Archangel’s Grace

Trust in me.
Alex’s voice lingered in her head as her slender fingers fluttered fervidly across the piano, a mesmerising arrangement infusing the chilly room with melodic warmth. Usually she loved playing the piano but this time her hands were automatic and detached – the melody bringing no calm and the chords no harmony, for her mind was elsewhere.

Her eyes were lost in their ebony reflection of the Pearl River, staring through their dark counterparts, falling into the tumultuous seas of her heart and soul where pain and paranoia presided.

It had been seven temperamental months since they had confessed their love to each other, and from that moment she had been plagued by swarms of public opinion and scathing rumours. At first she resisted against the remarks and comments, but slowly they seeped into the sanctuary of her mind and corrupted her core.
Recently he had been distant and seemed preoccupied. She was worried that he was losing his love for her, maybe searching for someone else. No, that could not be possible. But then again, he had started coming home suspiciously late, ‘working overtime’.
Abruptly, the click of the door shattered her thoughts and with startling clarity she felt her silver necklace burn cold against her heated skin. All of a sudden she felt all alone, her frigid fears cascading around her, freezing her movements.

“Anna?”
Alex eased his satchel onto the counter with a weary sigh. It has been a frustrating month but it will finally come to an end, he thought, throwing down his keys. He just needed the right time to tell her.
He peered past the archway into the other room. Anna was replacing the lid and he took the time to appreciate her gracefulness and physique, the radiance of her presence, before she swivelled to face him. But the deep, sunken look in her eyes betrayed a disturbed mind, the achromasia catching him off guard.

Something was wrong.

She saw the way he flinched at her, an unrepressed reaction of distaste. It was all too much. Anna felt malice consuming her mind, hatred overriding her senses. She despised something in him that was part of her – their connection, their bond. Loathed how he completed her. How he had twisted her thoughts, fooled her feelings and mocked her mind.
“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?!” she clipped venomously, head bowed, eyes unwilling to make contact with his. There was a stunned silence and in her mind she saw him with his trademark grin. The arrogance!
“What am I to you? Some plaything? Something as expendable as your pirated movies? Am I even human in your eyes? Or just another disposable thing? I want to be your equal – not a sequel! What am I to you?”
A bitter silence ensued, broken only by her erratic breaths.
“Why are you so unfaithful? Why do you lie to me? It’s like you don’t love me anymore! You hardly speak to me and it’s hard to be intimate with you. I don’t want to be your pet, someone who waits on your beck and call. Tell me what’s going on!”
Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for an answer. Any answer would be better than none, just some response to sedate her raging mind. Something to cure the sickening blight inside her.

“Anna, I…”
Her eyes snapped up, catching Alex’s as he stalked backwards, confusion wracked upon his once carefree features. There was lurid tint in his eyes, a look she knew all too well. The look of fear.
Ironically, it was his fear that caught her off guard. That unexpected reaction, that non verbal answer that questioned all her beliefs. She faltered, rage dissipating, as her love withdrew back out the door.
Her slight frame quivered as she began to comprehend her rash actions. What if she just did what she dreaded most? What if it was her paranoia that broke them apart? Maybe he was not having an affair and he really was working overtime. After all, she had been telling him to be more diligent.

Blinking back tears, she suddenly registered her incompleteness and staggered weakly towards the door. No longer blinded by her fears, she hoped it was not too late to tell him what she really felt. Resolutely she flung the door open, desperate for his presence.

Her heart leapt as she caught sight of a familiar figure, impassive against the car door, hand slack on the handle. It seemed he was in torment with himself, both wanting to leave and wanting to stay. Alex might still love her!
“Alex! Please don’t go! I still need you. I’m sorry! I said things I didn’t mean! Please forgive me!”Anna cried passionately.
He turned to her, his stoic features softening in understanding. As she tried to embrace him, her heart stopped as the scene faded – merely the manifestation of her desperate hopes.

In an epiphany, she realized that the anguish in her was not because she hated him, but how she was too scared to tell him how much he was needed. Refusing to lose her love, Anna tearfully stumbled into the middle of the desolate street, veiled in chilling fog, tainted by darkness. She stared from one end to the other, each one engulfed by the unknown. In the deathly silence she vociferated his name in mourning, in prayer.

Alex hit the clutch and downshifted his Murciélago as he turned the corner. He would have to show her instead of tell her. He mused how well she would understand his feelings.
Distracted by his thoughts, he just registered someone standing right in the middle of the road. Caught like a deer in the headlights.
Anna.
Instinctively, he handbraked and snapped the wheel sharply to the right. Torque gripped his car and it careened wildly across the street and flipped, but Alex’s sole attention was on Anna.

Too late.

Tha-thud
Anna’s eyes fluttered open, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. Was this heaven? She felt something stir next to her and turned to see Alex a metre away, confined to a bed as well. It was a hospital. His eyes caught hers and held her gaze.
Tha-thud
“Forgive me, Alex. I needed you so much I was afraid to lose you. I just didn’t want you to think I was nothing to you.”
Tha-thud
“You’re everything to me, Anna. You opened my eyes to so much. You stayed by me when I screwed up.”
His hand slid over hers and grasped it lovingly. She could feel something between them – a ring.
“You are all my love. Forever.”
A smile crept upon the pair of lovers.
Tha-

Silence.