Till The Clock Strikes Gone

37 | letters

Eliza's hands trembled as she got out of the bathroom. Her whole body was sweating and she rubbed her wet palms on her jeans. She looked at her hand that had been holding the letters from before.

The letters she hadn't read yet.

The fire was doused after the fire department came and the cause was stated to be a short-circuit caused by the over-charging of William's phone.

Harvey was with William in their guest-room. He was taking care of him because the latter was still not opening his eyes. He lay like a dead body, the only sign of life was the slow rise and fall of his chest. The neighbours wanted to take him to the hospital but her father sternly refused, stating that William was their relative and no-one should take him anywhere against Harvey's wishes.

Eliza had seen her father tense after moments passed and he still didn't open his eyes. She had felt utter grief at the sight of his dishevelled appearance. His torn shirt had been discarded on the floor and he lay bare-chested as Harvey tended to the minor burns he had suffered on his chest due to the burning of his linen.

She had watched them as she stood at the door of the room, the letters still in her hand until she couldn't take it anymore. She rushed upstairs to head towards the bathroom to throw up.

That should have done it but her heart thumped louder and she only felt sicker. She dragged her steps to reach her room and closed the door shut. She had thrown the letters on the floor of her room before going to the bathroom and they lay at her feet.

Seven letters for her felt like seven boulders that someone had put on her way to block her from the rest of the world. She sat down, pulling her knees to her chest and her hands held her head.

"I don't love you. I don't love you. I don't love you. I don't love you. I don't love you. No...I don't. I don't love you. You can't make me love you. I don't love you. I'm not going to read your letters. I don't love you. I don't. I don't. I don't, William Ray..." she kept murmuring to herself or to him, she didn't know but she kept repeating again and again. But when she opened her eyes, her sight fell on the letters again and this time, she couldn't help but take the letters and scan through them. She noticed the dates he had marked at the back of each letter and she arranged them, almost involuntarily.

When she was done arranging all the seven letters. She looked at the first two words over and over.

'Dear Eliza'

"Damn it, William Ray!" she cursed and with great effort, began to read.

'...With hope
Your husband,
William Ray'

'...With hope
Your husband,
William Ray'

'...With hope
Your husband,
William Ray'

'...With hope
Your husband,
William Ray'

'...Your heartbroken lover,
William Ray'

'...Your hopeless lover,
William Ray'

'...Yours,
William'

Her heart filled with various emotions as she read the letters, slowly, very slowly, as if she was memorizing the way his fingers curved when he wrote each letter of the alphabet and at each word, a new teardrop fell on the sheets. By the time she was done, the letters were soaked, not with her tears...but with her love.

Eliza Scott was in love with William Ray.

***

Harvey Scott stood in the kitchen and sipped his cup of black tea. He hated black tea but he needed to stay awake to tend to William, who he was afraid would never wake up. He looked at the black liquid in his white cup and couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself.

He was a monster. An ill-fated one at that for his deeds were the cause of his own suffering. He pondered in deep thought and William's face flashed before his eyes. The anxious look the boy had when he rushed towards the fire and hurt himself and all for those letters.

(Those letters to my wife declare my love for her)

William was a man who would jump into the fire just to save a memory of his wife and Harvey was the man who lost his wife because of his fault. He felt so ashamed and depressed of himself that he didn't know what to do.

Not understanding the whirlpool of emotion going through his heart, he began to cry. Big, fat tears dropped down his eyes and he didn't care to rub them. He cried for everyone he had lost.

His father, his mother, his sister, Charles, Edmund and finally...his Cassandra.

And now he was going to lose William too and he wanted to kill himself because of the hurt he felt. He wanted to jump off the roof or hang himself and end his pain forever. The only thing that made him fight hard to avoid these thoughts was the sound of the creak of the stairs and he looked up to see Eliza climbing down.

A look at her face told him that something had happened and he stilled when he remembered the letters.

Eliza had taken the letters from William. She must have read them.

He feared if William had written something about their baby in the letters because that was a fatal future that he didn't want his daughter to know. Not now.

He slammed the cup back, followed her and watched as she opened the door to the guest-room to step in. He followed close and stopped when he reached the door.

She noticed him but didn't pay much attention as she sat beside William's unconscious self and placed a hand on his head, running her fingers through the strands of his messy hair. To his surprise, she leaned in and placed a kiss on his forehead. She took his hand in hers and looked sadly at the blackened skin of his knuckles and placed a kiss on there too.

She started to cry and Harvey stood amazed. He couldn't understand what was happening but then, Eliza spoke.

"Send him back, Papa," she said.

Harvey was shaken by her words. "He doesn't want to go, Eliza," he reminded her.

"He will go. He has to return home," she spoke with difficulty.

"We will risk losing him, Eliza. I'm not saying that he will survive now but it's better than being brain-dead. The force will be too strong."

"I know," she answered in a low and almost inaudible voice. She leaned in again and pressed another kiss on her lover's temple.

"But my love for him is stronger."