The Kidnapped Bride

"But this is what we call life.."

Her words brought a sighing smile on his face, "No one waits for you, neither do time. At one time, you will have to move one, and have to accept that whatever happened was meant to happen."

Hearing his words, Jennifer immediately turned her eyes towards his face to see him relaxed. Imagine how he was able to control his sentiments so perfectly?

'Probably, under the fake smile and grin.. which is also messy, hiding his emotions.' This thought stuck in her mind to understand that she too held secrets, in the deepest darkest corner of his soul.

"You said you have.. seen similar things thrice. One done. afterward?" Javier once again reminded her so the conversation also moves ahead.

As he was driving back home, he knew that there was not much distance left.

Now that Jennifer had opened up her heart, she has now decided to let go of this perfectly, in the right manner, and finally, letting herself out is the only way to decrease her guilt and built up walls.

"Well…" Jennifer kept her elbow on the window and held her head from the side, "The second time when I was a teenager. Not very young but yeah, I had an understanding of things. Since my brother was born, the attention in my family was shifted to him and he has given priority."

"To not feel such a thing as loneliness, I started going to a nearby park to have swings and play with other mates. At this point I met a lady, she was old. Most likely in her old seventies." 

As the story progressed, Javier noticed her getting a little bit better, at least not that emotional as the last time she was.

'Maybe, now that she recalled at least one incident, her courage to speak out has overpowered her fears too..'

Averting her gaze outside, she started talking without making any eye contact, "The lady was very kind to me in the park. As I had no grandparents, I started being close to her. She was too sweet and kind to me.. since her own grandchildren were not in the country and her children weren't on good terms either."

"When I told about her to my mother, she told me that she was our neighbor. The old lady's house was very near to me, I believe leaving one house from the left, next one was hers."

While reminiscing all the past memories, a sleepy smile curved on her face.

The lady's face was still very much fresh in her mind, to recall how sweet gestures she hard to show despite being not her biological relative.

"Later on, I started going to her house and she loved me as her child too. My parents never objected to me, they were too busy to do so. Yet.. one day.. when I was departing to her house.. after completing my homework, saw an ambulance standing there... in front of her house and a siren over it..."

Javier gulped the saliva when she spoke the last comment.

A thick layer of sweat was formed on his face yet it wasn't clearly visible since there was no light in the car.

He kept on driving but with a lot of calmness but no one can deny that with her fear coming out, he can recall his horrible experience when he was a teenager too… where he lost his loved ones and his.. dear.. forget about it.

"I.. I.. knew that.. something is wrong. To learn more about the situation, I asked one of the men standing there in the most innocent voice when he replied to me while crying that the lady is no more.."

"I… was shocked at time moment. I was totally blank to think anything at all. I could see how the staff carried the lady on the stretcher and… took her in the ambulance itself."

A flicker of tear escaped her eyes when she tried to focus outside of the window, with the flicker of lights and not to dwell much on those horrible memories.

Not trying to hide the tears, from Javier, she let the streams of tears drip off at once but not too many appeared.

"The lady.. died but how? and so suddenly?"

Javier added and in return, she replied, "She slipped from the stairs and rolled. Too much blood loss remains the same and no one was there to take her to hospital."

'It was such a loss…' Javier thought about the times whenever he sees someone old and not living with their children when they are really prone to such incidents.

Slightly coughing and not letting his sentiments take a toll on him, he asks further, "But.. it wasn't in your hand too, Jennifer. It was God who decided.."

"But why did God directly take those away from me with whom I was having good and friendly terms..who were the part of my dear life. Anything you say?" Hearing her clear-cut question, Javier's lips turned into a straight line.

With the lack of response from his side, Jennifer brushed it off by saying, "Leave that. The third time… was when I was in university. It was the time when I sharing a really close bond with one of my friends.. She was my best friend, being with her all the time and we were really close."

"Everyone used to say that we would really marry each other if one of us wasn't straight. but.. things aren't done as we think. When we used to imagine a forever friendship, my best friend.. made a horrible mistake."

When she started narrating the story, Javier's lips turned chillier.

His grip on the steering wheel tightened, as he knew what he was going to say further… realizing what he had witnessed himself back in those days.

Continuing, she added, "We were on the road.. crossing it when a car came with a high speed and was about to make me fly in the sky but my best friend… pushed me to the other side.." 

"She died on the spot, right?"

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