Opaque love

Chapter One

Red has always had a love-hate relationship with me. Right now, it seems to hate me.

I tried to blend the dark patch of red on the canvas. The red colour of a rose petal was a little darker than the rest of the petals. So, I tried to blend it, but it was as stubborn as my mind.

I sat in the chair with both hands dangling on each side of the chair. My right hand clutched the paintbrush, tapping it on the front right leg of the chair. I scanned the canvas.

A dark red petal stood out on the canvas like a puddle of blood in a big lake.

I sighed and pushed back the chair I was sitting on in frustration. The chair's legs scraped against the floor, making an annoying screeching noise that echoed through the walls of the empty house.

The house had been feeling as empty as my heart since the moment she left. She had been the one who brought light and happiness with her existence into my life. Now, my heart felt this house; haunted.

Now, everything feels dark and grim, pushing my mind to consider running away from here, leaving everything behind.

Although, I can't do that. No matter how badly I want it.

I had questions in my mind that I ought to know. Did she leave intentionally, or if something terrible had happened to her? I can't get over the thoughts of her in my mind.

There are times when the feeling of something wrong happening to her causes my hand to tremble. It feels like I am running out of air to breathe.

I tried not to assume the worst possible outcome because it terrified the shit out of me, but I couldn't stop myself from feeling the anguish sometimes.

There were moments when I tried to console myself.

Maya merely went on a trip with her friends. What else could have gone wrong? She could have lost her way back, and she would be back any moment.

She asked me to go with her. I wish I had done it now. At least I would have been with her rather than guessing where she could be right now.

I looked down at my phone for any sign of calls or messages from her. It became a common habit of mine. We had been together for 5 years, and her existence in my life became a significant part of mine.

I felt like I had been living in her heart more than myself, and now her scarcity feels like a jail. It felt like a punishment to live inside my body without her presence beside me.

So, to think I could ever get used to her absence is like a joke to me, a bad one nonetheless.

One month ago today, we had our last conversation where she informed me she wouldn't be able to contact me for a week due to a lack of a network in the forest. I had tried to call her every day since then, simply in the hope of hearing her voice again, but as the days turned into a week and then another, and I was left with little to no choices. So I contacted the police.

There was no statement about her disappearance, not even a single one. Maya was there with four of her friends, and they were all reported missing, including Maya.

I picked up the newspaper that laid flat on top of the table. Maya's face, including the faces of the other four people, was printed on the paper with bold red 'MISSING' letters above and below the images.

My heart felt heavy, and my nose burned, but I did not know what to do anymore.

Calling on her number is as helpful as my mental state right now. I tried to call her before, but her number has been unreachable for a month now.

The frustration gripped my whole body in a chokehold, provoking me to kick the small table. Art supplies flew around the room, making a huge mess, but I didn't care.

---

I felt her warmth but was deep into my sleep to open my eyes. I stretched my arm towards her and pulled her towards me. A smile pulled up on my lips when I took a deep breath, nuzzling my nose into her hair. Same old lavender shampoo of hers she loved. I felt her hug me back as I went back to sleep.

My head felt too heavy from the sleep, but I felt her kiss my forehead and heard her whisper something into my ear that sounded like, 'I will always be there with you, dead or alive.'

The sound of something crashing woke me up from my sleep. I jerked up in surprise to see Bane sitting on top of a chair, licking his paws.

This cat will be the death of me, I swear. I was always against owning him, but Maya just loved this black ball full of hair and scratches. She picked him up from the street nearby and decided we suddenly needed a pet.

Maya.

I peered to my left, to her side of the bed. I could have sworn I felt her beside me last night.

I scrubbed my face with my fingers in frustration. These dreams were getting out of hand now. They felt too real, and the worst part is I wanted them to be real. But some sane part of me understands it's impossible.

My phone hummed beside my eyeglasses on the nightstand, grabbing my attention. I picked the phone up in my hand, noticing the name of the officer flashing on the screen.

"Hello?" I said, receiving the call.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Dev." It's afternoon? I pulled my phone back to check the time.

Shit! It was already 01:40 p.m.

Fuck!

"Good afternoon, Mr. Charles." I hopped out of bed in a rush and went to the kitchen to prepare myself a cup of coffee.

"Sorry, I wasn't present yesterday to receive your call, but my associate did. So, how can I help you?" His voice appeared too calm and collected, the exact opposite of how I felt at that moment.

"You know what I would have liked to know, officer? How long before I get information about my wife? It's been a month, and there's still no information about her. How is that believable? There has to be something!" I lashed out. They keep saying they don't have any statements for a month now.

"Calm down, Dev! You can't act unhinged right now. You know we are trying our best. The forest they went into is not a tiny little park. Most of it is still inaccessible and impossible to even cover. We are still trying our best. It's just going to take some time." Kevin said in a hushed voice. He's probably hiding the fact that he's speaking to me about the case. It might be something he's not supposed to do, but I don't care. I ought to know the answer.

"Listen! I don't fucking care what you're going to do or how any of this will even work. I want to know about her as soon as possible. I don't care if anyone gets to know about our friendship, even if you want to keep it under the rug. I need to know where my wife is!" I replied to him.

We were schoolmates and now very close friends, but he's not helping me like I would want to.

"It has been a month, Kevin! Do you seriously think Maya will still be waiting for you there? She must have left some evidence. Check the cameras and shit. I don't know! Just do something, please!" I pleaded, leaning my back against the kitchen counter.

"Exactly, it's been a fucking month! Do you believe she's still out there? I guess not because we are inspecting the area. We are checking up on the cameras, the route she was on with the aid of her cell phone, and the other four missing people. Yet, we can't accumulate anything. We are trying, okay?" Kevin responded.

Kevin was my childhood friend. While I was thankful for maintaining some leverage in this situation, it was of no fucking use. I wasn't benefiting anything here.

"We'll get her back, okay? Trust me, we are trying." He tried to reassure me, but I was beyond that.

"Okay." I cut my response short before hanging up on him.

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Thank you for reading 💕.