupted me.
‘Brown like the haze?’

I almost screamed.
‘Brown like his eyes.’
The thin smile arrived back to her parched lips. 

She continued caressing her hair, smiling and knitting dreams. The mirror reflected each of her fine move. 

 

The night had casted over the city.  

And the old friends had gathered once again after a long chain of busy years. 

Same old faces with signs of wrinkles. Same old jokes but tired laughters. Same old stories but, different lives. Same old love but different hearts. 

I witnessed a change in everyone except for the afraid faces. 

Fear was a thing that kept people from asking for their rights. It kept them from questioning, from being a part of marvelous entities of the society. 
I saw her swaying across the crowd. Dressed in a brown velvet dress she traversed the path with an elegant gait. A ripple swiftly reaching its edge. Her hair tugged over her left shoulder fell like an autumn cascade down her arm. 

A tiny ruby was shining over her right ear. 
‘The say it right. Mirrors don’t lie.’

My voice was filled with wonder.
She leaned towards me as if to tell a secret. Her mouth drawn into a proud smirk. 
‘Nor do his eyes.’ 
She winked, drew a sip from red wine in her glass and stepped towards the dance floor. 
I never saw her again.