Time flies, people often say. It heals, they say. What they often forget is that time is but a small part of the equation. Our actions are the catalyst. Ours and those of the people surrounding us.

 

How many dreams had he seen? How many sand castles had he built? He would be the king of the world and he had chosen his queen. He was a hard working man, was he not? He was burning the midnight oil to make hay while the sun shone, was he not? Well, here he was, quoting proverbs again!

Was that wrong, all that he did? Did he not give her the attention she deserved? No, he was certain that couldn’t be it.. He had striven to give his all. He all but poured his soul into her.

So much time spent with her, and he still didn’t see it coming, how, he would never know. Was there something different – in the looks she gave him, the dark circles under her eyes, the slight shrillness and shiver in the moan that escaped her lips as they made love, the distance that seemed to have formed between them.

Was he the one at fault? he was there through it all, wasn’t he? He was.

Time flies, and heals. But it is just a small part of the complex equation catalyzed by our actions. Human actions – her actions, of course. She had called him to the terrace of her apartment. There was a visible fright in her eyes and she seemed to be shrouded in the wrap of guilt. She told him she had found someone else. She had told him that the person, a name he could not seem to remember, was better than he was, understood her better than him, loved her more. How was that even possible?

Were all these months a lie?Was he imaging the time they spent? Was she thinking about that person when she was with him, in the cinemas, at the beach, or even in bed? All the time she had told him she loved him, was it all in his head? When had she stopped being his and started being someone else’s?

Time flies indeed. It flies until it goes by like a cyclone, with us stranded in its eye. He had so many unanswered questions as he stood alone on that terrace… He needed answers. He had to ask her. He should ask her soon, shouldn’t he? He should ask her now.

A gentle breeze blew past as silence enveloped the night. Time rolled by, one seconds hand at a time… 

tick tock, tick tock, tick tock …… THUD….

The end.