Chapter 6: The Angel, who walked in my life.
After a few days, Mr. Keeper asked me to accompany him to shop for the supplies. I thought this was my chance of a small visit to the orphanage in Blackville. I happily accompanied him, while leaving Mrs. Keeper told me, “Now you two boys should behave and be back at home well before supper.” We both smiled and waved our hands. Mr. Keeper drove off swiftly. I was expecting the same route to be taken alongside the sea. It was beautiful and I would just lean on the car door and look at the sea all along the way. We reached the town in quick time. Mr. Keeper was a good man to talk to and usually kept on asking me about my real parents but I told him that I was not aware who they were and till the time I left the orphanage no one had ever come forward to claim me as a son or a relative. We now reached the store and Mr. Keeper after parking the car started walking towards the gate, I said, “Mr. Keeper, if you don’t mind can I visit my old Children’s orphanage and pick up some stuff that I had left behind?”
He said,”Oh yes my dear, do you want me to drive you there?”
I replied, “No that’s fine, I will walk down, it’s two blocks down this road.”
“Very well, I will meet you here in around forty minutes”, he said.
We both went our ways and as I reached the first orphanage I lived at; there was no guard at the front door.
“That’s strange”, I thought. I went inside; the ground hadn’t been maintained at all, till now there was no sign of a human life.
I reached the reception area and found a new face on the front desk. I told him who I was and what I was here for.
He said, “Mr. George is out of town, so you can go and meet your old friends if any.”
I told him that there is a paper of my release that’s on Mr. George’s table, something I made up to get into his office. He agreed to take me to his office. As we made our way to the hall I could remember the days when I used to be here. He unlocked the door and entered the room, I was right behind.
He started looking for it on the table, while I only looked at the wall.
He said, “I don’t see any paper here?”
I replied, “There was a painting here, where is it now?”
He looked back at the empty space at the wall, “Oh that was auctioned out last month.”
I looked at him in surprise and checked, “May I ask, who took it?”
He smiled and said,” There is a wealthy man from the south part of the town.”
I could quickly relate whom he was referring to.
He now guided me out of the room and we reached the front desk, he opened up his register and asked.
“Just for the record, what’s your name?” I was gone.
I made a very quick return back to the car. Mr. Keeper hadn’t come out of the store so I stood by the car thinking, what is my life turning into? Every hint that life gives me is taken away from me before I could even get to know what it meant. Lost in the thoughts I kept on looking at the door of the store. Its door opened up, a bell rang, time stopped and the most beautiful girl I had ever seen walked into my life.
“Let’s go young man!” I came back to my senses.
Mr. Keeper had loaded the stuff on the car and was ready to drive, he had called me and even honked the car horn a few times but I skipped hearing it. By now the girl had vanished in the crowd but my eyes kept on looking in the same direction in anticipation she would reappear. She didn’t and we drove back home. I had fallen in love at first sight. She looked at me, our eyes met and I stood there not knowing what to do? My heart was just stolen and I could not report it missing.
Back at the house I was in a totally different world all together. My eyes were dreamy and I was only looking at my food with admiration but not eating it. Both of them asked me if I was okay but I didn’t reply at all. I looked at them and gave a big smile the one that comes post you go silent after drinking too much.
Mrs. Keeper said, “Son what’s wrong, Honey did you go to the bar after shopping?”
“No, Honey we drove straight back from the store”, he said.
Both of them started giggling at the way I was behaving. John had cooked mouth watering meal of barbequed meat with veggies on the side, but I didn’t feel the taste and even drank two glasses of the wine which I had never drunk before. In the reading time too I just dreamt of her, those few seconds she made her way out of the store and till she vanished into the crowd. Mrs. Keeper said “I think our boy met some lovely lady at the Market today, did he?”
Mr. Keeper looked at me, “Did you son? You should have called me to meet her?”
I realized what they were talking about and quickly smiled back trying the cover up my behavior.
“No not at all.” Just then John also entered and said, “One love pudding coming up.” all of us burst into laughter.
In bed that night I could hardly sleep, my eyes wide opened I kept on dreaming of her, the way her hair waved at me, the way she smiled at me, the way she looked down after our eyes met. It was perfect; I believe she would have been of the same age group. I was determined to see this girl again, rest everything could wait. I kept on dreaming of her throughout the night, in the early hours of a cold morning when I could dream no longer with my eyes open and fell asleep. My dream in the few hours I got to sleep was not a happy one as I saw a massacre. I was in a midst of a battlefield and I was telling the soldiers of each side when they were to die, the battle kept on going for days and nights.
The next moment I saw what looked like Mr. & Mrs. Keeper trying to wake me looking very worried, even John stood behind them checking for any sign of consciousness on my face. I woke up and found all of them around my bed, there was another man in the room.
He looked like the doctor. “What happened?” I said.
Mrs. Keeper replied, “Oh son, we got so worried, thank God you woke up.”
The Doctor checked my pulse and went downstairs with Mr. Keeper.
John said, “Master Mark is there something I can get you?”
I replied, “Yes John, my stomach is begging for food.”
He smiled and said,” I will just fix up a good meal for you”, as he left the room.
I looked at Mrs. Keeper who was still weeping, “What’s wrong, Mother?”
She burst into more tears and said,” Oh Mark, we thought we lost you; you slept for thirteen days and night. All the doctors could not understand what was wrong with you, someone suggested you were in a coma, some said you were possessed, Oh I was so worried.”
I could not understand this. I recalled what happened?
I tried to comfort her and said, “I am alright.”
As I got up and tried to walk towards the restroom, I fell on the floor. My body had grown weak of malnutrition for so many days. Mrs. Keeper supported me and called for Mr. Keeper; both of them rushed upstairs and supported me back on my bed.
The doctor said, “Young man, did you consume any kind of a drug or any other medication, thirteen days ago?”
I looked at him, “No, all I remember was sleeping a bit late and then I woke up today morning.”
“May I ask if you were having a dream where you were counting days, hours and even seconds sometimes because after every interval you kept on saying two days, five minutes, three seconds and so on”
I quickly replied “No not at all” avoiding looking him in the eye.”
“Well I have written a few medicines here that you need to take and you need to visit me in town for the next complete week every day.”
John who just entered replied “I will take care of that for Master Mark” The Doctor left and Mr. Keeper accompanied him.
John served me the meal on my bed, I hogged on it like I had never eaten. There was roast meat topped up with lemon and fries and a loaf of bread. After a few minutes I realized I was eating like a pig and then got sober but the emotions of Mrs. Keeper and John were too deep to notice and they were just too happy to ha
ve me.
I wondered if I will ever see that girl. I decided to sleep as I would not want to repeat what happened. Surprisingly I only dreamt of one death. The next day I was able to walk a bit and decided to go to the balcony as it was a sunny day, I made my way to the balcony and leaned on the wall. Mr. and Mrs. Keeper were on the balcony below, holding hands and staring into the sea.
Theirs was an eternal love and I wished to one day have the same bond with the girl I met.