It was a quiet evening; the enormous French windows enabled William to get a better view. His eyes first scanned the skies as they always did. The seamless sky was completely clear apart from the few stranded wisps of milky clouds. Butterflies fluttered in and out of his perfectly maintained garden. In the distance was a dense forest, serene and apparently concealing a million secrets. Snow clad mountains capped with fog stretched over the horizon. He shooed a tiny brown bird sitting on his window to see it open its wings and soar through the space.
He closed his eyes and saw a brilliant flash of red light. He could suddenly feel immense heat all around him; he longed for the snow-clad mountains. Something stung at his legs but he couldn’t get rid of it.
Elisa entered the room just then. She fretted over him not noticing the beads of perspiration on his forehead. She had initially agreed to come to this remote place just so that she could make some fast and easy money to go to college; and anyway how difficult could it be to look after a crippled 28 year old! But there was something about this boy that drew her to him.
He was a tall, fair, dark haired, strongly built boy. He never spoke much unless it was absolutely essential; however, he wrote – page after page, book after book. But she noticed that he had been unusually silent since last night. Elisa didn’t find anything wrong in what had happened; it all felt just perfect, like it was just destiny waiting to take its course. But clearly, William thought otherwise. She didn’t want to be the first one to bring up the topic so she waited for him to speak. He did, eventually.
Now, William wasn’t the one to beat around the bush or indulge in niceties, so he got straight to the point. “Elisa, what happened last night is not going to get you anywhere. I am saying this to you because I can anyway not get anywhere from here in this wheelchair. I have lived my life and I shall die here. But this life will just stagnate you and it is not something that I would be proud of. I am very thankful that you looked after me for so long. With all your dues, you have my lifelong gratitude too. I think it is now time that you leave this house and create your own place in the world out there.” Before she could reply, he wheeled himself out.
After a few hours, William returned to an empty house. He went straight to his room where he picked up a pen and closed his eyes. This time, however, he didn’t see the war, the fire, the crash; he now just flitted through the calm clouds with Elisa by his side. He opened his eyes and smiled slightly as he put his pen on a paper and began writing…
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