Star-Crossed Love

As the rhythmic patter of rain drops on the window created a gentle melody, she sought solace in reminiscing about a time long gone — a time when her heart knew love's warm embrace.

She closed her eyes and let her mind wander back to they days when a love had blossomed in her barren heart, for once making her mundane life as chromatic as the garden next door in spring. A face appeared on the curtain of her mind and her heart fluttered for a moment before pain took over.

She opened her eyes, two pairs of dark voids staring at the window pane but before she could see the streaks painted by the rain drops and think of which one was going to win the race — like her younger self — tears blurred her vision.

The memories of a star-crossed love flooded her mind, stirring her heart with nostalgia and longing of what was and what could have been. It wasn't a "I looked at you and thought this is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with" kind of love. Infact, she didn't believe in love at first sight.

She wasn't even looking for someone when she found him and eventually love knocked onto the door of her relentless heart that she had sealed shut. Was it the sweetness of his words, the calmness of his personality or the care accentuated in his actions that made her fall for him, she could never figure that out.

She wasn't expecting him to be her knight in a shining armor but someone whose shoulder she could cry on and whose hand she was ready to hold through thick and thin. He was the man that made her feel like a full grown woman without having to suppress her inner child.

But before she could experience the joys of love and life, fate chose a different path, a rather harsh one, leading them to different roads. Circumstances beyond her control spiraled her into a maze of unrequited love — one she didn't know the way out of.

All she knew was that prayers could avert every trouble in her path. All she believed was that her love was strong enough to withstand the tests of time and distance. But little did she know, to him, she was now nothing more than a distant memory in his mind, almost lost in the mists of time. He had never confessed that but that's what his actions had made her mind to believe, even though her heart was in revolt.

In a distance, a flash of lightening illuminated the darkened sky and a thunder that seemed to mimic the rage within her brought her out of her trance of thoughts.

Before she could think any further, the door of her room opened with a bang and in came Anne, cheerful as ever, although beneath that pleasant exterior, laid a hidden ache — the memory of a doomed romance that had slipped through Anne's fingers like sand. That was probably what they both had bonded on, deceased love.

"You have been crying again!", Anne said giving her a disappointed look, embracing her in a hug before she could make up an excuse. Together, they acknowledged the heartache and sadness, allowing vulnerability to knit them closer together, after all, who could have known pain inflicted by love and loss better two hearts that had to cage a love that once knew no bounds.

"A rainbow!", Anne, being herself squealed in excitement, pointing towards the seven colours painted on the sky outside the window. The rain had stopped and sun was shinning behind the black curtain of clouds.

That was probably what she needed to see at that moment, the light at the end of tunnel she was stuck in. Finding the meaning of life in the smallest of things was her thing.

"There will be a bright day at the end of this long, dark night.", she said, with a renewed hope and Anne gave her a confused look.

"This isn't the end but a stepping stone to a new chapter, one where, hopefully, life will decide to favour us for once.", she explained.

"That's what I have been telling you!", Anne replied, ignoring the pang in her heart from the thought of embracing love again.

Outside, the sun was now shining with all its might, as if it knew that the girls beside the window were two resilient hearts, that could find beauty in the rain and hope in the rainbows that followed, even at times when memories were bittersweet and future was uncertain.

This piece of writing is very close to my heart

since its based on real life events

. Initially, I wrote it as a one-shot but should I continue writing more?