THE ROAD

It was a beautiful night of the late winter. Stars were glittering in the sky with a special shine in them i haven’t seen before, the moon seems smiling and the trees made all the noises it had to with the playful wind. I was in my room, sitting at the wide window beside my bed, watching all the activities taking place. My sister was lost sleeping with her mouth wide open, blabbering something which I was not able to understand. I turned my mind again to the sky and just couldn’t stop myself from moving out. I decided to grab my long coat as the wind sent a chill across my body.

It was very dark and I moved slowly across my room trying not to get injured by the things around. I quietly opened the back door of my room which opened directly to the outside corridor of my house. I tied up my dog and decided to move out on the empty road.

It was 3:00 in the morning. I didn’t know what I was about to do or where I was going. There was something, asking me to just walk on the path, leading nowhere. The street lights were spotting some cats, playing with a tyre of a cycle. I started walking on the road, listening and watching the surroundings. I took a turn towards the Rani road which surrounded the Fatehsagar lake. All I could hear was the buzzing of some insects, in that dark night. The wind was very fresh and nice. Meanwhile, I was wondering what the nights are at 3 in the morning. The noise of the traffic is taken away by the soothing music of the wind and the insects. The place of the burning hot sun is taken by the nice, shining and the pleasant moon. By the time I was thinking all this I saw something. I tried getting a closer look and what I found was a man. He seemed very different to me. He was very old, with absolute white beard and white hair with blue eyes staring at me through his white bushy eyebrows. He was on a bicycle. The strange thing was that he was standing and looking at me, as if he was waiting for me.

What is he doing here at this point of time? Why is he looking at me like that? What does he want? were the kind of questions which came in my mind when I was standing there like a statue. This was the kind of move, I used specially when I was surrounded by street dogs, to avoid the attacking situation. So I decided not to look at the stranger anymore and continue walking. I knew before hand only that I had to face such situations once I was out of my house, and as now I was in such a situation I was scared. Many simultaneous things were going in my mind. I tried keeping the scary thoughts away from me, but nothing was working. I wasn’t listening to myself anymore.

As soon as I passed the old man, I heard him saying “Hello!”. My heart was beating so hard that I could feel it bursting! I ignored it straight and trailed slowly. He called me again “Hello dear!”. I stood still. I turned my face a little towards him. “Yes! Am talking to you”. “Me??How can I help you?” I said in a shaking voice. “I was wondering what are you doing here?”he asked in wondering eyes. “Oh! that..I thought to take some fresh air, it was quite suffocating in the house”. “Hmmm...I see, if you like I can give you some company. Don’t worry ! I won’t take much of your time.”. He seemed quite genuine but still I wasn’t sure of my answer. “Ok”. I don’t know what in the world made me say that, even I was astonished by my answer. A smile spread across his face. He took his bicycle with him and said “Come, let’s go this way.” “That way!! Wont it be too far from my place?”I said looking as far as possible on the dark path he was taking me. “Don’t worry! We will be back soon. Come, I want to show you something.” What did he wanted to show me and that also in such a dark night? All kind of possible things were flying in my mind. I followed him quietly. “What is the best thing you love about nights?” he asked me as soon as we starting walking. “Well,” I said sighing “ the peaceful environment , the trees making all kinds of rustling sounds , the wind moving from one direction to the other and the moon and stars looking at me from the dark vast sky make the nights very special to me. It seems like everything of nature is talking to me, specially the moon. I listen to them very carefully, as they guide me through all my up’s and down’s.” “Hmmm...you mean ,you talk to them whenever you are upset and need help?” he asked me wearing a sweet smile. All I could see was his white hair shining with the moon “Yeah!”I said.

We moved slowly along the side of the lake and I could now find ourselves turning to a road which I always took while going to my farmhouse. “Stop!”he called me as I moved further. I saw him looking into the sky and saying “Its time.” he was lost in his thought for a second and then continued “This way!”.Which way was he talking about? I wondered as there was only a single road to that area not turning in any other direction. I turned around and saw him moving in a lane I haven’t seen before. From where does this new lane come from? I was so curious to know that I ran towards him and the next thing I saw was a huge tree. It was a giant tree , splitting in two directions standing at the beginning of the lane. It spread all its branches in exactly two directions, one facing towards east and other facing to the opposite direction. I was so lost examining it that I forgot to follow the old man. When I realized my mistake I rushed inside the lane, crossing the big bushes and trees coming on my way to find him. “HELLO!!” I called as loud as I could. “HERE!!” I heard him saying from a long distance. I headed in that direction as fast as I could so that I may not lose track of him. But the lane was full of big bushes and the path contained big boulders which slowed me down. It was hard for me to imagine an old man crossing all these kind of hindrances so quickly that I wasn’t able to reach him. I felt a shame on myself.

