The Torchbearer ✓

Prologue

"Miss Dhaneshwari, are you alright?"

The world was coming back into focus for Priya Dhaneshwari. But otherwise, things were not entirely alright.

"Y-yes. I'm quite alright." Priya replied.

The nurse was standing in front of her in the corridor outside of the hospital ward that housed her love. She held both of Priya's hands in hers and offered a sympathetic smile. It can't be pleasant holding clammy hands, Priya thought and withdrew them. Her hands weren't the only part of her now blanketed in cold sweat.

"While cancer is a two-way battle, the outcome of this has been certain for a while now. Thank you, nurse. I'll speak with him alone now, if that's alright."

"Absolutely. I'll be down the hallway if you need me." The nurse replied and walked away, shoes clopping against the hospital floor rhythmically. 

Priya entered the room and approached the only occupied bed in the ward. It housed an emaciated man attached to a drip and various monitors by tubes and wires. Despite his condition, his eyes lit up as he saw Priya re-enter.

She wasn't concerned about the news she had just received, it was the realisation that the time had almost come. The time when he would begin his recovery and win the battle.

Our place will heal him, his soul couldn't be in a better environment, she thought.

Priya was glad to see him awake and smiled warmly as she entered the room. It was uncommon for him to be awake at this time. It was uncommon for him to be awake at all.

"How many minutes do I have left?." He croaked.

She became more solemn but still maintained an element of warmth in her reply, "Daniel, you shouldn't jest. They've been saying the same dour things since the start of this process."

They held hands, hers moist and his bone dry.

The skin clung to his cheekbones and his head lacked hair due to the chemotherapy, but he was still unmistakable to her. His energy and aura that she so loved had never left him, despite the deterioration of his body. 

Daniel closed his eyes again, apparently drifting off as he often did, always with frightening suddenness. Priya felt his grip weaken and began to slide her hand away to let him sleep.

Before she could leave his side, he gripped her hand again and his eyelids slid apart. He didn't speak, but the look he gave her could've communicated a thousand words.

She rolled her eyes. "How many times do I need to go through this. We say what they want us to say but ultimately we ignore the nurses and doctors, they only understand things quantifiable. Love is different."

He blinked once, still looking at her in a slightly distressed way. She sighed and leaned forward to cup his sallow cheek.

"I've promised you countless times before. Do you really need me to repeat myself?" She gave him too little time to reply before continuing, "Daniel Levin, my vision, my touch, my heart. I promise to save your life. It's as simple as that, what else is there to think about? I will do this, I promise. Now rest."

"But-" 

That was the only counter-argument that Daniel could muster as he stared into the dark, unwavering eyes of his fatally deluded lover. He saw a barrier impassable, a fortress impenetrable and a lock with a key discarded long ago.

"But what, darling?" Priya asked.

"Nothing." He answered. A tear rolled out from his left eye. Priya intercepted it with her index finger and planted a kiss on the same cheek.

"Everything will be fine, my love." She assured him, "I'm taking you away from this place soon, they say there's nothing more they can do for you now."

Daniel's eyes closed again as he registered the ominous paradox in her words. However, he only gave a weak nod as he drifted off. Now he sleeps, Priya was certain this time.

"To our place." She told him, but she was now speaking to an inanimate object. 

Priya moved away from the bed and took a seat in the chair next to it. She spent the majority of her time in it these days. The cushions were moulded to her shape and as she sat, she gave her thighs a little pat.

Time to learn, she thought. Reaching into her handbag, she retrieved the academic journal she was currently in the midst of.

It was entitled, 'Homelessness in Britain: A mitigation study'. It wasn't the most thrilling read, but Priya would need to become very knowledgeable about the subject if her plans were to come to fruition.

Not that she had any doubt that they would. About this she was very confident indeed.

I will light the way, she promised herself.