Life is a mystery. As I trudged very slowly across the deserted little road to my apartment, I was pondering and pondering. Many events occurred so fast in the last two months that I could barely recount all of them at this moment. My eyes were pointing to the muddy steps that soaked my shabby leather shoes, but they were staring at something far beyond. The gentle wind carried my mind away from the place where I was walking to a place nearby. It was a place where all my gratitude and happiness were buried together. Deep inside the fresh soil, there lied the decomposing body of the one I loved the most. Everybody suggested my delusion was very common for someone who had just lost his fiancée last week. However, since she was gone, time had been rolling so slowly and every minute when I was recalling my sweet memories with her felt like eternity.
Anyway, life is supposed to go on. It was too strange to notice the reaction of the people around me. My colleagues in the office venerated me for being water-tight against this tragedy. On the other hand, my family had to hire a philosopher-consultant to cheer my sole soul. However, nothing affected me. Being cheerful to life had been too irrational for me. I chose to indulge myself in innumerable tasks and deadlines to keep myself away from the cruel memory. I had to stop asking ‘why’ and ‘what if’. It was time to move on.
I was near to the giant Banyan Tree who had been standing there even before the birth of this nation. With its enormous roots whose contour resembled snakes in some ways and huge, recalcitrant trunk, I never doubted that it was the true survivor, not me. My feet detected that there was a hole in my shoes. I could feel the muddy water from the wet soil coming in and causing me to shiver. I put my arms across my chest, tried to keep myself warm, but I ended up staggering. Suddenly, there was something inside my mind urging me to surrender. I was about to fall to the ground when my blurry eyes immediately noticed something.
There was a translucent silhouette of a figure of a man under the Banyan Tree’s titanic branches. Though everything was vague, I still could identify the long hair that covered up the figure’s head. The hair was very long and uncombed as if it was never washed for hundreds of years. The rest remained unnoticeable. Furthermore, I thought that the figure was so short; perhaps the figure was sitting on the gigantic roots. My nascent curiosity aroused. I could not help myself to approach the figure. I inched one step while contemplating what the use of accosting someone in the middle of the night, then I stopped my way. Hesitation, angst and suspicion mixed my rational judgment. My body was too vulnerable to anticipate any criminal offences if that figure turned out to be something very unpleasant. I deemed not to directly greet the figure but to lurk to the near bushes to observe the figure more. Hence, I crouched and very quietly swayed my ankles to the front. As I attempted to strengthen my left leg, a very terrible thing happened. My cell phone dropped to the wet soil from my trouser’s left pocket. I nearly shrieked but luckily I could shut my mouth. The sound of gentle splashes of the water spill could be heard. My phone was then soaked and might be spoiled just now. I twiddled my arm, extended my left arm to grab the miserable phone.
Suddenly, I could hear the sound of the steps of the people stamping towards me. The figure was roving to my frozen body. I could not express what I felt at that moment. My nerve was strained and my body vigorously trembled. A mysterious chill spread over my skin and it caused the hairs on my skin to unpleasantly stand upwards. The figure was getting nearer. I became more nervous. The figure was only centimetres from my body now. What could I do? Fight or flee?
Everything changed soon after the figure became more visible. It was a woman, or at least it looked like a women if I still remembered what a woman looked like. This stranger accosted me, waved her hand to me who was watching in astonishment. And I could hear her soft voice rumbled rather unclearly.
‘Excuse me. Do you have any idea where we are right now?’ she mumbled.
For an aeon I had no answer. I was still absorbed with her presence. Her voice touched my conscience and memory. I roamed back to check whether I knew that beautiful voice or not and terrible ended up with the figure of my fiancée.
‘Sir, are you alright?’ she asked me louder after I stoned.
‘Yeah... I... I mean... I am... alright... Miss....’ I stammered. My body was still wobbling.
‘Could you please help me to find my way to the main street?’ she implored with the most luring voice I had ever heard this century.
I could perceive her body’s shape and her arms resting on her waist now, but I was still unable to see her face. The night was too dark without the moonlight. The air was then arid but it deterred me to gaze clearly. I was too weak to reject her demands. After all, nothing was wrong to accompany an unlucky girl only as far as to the main street. I could turn back and still be in home before midnight.
