Broken Hearts and Blue Veins🩵 (Part 5/5)

CHAPTER NINE: 

I leave for the hospital akin those 10 days I have been doing. In the last six years of me knowing Achilles, yesterday was the first day I saw him without any bandages. I had succeeded in bringing my Achilles back into life. I was so glad about it. While walking on the road, I saw a bookstall and decided to buy Achilles a new book. Something he will like more. After surfing through the books for several minutes, I lay my hands on a book related to Greek mythology. His favourite. I buy it without any second thought. I didn’t walk to the hospital; I flew to the hospital. I flew in Achilles’s love. 

On reaching the hospital, I search for Achilles but don’t find him in the store room. That was strange. I asked a nurse about him so she told me that Achilles had gone to the closed cafeteria wing a few mins ago. I go there. I directly go to the terrace because I know Achilles would be there only. As I walked along the rugged coastal path, the wind whispered through my hair, carrying with it a salty tang that filled the air. The crashing waves below provided a symphony of soothing sounds, reminding me of the vastness and beauty of the ocean. With each step, my heart grew lighter, until I caught sight of him. There he stood, solitary and motionless, at the edge of the towering cliff. My breath hitched in my chest, and a cold shiver ran down my spine. A sense of foreboding washed over me, gripping me tightly as the realisation dawned upon my troubled mind. 

It was him—Achilles, the person who filled my life with joy and love. But now, in this moment, he seemed like a mere silhouette, disconnected from the world around him. His body language told a story of profound sadness and despair, his shoulders slumped, and his gaze fixed on the abyss before him. As I approached cautiously, my heart pounding in my chest, I called out to him. "Achilles!" My voice trembled, carrying both fear and urgency. The sound echoed through the vastness of the cliff, mixing with the crashing waves below. 

He turned towards me; his eyes filled with a desolation I had never seen before. The anguish etched upon his face broke my heart into a thousand pieces. "Achilles, please!" I pleaded; my voice laced with desperation. "Don't do this. You're not alone. We can face it together.” Tears welled up in my eyes as I reached out to grab his hand, to remind him of the love we shared, of the beauty that life still held for us. But he pulled away, his gaze drifting back to the vast expanse of the ocean below. The wind seemed to howl in response, as if mirroring the turmoil in my heart. The world around us stood still, as if holding its breath, waiting for the outcome of this tragic encounter. I searched within myself, summoning all the strength and love I had, desperately trying to reach the depths of his wounded soul. 

"Achilles, look at me," I implored, my voice barely a whisper. "I love you. I can't imagine my life without you. Please, let me help you carry this burden. Together, we can find a way." 

For a fleeting moment, his gaze flickered back towards me, a flicker of recognition and longing in his eyes. The battle between hope and despair waged within him, evident in the furrowed lines on his forehead. He was in tears too. 

While sobbing he said, “I tried, Sapphira. Trust me. I tried my best. But I can’t anymore. Now as I am standing here at the end of the cliff, I wonder. Wonder when all your life you could feel people, would you feel my veins burst and my skull smash against the ground, too?” 

And I no longer could see him. 

In the end where I could feel everyone's pain but failed to feel his pain thinking there wasn’t any. He had tried to carry his own pain his whole life, but the fact was that he only had two arms and one broken heart. 

Yes, I can feel everyone's pain, but only one person's pain caused this doleful narrative to be written. And that person is none other than me.