After the long struggle of climbing and pushing I suddenly found some relief when I saw myself drawn into a small patch of land. It seemed like someone had burned the shrubbery of that part. “Where are you?” I called out ,searching for him in all directions in the hope of another answer. “Hello!!You there?”. But all I could hear was , nothing. His silence was freaking me out. I called out even louder. Why did he do this to me? Where did he disappear? I was lost in the immense , dangerous forest. I had done the biggest mistake of my life and now I didn’t know how to face it. I broke down to my knees and curled into myself. The next thing I realized was that I was crying. I lay down and stared at the stars with the water oozing out of my eyes.

After 15 minutes of silence, I heard some noise coming from the bushes. I straightened up myself quickly thinking of the next biggest problem I was about to face. I got up and slowly moved in the direction where the noise came from, to get the smallest possible clue of the animal who was coming for me. My heart throbbed with fear.

But my ears stood up when I heard two people talking very softly. I sighed with relief , I was safe now. God heard my prayers . I kept moving slowly, thinking of not to interrupt their conversation , wanting to know their intentions. I reached the place where they were now standing and quietly sneaked behind a tree. I decided to take a look at their faces. It was then when I first saw him. He was someone out of this world. He had the white beautiful skin with light brown eyes wondering something strange. He had the perfect lips wearing the most attracting smile which just blowed up my mind. He had dark brown hair and was perfectly fine in health . He was very casually dressed with a white t-shirt and a grey jacket on top . He was a kind of man I always dreamt of , with whom I always wanted to be with . He was talking to a lady who looked absolutely gorgeous. For some time I just forgot that I was lost in the forest and was so busy looking at him that I didn’t realize that I had started moving towards him. The lady walked away in no time leaving both of us alone. The moment he saw me, made me freeze to my place. He stood there looking at me, wearing the same magical smile. And the strange thing which took my attention was that he was not at all surprised seeing me.

He walked towards me and reached for my hand. My mouth fell open and I watched him with my eyes wide open. He looked deep in my eyes and sighed “I waited for you a long time, and finally you are here.” His voice echoed in my ears. I had so many questions in my mind. How does he know me? Was I supposed to be the right person to stand near him that time? Nothing came out. I decided not to destroy that dream when I actually wanted to be with him. “You look beautiful!” he seemed so honest in his words that I had to believe whatever he said. “Come with me! I want this night to me the most beautiful one for you.”

He took me by my hand and I followed him blindly. His presence made me forget all my worries. He kept talking to me and I, like a deaf person just smiled and stared at him throughout our trip. He suddenly stopped at a place which, according to me was located into the deepest part of the forest. I could now find only giant bushes and trees closing both of us from every little side. What could we possibly doing here?

“ I hope you’ll love this. I found this just for you.” he whispered in my ears and showed me something which I never expected in my life. Behind a huge tree, there was the place I always thought to spend my entire life with someone special like him. It had a huge waterfall coming down from a great height of a mountain. The water splashed down over the rocks and finally fell into the river which slowly made the soft trickling sound. The area over the river was covered with the smoke of splashing water. The best part of the view was the moon light making everything shiny and more beautiful. I moved towards the river slowly. The wind blowed on my face and gave a soft , soothing feel. I was so happy seeing everything that I was able to find my tears on their way down to my cheeks. “I don’t know what to say....it’s beautiful..” I finally said after the long silence. “I knew you always wanted to be here.” He said, moving forward. “How did you come to know that?” I said in disbelief. “You need not to worry about these things now.” he smiled. “I want this moment to be perfect.” and he kissed my forehead. “I Love You Vanessa!” he said holding both my hands. I was all silent. The words echoed in my ears. I couldn’t believe it was happening with me. I was not the wrong person, I thought he loved. It was me and nobody else in this world. I was on cloud nine at that time. The man of my dreams had proposed me and now I had to answer him. But what will happen if I never find him again? One day or the other I had to return in my world. Sometimes we lose someone by saying “I love you”, sometimes it’s just not the right thing to say. He waited for me silently, watching the confusing, mental pressure I was facing. But when I looked in his eyes I just found me, without any fear. Inspite of all the unanswered questions he wanted to accept me. it was then I realized that more often we lose someone by fearing to say “I love you”. My mouth opened to reply him the answer he wanted to hear and I feared to say and all I could hear was “RUN!!”.

