He was watching the sunset, the sun going down. With every inch that sun moved down, his heart sank too. He could see the light fading, from the skies above and from the hopes inside. He could see the dust of defeat settling down in the realms of his heart.
Today she was going. Going away, from his life, from his time, from his ways, and probably from his sight too. He could not do anything. He couldn't persuade her. He had tried. He went to her numerous times but he knew he was fighting a lost battle.
It didn't had to turn up this way. He loved her. She loved him. Then why? Then how.
Ironically, He had realized that the love was already in the past tense and he himself used the term, "Loved" instead of "Love".
Lately, they had grown apart. To name a reason, there were many.
It is very hard to give upon someone you have held for so long.
When you wake up everyday and you aren't happy, that's the time things need to be changed. You wonder, whether to change the way you deal with things or to change the things you deal with. There is a stiff competition between your brain and heart. The former tells you to work for yourself, while the latter says that the actual happiness lies in working for the person you love.
He had tried everything. Maybe that was the difference, he wasn't trying anymore or maybe at this some point of time, you lose the courage, the energy and the hope to repair that mirror which reflected back an image of perfection. You can't even let go of someone like that, because from a tender age we are taught, when things don't work, we repair them, not replace them.
When you see the mountain of relationship which was created from the base of love, from the core of hope and happiness and the peak of strength crumbling down, you don't find strength to keep that mountain intact. Because it had taken a lot of years to create those pillars of love.
A wedding card was placed on his lap, as he kept staring at the sun which was already below the terminator. Everything in him had stopped, the heart beats as slow as the setting sun. The eyes transfixed at the bidding glares of the sun. What probably moved faster along with the flowing time were his tears.
He couldn't do anything now, but what really hurt him was the fact that he didn't try harder enough when he could have.
He looked up more vividly at the sky, the last rays of light were visible, He looked up for some strength, for some philosophy to tackle the deaths he had died by now.
He knew, that it was time to move on. That it was time to move forward. What's done is done. And the only fact that gave him satisfaction was that now, she will be happy. Finally, she would overcome the pains he had given her and be happy with her new future. New life, where she would found the traces of lost hope again and start a long run of happiness all over again.
There were many things to think about, many memories which surrounded him, his soul and his heart. There were tears still to be cried and pains which were still to be inflicted. But, right now he had to go. He took his phone and wrote a message. It was after a long time that he was going to message her, "Congratulations.." was all he wrote. He kept the phone inside the pocket and stood up to leave...
He was leaving behind not just the memories, but also the tears they had shared. The love which was their now left behind wrapped in the wedding card which he left on the bench. He had told himself. He wanted to be strong. He had to be.
Going away from the despair, away from inflicted pains and the path which he may never travel again, He looked back for the last time, and saw that sun was not visible anymore... the dusk had fallen.
- Tanishq Sharma
Also read : The Unfulfilled Promise - Some Stories Are Better Left Incomplete