Fallen Hard

Contented

Wish I could freeze this moment in a frame and stay like this
I'll put this day back on replay and keep reliving it

~~~

Love.

A simple four letter word. Just two vowels and two consonants.

But it has the power to break hearts and mend broken ones. It is present everywhere and yet could be unreachable for some. It can even be suffocating at times.

 It can unfetter all diffidence.

 It can take various forms.

 It can liberate. It can confine.

Just a word that was craved for. It was there but never appreciated enough. Sometimes, even unrecognizable. 

Hidden under other emotions. Overshadowed by greed or lust.

 But never destroyed.

~~~

"He said I'm an old soul. I have no idea what that means." Liam said to Abigail. They were sitting in his room, sprawled on the bed. He hadn't confided about the stranger to anyone except Abigail. He didn't want to bother Ignatius with something as trivial as that. It had been three days since the Ball. Liam had met Ignatius and they even danced. Rebecca and Narcissa had danced with many Royals. The younger Paynes had also found friends there. Everything was good except his encounter with the stranger.

"I think I read about this somewhere. A religion called Hinduism originated in a land that was once called India. It was an ancient religion with pre- historic roots. Unlike Christianity, where the soul is not immortal and returns to God, in Hinduism, the soul is immortal, called the atma. It has neither birth nor death at anytime. The soul passes from one body to another at death. It can be from a  human body to another human body or from a human's body to that of an animal or an insect. So, he was probably saying that your soul has been around for a long time. I wonder how he knew that."

"Sounds crazy. How did you know about Hinduism, anyway?"

"What do you think I do when I don't have anything to do? I stumbled upon a translated version of a Hindu scripture called the Bhagavad Gita in the school library. Many pages were damaged, so I couldn't make out many phrases."

"How is it that I never came across them?"

Abigail pursed her lips, then said, "I found it in the Restringere Division."

"How did you get in there?" Liam was staring at her with disbelief written over his face.

"Well, Mrs. Adderly was not in the other day so I just...", she couldn't bring herself to say the word 'sneak'.

"I can't believe you just sneaked in there and-"

"Li, please don't."

He looked at her face and stopped saying whatever he wanted to say. "Okay, then."

"Coming back to the stranger, did he look handsome?", she was wiggling her eyebrows at him.

"Shut up, Abi. And I didn't take a good look at him anyway. I was just so scared."

"Uh- huh. Don't try to outwit me, you assbutt. I know you would have had a good look at him."

"Whatever, Abbs. I-", he was cut off by a knock at the door. It was Evette.

"Lord Aldebourne is here. He demands everybody's presence."

"We're coming, Eve." Liam and Abigail got off the bed and went down to the hall. Everybody were already gathered there.