“Venus!”,he exclaimed. Venus was the same gorgeous woman I saw with him before in the woods. She was his sister. With all her strength she was running towards us. She seemed all panic. I couldn’t understand what was going on at that time. He looked at me hard and took a grip of me by my waist. Venus stopped panting in front of me. “You need to take her out from here, FAST!” she told him ,looking at me with strange eyes. “Why did you even bring her here? You know this is impossible.” She continued still fixing her eyes on me. “I don’t care. All I know is that I love her and I want to make it possible.” He said patiently. I was all confused. What were they talking about? What was impossible? I looked at him. He was not at all tensed, but his eyes were constantly thinking something urgent. “They all are heading this way, in search of both of you.” She said, looking in the sky. “What is going on? Can any of you explain me?”I screamed in the middle of their conversation. “There are certain people who don’t want both of you to stay together.” Venus started explaining me. “But why?”I said , wondering why I was not allowed to spend my life with the person I wanted the most. “Some things cannot be told.” She stressed. “I will not let anything happen to you. You are my life.” He said to me very sincerely. I trusted him and now was ready to face any kind of trouble.

Our wait was over. They were here. A gang of tall men emerged from the woods. They all wore dark grey coloured long coats, covering them till their toes. They had their hoods on their faces which made it difficult for me to see it. It was a bunch of about ten people, walking towards us. He held me firmly in his arms. Venus stood near him, all scared.

They all stopped at a little distance from us. Suddenly from nowhere, I saw a man emerging from the gang , wearing a long black coat. He seemed very frightening to me. “Why are you with her? You know it’s not in our rules to do something that goes against the nature.” The man’s serious voice echoed in the forest. “You better keep your rules to yourself. Leave us alone!” he said in a voice which was very severe. It was hard for me to see him raging in anger. “You are so stubborn Mr Prince. We need to take her then, leave us with no choice.” The man said taking out a long stick from his coat. Prince!!he was the prince, of which place? A prince standing in the middle of the forest with the love of his life and all such things happening seemed like a fairy tale to me. But what now? What was the end of this one? Will it be all happily ever after or shall end in vein. I was all wondering when I heard my prince saying “You stay away from her.” he said in the most frightening voice I ever hear from him.

Within no time, a flash of light came rushing towards me from his stick. All I could remember was watching him running into the forests, carrying me in his arms. I was not able to concentrate on anything. He was too fast. We were rushing through the trees and the next thing I remembered was that I found myself standing on the terrace of my house, all alone.

He was gone. I searched for him in every direction. Why did he leave me alone like that? I was supposed to be with him. Was he fine? Did the gang catch him? I was all lost thinking, when I noticed dark grey clouds covering the vast sky, hiding the big moon and leaving everything gloomy. Soon it was lightening and it seemed as if a fight has begun. I was praying for him. I wanted him to take me away from that loneliness. I broke down thinking about him. It was then, a drop of water fell into my hand. I looked up and found several drops of water speeding up towards me. It had started raining. I was soaked down in the water along with my tears. I was shivering in the cold. “Come back. Come back, please.” were the only words coming out from my mouth that time.

After half an hour of long rain, the sky started clearing up. The heavy grey clouds took their way back from the moon, and it shone like never before. My face was all lit up by it’s light. The star Venus stood next to it, looking all shiny and beautiful. While all these activities were going on, I focussed myself towards the moon. It seemed a little strange. And then, after the long emptiness, I saw him. His face watched me from the moon. What was going on? I was not able to believe my eyes. I rubbed my eyes trying to get a closer look of him. He seemed sad but still managed to give me a smile. I was all shaken. Soon I was able to answer all my questions. The man of my dreams was no one else but the moon itself. The Venus star shining, was his gorgeous sister Venus and the dark grey clouds were the gang of people who came to fight with him. He won, but at the cost of our separation. They succeeded in keeping us apart from each other. The law of nature was being followed, of letting me stay in my world, away from him, from being loved by him. He was the prince of the immense, huge sky.

I realized a strange thing. He never left me alone. He stood next to me every time, whether it was day or night. It was just that I was not able to see him each second, but he was always present there. No wonder he knew me as I myself told him everything. I used to talk to him for hours at night. He knew me from inside and outside. Never thought I’ll get to see him and we’ll be in love. I missed his presence near me and I was able to make out that he felt the same.

I didn’t know the time, but sensed the approaching morning. We were lost looking at each other when I saw him fading away slowly by the rays of the sun. I wanted to tell him many things before he left, but nothing was coming out. And then finally with all my heart I was able to speak out my final words to him “I love you too”. He looked at me with loving eyes and soon was lost in the brightness.

I stood there, fixing my eyes in the sky, watching him go away. I always believed in the parallel world but never thought I will get a chance to visit it. I wished I could find that old man once again, who could take me to him. I wished I could be on that Road once again.