VII

Noah, was now standing, at the tree’s backside. He could not find anything there. As he looked up in the sky, found his quivering body being covered in goosebumps , the hair on his arms standing up. Up in the sky, was a black colored figure, whose edges had tremendous amount of light. This figure was static, it was not speaking. But, then also, he could hear the whispering of the figure. The figure was at a distance from him, hanging in the sky, as if a picture is hung on the wall. Fear was clearly visible on his face. He moved his steps backwards, he was shocked to find that, the figure remained at the same distance from him.

“Don’t be afraid.” Figure whispered.

After ensuring , the figure was not going to harm him ,and, in order to know, what it was. He started walking towards it. He was shocked to find, how much he moved towards it. It remained at the same distance from him.

“You.............” whispered the figure.

When he heard what the figure just whispered, he ran towards the cave. He was scared, his face had turned pale due to fear. He laid down on the rock, adjusted himself in the same blanket and hugged her tightly.

“What happened?” asked Agatha, while rubbing her eyes.

“Nothing!” he replied.

Her body was warm. She noticed him, shivering and breathing quite fast.

“What’s the matter with your face?” she asked, while looking at him.

“What?” he asked her.

“It has turned pale.” she replied

“Pa.........le” he asked, while stuttering

She knew he was scared. So, she started to fondle his hair.

“Tell me, what happened?” she asked again, while leaning over him.

Now, her eyes were in his eyes. He wanted to share it with her but, thinking that she might get scared, he decided not to tell her.

“Agatha!” said Noah

“Yes” she replied

“Do you know, how can love last forever?” he asked, while turning away her attention.

“How?” she asked, while playing with his eyes.

“Through freedom.” he replied, while caressing her ears.

“Through freedom?” she asked again.

He knew it could be his last night with her. He was feeling helpless at the moment. He wanted to share his problem with her. But thinking that the problem usually escalates on being discussed, he decided not to discuss it. At the same time, he wanted to get permission from her.

“Love itself needs freedom. It’s not that, I’ll leave or you’ll leave me. Neither, love wants your submission, nor mine. Rather, it wants cooperation. Love is a bond, which strengthens, when both the entities cooperate with each other.” he replied.

Agatha’s eyes were still in his eyes. His words titillated her inner love. Her lips got wet, when they softly kissed his lips. In no time, her upper lip was in between his lips. The gesture of love making, was itself soul making. And within seconds, cave was covered with the air of love. Even the night had understood the meaning of love through them.

He wanted her not to be away from his sight. But the black morning showed its face. She was asleep. The words of the black figure, started to haunt him. He kissed her forehead and moved out of the cave. He plucked seventy to eighty Anaska leaves and tied them in a cloth. As he started to step ahead, heard her voice.

“Where are you going?” asked Agatha,while yawning.

She was standing at the entrance of the cave.

“I’ll certainly come back.” he replied

“Certainly come back?” she asked

Saying “Yes”, he started walking away from her. She wanted to ask further. But, last night’s conversation came in front of her eyes. So, she gave him freedom. She came out of the cave, and, saw him vanishing out of her sight. Agatha knew, he was not going to return soon. She stepped forward to get the last glimpse of him. But he had already vanished away from her sight. After sometime, she came back inside the cave and sat on her bed, thinking why and where he went.

On the other side, he was walking as fast as he could. His mind was occupied thinking, how to cover the distance more fast. In order to shorten the distance, he was travelling on the most difficult path, sometimes climbing straight mountains and sometimes walking on the delicate frozen water. He knew, he had only twelve days left to retain his happiness.

The area was so secluded that, he could only hear, was the sound produced by his own feet. He had been travelling alone throughout the day. His body wanted some rest, but his feet were pushing his body towards its destination. He was travelling continuously for so many days.

