Minutes Before The Miracle

CHAPTER - 35

Thought of the chapter:-
People cry, not because they are weak. It's because they have been strong for too long.
   - Johnny Depp

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The chapter might be triggering for some readers. Read at your own risk.

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STEVEN

They say it takes a lot to keep your secrets hidden, and it takes way more courage to divulge them to a person. But with Emma hugging me like her own personal teddy and her tears soaking my bathrobe, cooling down my warm, shivering skin, I feel safe and easy. Safe to be in her arms and to keep her in my arms, and easy to bare myself naked infront of her.

I just realised that it's not difficult to confess when you trust a person. I can't put my finger on when it happened but somewhere scattered between our fights, arguments, tears, blushed revelations and secret admirations, I started trusting her. And it flabbergasts me as well when I say that I trust this girl by my side, more than anyone, more than myself.

Tightening my hold around her dainty, trembling figure, I place a soft kiss on the top of her head. She peeks at me through the curtain of her eyelashes and buries her head on my chest again.

In more than ten years, I feel loved. Again. I feel secure. And somehow, I feel at home.

And with that I also feel a sense of spunkiness rushing within my insides to reveal the darkest slice.

So, I let go...

"Connecting all of my bits and shreds of determination, I stood at the usual spot from where I used to fling the bag. However, for once in many days, I didn't do as I was instructed and opened the bag. A heavy metallic stench of copper thickened the air around me. It coerced me to cover my nose with my palm in reflex.

A while passed. And so did the smell. With throbbing hands, I slowly opened the bag again. The roar of the wind and the rustle of leaves overpowered the crumble of the polythene bag. It was a scary night, to say the least. The most terrifying one I have ever experienced.

My eyes went wide and wild once I saw what came out of the bag into my shivering palms. And like a thunderbolt, everything came crashing and fell into place. All of a sudden, every single memory swaggering in my mind made sense; screams and moans of pain, the dejected stare of the young girl at my empty plate, her attempts to shield her stomach by keeping her palm flat over it and her accusatory and pleading eyes directed at me.

It was a major labyrinth that got solved and to top it all, I held what led me to the end, in my own hands..."

I can feel my rugged breathing and Emma's eyes, wide with anticipation. A drop of hot tear is on the verge of spilling and I close my eyes 'cause I can't take it anymore.

"It was a foetus.

A dead one.

Covered in blood, clots and fluids, it was still in a foetal position. Droplets of crimson filled the wrinkles of the skin here and there. With closed eyes, it looked serene. It's so ironical as to how something so sloppy and sordid could resemble serenity so closely.

Cool drops of water fell all over me. I looked up and raindrops seeped through my clothes with blazes of lightening and howls of thunder ringing in the background, illuminating the pitch dark forest in fluctuations. Surrounded by the nocturnal sounds which were both calming and frightening, I laid the foetus on the wet mud.

It looked peaceful, as though it had come to peace with death.

They say death is peaceful and perhaps, they are not wrong..."

I remember that night, clear as a crystal. The night I want to wash off from my mind so desperately but unable to, no matter how hard I try. Maybe, some nights are not meant to be forgotten.

"I took a step back into the woods and then another. Away from the non breathing soul lying on the earth. A stroke of lightening forked the sky, illuminating everything with a silver halo. And in that moment, the little soul seemed angelic. I turned back, my eyes unable to take in the immense amount of light and then, I broke into a sprint. The rain kept pouring and blending with the lines of tears streaming down my eyes.

The next thing I knew was that I was alive and breathing, sleeping in a white room. There, I met her..."