Starry Nights

★Prologue★

*edited- 25/5/16*

"Humph! Why are we here? You know how I hate looking at wretched roads like these, right?"

Amused, she looks at me and says, "Honey, I just don't understand. Why do you hate junctions so much? They're usual roads like any other; helping people to commute from one place to another! What's the big deal?"

Staring into the distance, I remark, "I've told you this before. I detest forked roads like these. They remind me of the various opportunities I missed."

"Oh...", she says, looking at me as I stand there as if she has suddenly found a missing piece of her puzzle. Turning around she stares into endless space ahead, like me.

We stand at the junction of a road which divided itself into two, one; heading towards right and another towards left. Overhead, clouds of varying shades of silver and grey painting the sky into a melancholic mood. Next to me, stood captor of my heart, Manjari.

Manjari, simply put, was beautiful. Her long, coal black tresses fell over her shoulders, until well below her waist and curled a little around the ends. Her skin was a pure pale white, and I sometimes wondered if she would get lost in the snow. She had eyes, the colour of melted chocolate that spoke volumes, and I could listen to her voice day in and day out. It was almost like my soul recognised hers, fitting together like jigsaw. She simply, breathed life into me and left me stunned each time we met.

I'd met Manjari at the society park for the first time and had broken into conversation about the cloudy sky, the same colour as it were today. Since then, our conversations hadn't seized. We knew each other inside out, from her hobbies to my favourite books, from her favourite movie star to my dark secrets that once had been well buried inside of me.

Owing to my practical outlook towards life, believing in a silly theory like that of 'Soul-Mates' was always had been out of question. But, when I was with Manjari; I felt pulled towards her by an invisible and unbreakable rope.

Manjari, then turns towards me and smiles. It was this smile of hers that couldn't stop me from wondering why did it arise out of sadness. Her smile had always been the kind that lit up her eyes like a fire-cracker.

Knitting her eyebrows she muttered lowly, gloom filling her words; "The time has come, Swayam."

Puzzled, I looked at her with questioning eyes.

Manjari suddenly turns and starts walking away, towards the path ahead that was covered with mist. I failed to fathom what was happening.

"Manjari?" I called out.

"Manjari!" I kept calling out, trying to follow and keep up with her.

Alas, she was too quick to merge into the grey. Her silhouette too vanishing quickly, seconds after I come to the realisation that I'd lost her. My heart however refused to accept that she was gone.

Sweating profusely, I shout once again, in hopes she would hear me and come back, "Manjari!"

Only this time, I found myself looking at the off white ceiling. After 5 good, long minutes, my breath calmed down and my heart beat stopped ringing in my ears. I glanced at my phone's screen as it lit up the room, it showed 2 AM. I didn't even try going back to sleep for I knew it'd be in vain. It'd been 5 years, 2 months and 3 days since she'd left me. 5 years of having the same nightmare, 5 years of feeling hollow, 5 years of being broken and incomplete. It wasn't as if I hadn't tried to forgive and forget, but there were tons of untied ends I was trying to knot and was miserably failing.

I needed answers to the gazillion questions that my heart had harboured for past 5 years. I needed the closure.

But somewhere deep inside I knew that it was going to take a long time. It'd be one tumultuous journey.

I think I'll have to wait forever.

Forever. So be it.

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A/N-  Hmmm.... Edited. 

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