Five days had already passed away. Every day, she used to stand outside the cave, looking at the woods from where he had vanished. One dark night, she was standing near the Anaska tree to satisfy her hunger. She sat on the roots of the tree, thinking deeply. She stood up at once and started strolling near the tree.

“Where, he might be?” she asked to herself

But the answer which, her mind gave was as clear as the question asked by it.

On the other hand, he was very tired, was on the brink of falling on ground. But it seemed as if, his feet fully understood the problem. He had been surviving on the leaves, which he had collected from the tree. The energy, which these leaves were providing him, was enough for him to continue his journey. The continuity in his journey had actually made him a machine. But even a machine needs rest. May be, Noah had covered such a long distance, due to his concentration on his goal. This concentration was provided to him through years of meditation, which he did in the past. He knew the fact that, our mind achieves the target ,before our body actually starts acting to achieve it. So, his mind was telling him that, the place is not too far away.

One day, while climbing up a huge rock. He was on the verge of falling, but at last he managed to climb it.

“What would I do, if it comes true?” he asked himself

But his body gave the answer to his question, as it started moving faster. Though his legs had swollen up, but still he was continuous in his journey.

On the eighth day, Noah stumbled and fell on the ground. After falling, he had fainted and became unconscious. He was in a dream state, where he was the master of his will. There in his dream, he created a lot of things and even destroyed many among them. In that dream, he saw his home. His home was empty. But all of a sudden, it became complete when he saw Agatha in it. The white coloured hut, with birds chirping on one of the branches of a pine tree near the hut. Sun was shining brightly behind the tree. Sun’s rays were penetrating through the pine tree’s branches. Both the hands of Agatha and Noah were in each other’s grip. It was one of his beautiful imagination. He felt that he was the happiest man.

When he came into his senses, felt pain in his head. He opened his eyes. His eyes took some microseconds to give his mind a clear view about the environment around him. He touched his head with his forefinger, found his hand full of blood. He cleaned his wound, by tearing a piece of cloth from his shirt. Suddenly, he realised, he was travelling in search of something. As he was about to leave the place, he moved his head backwards. His mind told his feet to stop and they followed their master’s instructions. He saw multicoloured lights. His mind told him that, he had already reached his destination. He never saw such lights throughout his life. These were seven coloured lights. Each colour merging into one and another, and, lights were whirling quite fast. After their mergence, they were forming an infinite straight line, up in the endless sky. The pattern of lights was in sequence from base to top, red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet. The violet coloured light was the brightest among the seven, and, was the last one in the pattern, touching the zenith.

He had never seen such a beautiful thing in his entire life. He went towards the lights and stretched out his hand towards the lights, in order to know what it was. His hand was in the lights. He felt freshness throughout his body. His body was being energised by these whirling energies .Noah noticed something soft being placed on his palm. As his hand was inside the colourful lights, he was not able to see clearly. When he moved his hand out of the lights, found multicoloured petals sparkling on his palm. The seven colours of the lights were present in each petal. He tied those petals on his shoulder with a cloth. He wanted to stay there, but heard someone whispering in his ears.

“You don’t have time.”

After getting what he needed, he started running back to the same place, from where he had come. He knew that, he was not going to return to this place again, he stopped for a while, looked back. Something was attracting him. But this attraction was not greater than the one waiting for him. So, he started running again. He realised, nine days had already passed, and, only three days were left for the catastrophe to occur. He wanted to stop that from happening at any cost. Sun went to its home, which had been replaced by moon and stars. Noah noticed, petals were shinning more brightly in the darkness. With the light being emitted from the petals, he was now able to see the path clearly. It seemed as if, he was carrying stars on his shoulder.

Looking at the petals, Noah started thinking about the lights.

“What were those?” he asked himself.

But, didn’t get any answer because, the other part of his mind was worried about something else. Twelve days had already passed away, he was still on the same cowpath which he had created, on his journey towards the lights. Only a feeling of hope was left in his mind, other things had already been diluted. He was travelling continuously.