Secrets Of The Dark

As her lips murmured on, the rapidity and aggression increasing as time passed, his anxiety built up, and his nervousness increased. He had to do something – now! This was getting way out of control.

She had been asleep by his side for quite some time, but she was not really sleeping. Her brow was pulled together, her face seemed to be in pain and her eyes were tightly shut. Her lips were constantly saying something inaudible – almost like a chant, and her legs kicked at something invisible to Aryan’s eyes. Yes, she was not entirely asleep; she had been having nightmares every time she tried to relieve her tired eyes and weary body from the pain of being forced into becoming an insomniac. Yes, they haunted her every night, haunted her to the extent that she had almost forgotten what it felt like to have a sound sleep.

They said that it was the horrors of her past that kept coming back to her. Every night she relived the most inhumane experience she had been subjected to 3 years back. She still felt the touch of that masked monster's fingers on her bare skin; she could still see him strip her off her clothes and push her onto that sinful bed. Yes, she still heard herself scream out in pain as he repeatedly punished her for being a woman. She wanted to push him off, she wanted him to stop, but even in her dreams, her attacker overpowered her and relished his feast the way a lion would relish a petty lamb.

It would seem that she had grown out of that horrid experience. During the day, she would come across as just another beautiful 24 year old aspiring for success in her life. But no, time wasn't enough to heal all her scars. As night fell, her fears overpowered her.

 As she struggled in his arms, Aryan felt that he should have been used to this by now – used to watching her inflict pain on herself, used to watching her cry every night, used to spending every night holding her tight and slowly watching her crumble in front of his eyes. But he wasn’t. How could he ever get used to watching his obsession succumbing to her painful past every time the sun set?

But she was not the only one who remembered that evening clearly. It was also the day that had completely changed Aryan's life. It was the day when he had finally won her over. The day when she had been weak, and his strength had made her fall for him. He could still exactly recollect how she had been sitting in one corner, her eyes red, her clothes torn... How he had turned into her hero when he had given her his support when it came to facing the society and how he had then easily made her fall for him.

Until that eve, she wasn't even aware of his existence, but he? Oh he had always been crazy about her. He had looked at her everyday through his window, seen her go to work, waited at the window again when it was time for her to be home. She could be any man's desire! She was a breath of raw sensuality, and now, she belonged to him.

He did remember that day clearly. He had waited at his window to watch her return, but she was late that eve, and it was pretty dark when he saw her walking down the lane towards her building. He could just see her silhouette; the fog and the lack of streetlights were playing a dirty game with his eyes. It is then when he realized that he couldn't watch her from his window forever; he couldn't be a lonely secret admirer anymore. He had to get her attention. He had to show his feelings to her or else he would lose her forever. So he picked up his coat and scarf and stepped into the starry night and crept his way into her balcony...

An hour later, he was back in his apartment. He could still hear her cry out in pain, and as he looked into the mirror, he saw his cold blooded eyes staring back at him. His lips curled into a smile as he unwrapped the scarf he had used as a mask, and he shrugged out of his torn coat. His desire had been fulfilled. Her beauty had bowed down to his strength.

As he held her tightly, he thought of how blessed he was. His muse would never think that the strongest pillar of her life today had once been her ruthless masked attacker. The lamb had fallen in love with the lion that had once crippled it.