Soft waves lapped at her feet. Invisible passengers sailed by on their paper boats. The waves bring with them memories of life before the storm. The eerie quiet deafens her as she tries to stand her ground. The waves seemed to have softened the soles of her feet as they did the ground below them. It was the memory that lingered now in the air, thick with the earth's perfume. Ashes, all she could taste and smell was the ashes he left behind.
Wasn't forever promised to her as she bid farewell to the life she knew before. How happily these feet had carried her over the threshold to him. Him! him all that was left now in place of those promises are ashes.
How her friends had teased her for being so eager. How breathless he left her. And now he was the one breathless and she was left eager again to join him. She had told him how she would sneak into her mother's room to look at the picture the 'marriage broker' had left behind. How desperately she would will it to some how come to life so she could hear the voice of the man she was destined to marry. Would it work now? Could she will him back from the great beyond? Turn his ashes into him again. Unburn what the village pandit set alight.
He promised to never break her heart. He said he would guard it even fiercer than his own. He said he would never let even a single hair on her head be harmed. He lied. Where was he when they dragged her to the courtyard of the house? As piece of her glass bangles left bloody foot steps behind? As they pulled and pushed the symbol of their marriage off her neck and washed off the safety of her red powder. She screamed his name as they shaved off her hair and the strands shrouded her and silenced her voice. Wasnt she promised forever?
A day ago surrounded by her friends signing and dancing she had caught a glimpse of herself in her bridal finery. The envy she felt. He would see her and be left spellbound by her beauty. She giggled to herself and held this morsel of truth close to her heart. She would capture his heart as he had done hers. Finally those months of waiting would be worth it to see his eyes lights up with pride and lust at the sight of her.
As she stood across from him with only a white cloth seperating them her heart could hardly stand it any longer. What was with all these rituals and chantings? He was hers. And she was his.
She almost didn't hear the screams. She was too caught up with her thoughts to hear the chaos that was brewing behind the white sheet. Screams. Those awful screams. When the cloth dropped she almost didn't recognise him. That beautiful face was now stark white. Those lips she dreamt about covered in foam. The body she longed for all those long night now lay lifeless at her feet.
He did promise her forever. He promised to never break her heart or hurt a hair on her head. He didn't lie. The thought of marrying someone else killed him inside. The sight of seeing her being forced to marry someone other than him cut a knife thru his heart. He had loved her for 12 years. From the before he even knew what love is he knew it was her. Now they say he can't marry her? He was to marry a girl he didn't even know or see? Didn't he promise forever?
Yes, he promised forever. Just not with me.
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