‘Okay, Miss’. They were the only words I could say.
I quickly snatch my wet phone, put it inside my pocket and stood tall. She was a bit shorter than me. I could observe some of her hair resting on her shoulders. Her hair really annoyed me for it was very messy and so peculiarly long it covered up most of her face. I continued to scrutinize her from head to toe. She should be around my age, probably a university undergraduate who was studying in a university nearby. Her body was beautiful and slim. I was fascinated to learn that she only wore a simple pink tank-top to cover her torso. Her yellow skirt was dirty and full of nodes, probably muddy soils. The skirt covered her smooth and long leg. I knew what was going in my mind at that moment. I was imagining her as.....
‘Sir, can’t we just move on now?’
I was shocked by her sentence. It woke me up from my wild fantasy. I vigorously nodded my head and started to walk to the direction of the main street. There were no words left to speak. Though my bare feet were tortured with the cold muddy water, I somehow found energy to walk. She was following behind my back. Her aura was so strong that I lost my confidence. All the ordeals and misery evaporated. What was going on now was me, responsible for the life of a woman that I just met, leading her to the main street. The sky was still dim without any stars, but I found passion and guiding stars inside my heart. Unreasonable happiness just sneaked in and gave me hopes: hopes beyond any hopes....
She was still trotting behind me. I could barely hear her steps and often looked at my back to check whether she was still catching up with me. She seemed to acquire a pretty good sight, better than mine. I still could not identify her face but I thought she was smiling sweetly every time I looked at her. Though her hair was in a chaotic condition, her body smelled a beautiful aroma that tranquilized my mind, like the aroma of a garland. How long had I not been admiring the wonderful smell of roses which were the best thing ever exist on this earth?
Finally, we reached our destination, the edge of the main street. I turned my body back and faced her. Our eyes met, flying me far to the skies and brushing all my wounds.
‘Thank you for accompanying me here. I am so fortunate to have a gentleman like you to protect me. I know the direction from this place and I think I can finally find the way on my own,’ she spoke with such an irresistible charm.
‘Are you sure you do not need my company now?’ I asked, a bit disappointed to know she preferred continuing her journey alone.
‘I reckon I can make it.’
‘Okay. That means... it’s a goodbye then.’ I grumbled softly so I hope she could not notice my disappointment.
Unpredictably, she moved closer towards my ears, lifted her head and whispered.
‘It is not the place where either you or I will be alone. When you are still trapped in the shadow called the past, you are always destined to be not there.’
I could not understand what those words meant. What I knew was she quickly disappeared somewhere to the windy road. I only blinked my eyes for a second but she was gone now. How fast she walked compared to when I was with her just now! I even had not asked for her number. I turned my body all around, seeking for her prominent figure to appear somewhere in the middle of the road, but found nothing.
I checked my pocket to locate my phone. It was not there. My mood quickly changed again. I rushed to search all over my body for the phone. I rigorously shook my weary shirt, pant and even took off my shoes. The phone was not there.
I suddenly received a glimpse from my logical mind: the woman was a thief! She deceived me to walk together with her so she could find the opportunity to steal my phone. My God, what a stupendous feat she had done! How could I be so easily tricked by such a stranger? And why did she choose me? I was still languishing and now I had to experience a big lost again. I had no enough money to purchase a new phone.
I cursed and vibrantly stamped my feet repeatedly on the road. My mind was occupied with suspicions and worries while my body unconsciously brought me away from the main street. I totally had no idea where I was going, but it seemed that my body automatically headed somewhere.
I found all the answers of that night only in a minute. I felt like I kicked something on the ground, so I bent my body downwards to check it. It was my phone. Yeah, it was truly my phone, definitely. And there was a ring lying beside it. It was a gold wedding ring. I could recognize it because it shone although the night was very dark.
I snatched the ring and clutched it tightly to my palm. I opened my eyes to identify the characteristics. The shape, size and material seemed to be the same with the ring I wore in my left hand. I raised my left hand to compare. The ring was surprisingly identical to mine. I had totally lost my attention to my phone right now. I continued to try to read the engraved words on the ring in the middle of the darkness.
In a heartbeat, I was shocked and petrified.
There were my name....
and my fiancée’s name....