Lovers Never Die...

"I was not more than sixteen at that time when the incident took place. It literally changed my whole life or rather diverted it from the normal one. That was the day I met her. So as I said, I was barely sixteen and studying in the eleventh. I was to give my boards the next year. The month was that of January, as far as I remember, the exact date I can't recall. So I had to go to school every day by bicycle, down the winding paths of Dehra. Although it was the same sight every single day, it never failed to amaze me. The never-ending line of Fir and Chir trees, the narrow, pitch-colored road, the swift, cutting breeze which made my cheeks go numb, the sweet chirping. All these made going to school alluring."

"School though was a completely different matter. I cannot remember even a single interesting memory from my school life. All these had become monotonous when one day, while going to school, by the same path, I found this shepherd-girl, with about half a dozen sheep, treading down the path. I wouldn't have given her a second thought had I noticed her ice-blue eyes, as I cycled past her. I felt as if I was struck by lightning. My hands go numb and the brakes also wouldn't work What happened next is obvious. I fell from my cycle at the next turn. Seeing me fall down, she chuckled, and oh, after hearing that, all other sounds seemed like noises. She was standing at about a couple of feet away from me and I saw her blue eyes, filled with glint. I stood up, ashamed, and went up to her, my cycle still left fallen on the ground.

'Why are you laughing?' I asked, trying to put on some authority.

'Then should I cry?' she countered. Then she again started chuckling.

By that time blood had flushed every part of my face. I could feel the heat rising from my cheeks to my forehead.

'What's so funny to laugh at, may I know?' I asked again.

I noticed she was around my age and had chestnut brown hair. Her blue eyes looked even more beautiful on her sculptured face. Ah yes, her pale skin piqued my interest but not for long.

'It's just that I don't find someone who goes and forgets to turn on the bend and ending up sprawled on the road every day" she shrugged, but a smirk lingered on her face.

She had a shawl draped around her, the sheep were flocking around her. Well, time seemed to slow down, as she stared into my eyes with her curious ones.

'Don't you have to go to school?' she asked, breaking the contact.

A look at my watch declared that I was well late for school. If I had then gone to school, I would have been punished and if I had gone home, I had to give a plausible explanation and surely the truth was not at all plausible.

'Well, I think that bunking school sometimes is not injurious to health. What's your say?' I urged her.

'I think one should have a good reason for bunking' she said, smiling mischievously.

'Then I think I have a perfect one...' i said, looking at her.

She blushed. We were till then talking in the middle of the road.

"Oh shit, I forgot to ask your name. So what's your name, miss?'

'Umm...Ria, and your's sir?'

'Ron, it's Ronojoy cut short.'

'Oooo, I see.' was her reply.....

'So, are you a resident here?' I continued questioning her.

We were then walking by the side road, my cycle in between us, her sheep in front.

'Yeah, I have been here since my birth, livin' with my gran.' her voice suddenly had a note of sadness.

'I never saw you before, but then I have here for only a few months. The doctors had recently found that I have a weak heart and my grandparents made me come here, away from the pollution of the city.' I explained it to her.

'But I saw you quite a few times, rather I see you every day, as you go to school by this road...'

"Then why haven't I seen you before?' I asked, perplexed.

'Because I chose not to show myself.' she replies silently.

'Huh?'

'Nothing...Anyways I've to go now, my gran is alone at home.' And after she said those, she vanished in the thick grove of the trees.

'So can we meet tomorrow?' I asked, not sure if she had heard me.

'Maybe...' her voice came floating from somewhere among the trees.

That day I had gone home with a smile plastered on my face."

"So after that day we met quite a few times and to make a long story short, we eventually fell in love with each other, not that physical kind of love, but that staring at each other's eyes, walking side by side, that kind of love. We used to take long walks and that day too was no different, well, only at the beginning."

"That day we took to walking in the woods. Her sweet voice made all other voices tasteless. She said that she lived with her gran and her sheep in the woods. As we entered, all her sheep left her.

'Don't worry, they will come back when I call for them.' she said after seeing my quizzical eyes.

'Well, I have been living alone since a long time. My parents died in a car accident when I was very young.' I said, as a matter of fact-ly.

'I'm so sorry, Ron' Her voice filled with sympathy.

'No, no, don't be. I don't even remember my parents very well, I was probably only a couple of years old' I said, my hands at the back, clasped.

We were then deep inside the woods. I saw a trail of smoke rising up. Panic seized me. A forest fire was not uncommon there. Seeing my fear, she quickly put a hand on my arm to reassure me but her touch was so cold that it made me jump away from her. She acted as if nothing had happened. I was getting suspicious.

'It's my gran's cottage, we live there.' she said, looking at the cottage. We again started walking, towards it."

"We reached the cottage in another minute. We found no one inside.

'Maybe she is out collecting wood...' Ria mused.

There was a small flower bed at the back of the cottage and very pretty flowers were there whose names I knew not. A little far away I saw some kind of tomb.

'Who builds tombs in the middle of the forest?' I thought to myself.

Turning to ask whose it was, I found that Ria was not there. Thinking that she might have gone to look for her gran, I went to have a look at it. As I neared it, I could see words, or epitaph. Written clearly on it were the words: I, Ria Roy, welcome you, stranger.

Below it was written: Birth-Aug, 25,1991; Death-April, 25,2006.

I felt my eyes blackening, my head started to cloud. I don't what happened next."

"When I opened my eyes, I saw Ria and an old woman, probably her gran, standing over me. It took me a moment to recollect everything. Upon remembering, I started crawling away from then. The memory of the past few weeks with her went floating by my eyes. it struck me then it was all an illusion. the pain of heartbreak seized me more than the fear.

'You are dead, you aren't human.' I fumbled with my words.

'As if you are something different, now' she added. she started walking towards me, in slow steps.

'See, Ron, now we are the same, nothing can separate us.' she continued speaking.

I couldn't understand what she was telling. I was only thinking about how I could escape from there. Then, as I was crawling backward, I hit something cold and stiff. I turned around to face my own self, the only difference was that there was no life in it. It was then that I understood my weak heart couldn't take that much of a shock and it failed me." I finish, smiling.

"That's how I met Ria some twenty years ago."We are now all sitting in that small cottage of Ria with about Six more pairs like us, mostly of our age. Today they had wanted to know how I had met Ria and so I told them the story.

"Hey, you missed our kissing part." Ria, says from far behind and instantly whistling starts, some even nudges me. To change the spotlight away from me I say, "So tomorrow we are going to hear Aryan and Kavya, ok guys?" and all start cheering....