Vistia waited

He did not turn around

She did not see him

Looking at her

From the bus ---

Pricking eyes,

A dent

She waited !!!

Manna was deep in thought. He had seen her from a distance. He knew he would find her there. It had been a few years, a recluse in marriage. He thought he had camouflaged himself well. She looked older yet spritely he mused. Vistia was walking on the sands of the beach at the time he saw her. For a long time he was mesmerised by her appearance and somehow he felt so drawn to appearing in front of her just to stun her. But he could not will it now. It felt as though she had travelled a distance from where she had been when he had seen her the very first time.

At the very moment that Manna had seen her, Vistia felt a pull from somewhere. Since she had woken up that morning, she longed for that voice that had often spoken to her in the past – gentle, caring, teasing. At the end of their conversations she would feel rejuvenated and enthused, carefree as though nothing would touch her. But touch it did, more than anything. Life had taught her many beautiful lessons. But Manna hadn’t been part of that or had he? She felt his presence constantly even though in those days, he would never bother with her at all and long days there were dry spells between them. Almost cold, and not knowing each other at all. Then he would call or appear at her door and she felt the same again all over again. When he went away for days on end with neither, she was ripped apart from inside. She felt lost and spent. He had this cold veneer, no warmth just a façade of the glacier.

While she was walking on the beach, this morning however she felt a caress but searing. Vistia felt Manna’s presence. She did not turn around for she thought if she did – it would again be that same lost and cold trail when he had disconnected and gone away. She ached deeply and longed for the warmth of the pathway of beautiful blossoms, Gaia beneath her bare feet.

Vistia’s memory took her back to the time they had seen each other. She saw this stranger then torpedoing into her the second day at the University. And she thought him to be audacious, uncivilised at the time. She had coloured her hair even when young. Later she would reflect if that was the draw. After which she had really thought much of it. But what both did not know was the small ripple would become a colossal platonic wave lasting for many years. It was as though something switched inside of her. A long-lost connection that was re-established but with that sense of moving away from Manna soon. The timeline of their relationship had manifested multiple times in different times. Manna was never able to put a date to that.

Manna moved back into the trees into the shadow of the trees as she turned around. His heart leaped up. She was looking straight at him, but no her eyes were limpid or were they listless. He could tell even from this distance that something about her was transformed. For a moment he thought she would come towards him. But she had turned away quickly. Those eyes sank his heart. There was something he knew was deep inside her being that had her turn away. Manna could tell she had seen him there. Back in the days she could spot him just anywhere and he had pretended to ignore her. Those beautiful and limpid eyes – oh how could he.

The day he walked down through the gates, he had seen Vistia. He had seen her hair – a golden brown sun. The flash of laughter and those dimples in her cheek.

Manna was looking at her in new light that day from the shadows. Those eyes were not smiling anymore. When he looked at her from the shadows he saw her shudder. His Vistia had been strong he reflected but this person was vulnerable he seemed to feel. Why ! he could not tell but in that vulnerability he felt a strength. That was different. But what Vistia did not know was Manna was watching her most of the time.

He left her one dark morning. Manna was torn but he had to leave. He had to travel.

From the echelons of the shadows, he had sensed the heavy feeling she had when Vistia walked down the roads. The toss of her head was the same. The golden brown colour had faded ever so lightly. As though it was longing for that caress. She would walk down the stairs. Manna knew he had lost her when she had walked up that day to tell him she was to be married to someone she had known for some time. Oh! But those beautiful, limpid eyes had told him a very different story. Why was she doing this? Manna knew that he could never be with her. And Vistia wanted to, he knew but then he had denied her. He would tease her without words, days where he would never show himself. And could see her light up briefly at a glimpse of him. How long would this continue but that day he knew it was over.

She had turned her head and walked into the bright light. He felt cold after –

Manna and Vistia were never the same again. For they both knew they were together all the time. Only now was transient. A relationship that had to continue. A long drawn silence was to continue beyond the times they lived in.

He watched her from the shadows, the echelons of the shadows – Manna had gone but he still was in her shadows and by her side. They would meet again on the beach in another time but Manna would still be in the shadows and Vistia would walk on his beach… The golden sun with that wispy smile. Manna waded off silently – memories forming a warm cloak in which he had wrapped his Vistia….