The Call of Nika

The call of Nika

The blue sky creeps upon the lush green grasses of warm summer. The gentle breeze touches his cheeks leaving a trail of blissfulness. He looks at Nika with a softened gaze as if he cannot take his eyes off her. Her head is rested on his lap. He dances his finger down her cheeks to her neck, he feels the warmth he has forgotten. A wave of contentment rushes down his cold heart, radiating the warmth he has been yearning for. Surrounded by green grasses and wild flowers, sweet aroma of nature clings to his nostril. He takes a long sigh squinting at the bluest sky. How heavenly he feels, he has been missing this for so long that he nearly forgot to live. 

Khandu playfully nuzzles his nose on hers, stroking her smooth hair. The sweet aroma of shampoo she uses clings to his nose enlivening him back to his lost old self. She laughs and it resonates in all the directions. It’s so soothing to his ears. He realizes how much he craved to hear her voice and how much he missed her smell. The chirping of the bird, the gentle rustling of the leaves and the blissful sound of Nika breathing entices him. Nika hums to the rhythm of the serene breeze. He stares at her in silence for a long time.

“ I missed you,” Khandu says taking her face in his hand. 

Nika smiles exquisitely. She looks elegant in her wedding suit. Khadu nuzzles his nose on hers and touches her tender lips with his. 

As soon as his lips touches hers, a flash of lighting struck and everything changes 

The dark shadow covers Khandu’s bright face and everything around him turns pitch black with the gentle wind blowing from the west. The cloud saunters blocking the yellow sun. The owl sings the song, the howling of the wolves is heard from far behind. Khandu opens his eyes to see nothing but darkness surrounding him.

“Where am I?” Khandu’s mind swirls and he hears the pounding of his heart. He sees a lantern walking in the distance.

‘Was it just a dream? I was in my bed, how did I reach here?’ A bunch of questions whirls in his head. Khandu pulls himself up and bumps his head on a tree’s trunk. He finds himself sleeping under an oak tree miles away from his bed room. Heart throbbing, mind jostling, he runs towards the lantern which moves further and further from him. He breathes hard and his feet trumpets tremendously on the green lush ground.

“Hey! Please help me”, cries Khandu.

The lantern halts and the red flame flickers. Khandu runs towards the lantern and sees a figure wearing a beautiful wedding dress turning its back towards him. Goose bump jitters across his skin but he falls prey to the darkness.

“Excuse me, Can you…”

The dark figure turns around to face him but Khandu does not see her face.

“How can I help you?” the girl mutters. Khandu finds the voice familiar.

“Well, can we walk together since its dark and I can’t…” before Khandu could finish talking, the girl walks without saying anything. Khandu follows the girl silently and the only sound he hears is the pounding of his heart. Before Khandu could realize he finds himself in front of his house.

“What is your name?” asks Khandu.

The girl turns towards Khandu and he blinks in awe. He can’t believe his eyes. She has grown much older but she is as beautiful as before. Like the gushing river, memories rush through him. Memories he could never forget, memories which kiss him, which sting him and memories he will take with him.

It dates back to ages ago when Khandu was young and handsome.

Never had He seen such a beautiful girl. The moment he saw her, he had made his mind that he will marry her.

“What is your name?” Khandu had asked once gathering all his nerves. His eyes sparkled and his heart thudded with mixture fear and happiness.

“Nika,” she had replied with smile.

 After a year of meeting, Khandu and Nika had married. Never had they thought that their marriage would be bouquet of roses until they were pricked by its thorns.

Khandu waited outside the delivery room clasping his hands. The cry of the new born touched him and he felt utter happiness. But like the thief snatching the empty bag of a person, his happiness was snatched from him, kicked, torn and thrown back to him.

“Khandu, you have twins,” said the doctor.

With the sparkling eyes, he thanked the doctor.

“But I am so sorry to say that we couldn’t save your wife.” 

It came like a dagger stabbing from all the side. He bleed, he had the biggest hole in his heart a dinosaur can make it’s way through. His sparkling eyes sparkled with diamond like tears rolling down Khandu’s cheek. He felt like he had swallowed a dragon and felt like puking. He felt that God had bartered with him giving two lives and taking one. When seeing the faces of his twin daughter, hope birthed in him. All alone he had raised his two daughters. They are 25 now and Khandu still feels Nika’s absence.

“You have grown much older but you are as beautiful as I saw you for the first time,” Khandu caresses Nika’s soft face with his wrinkled hand.

“I missed you so I came to see you,” says Nika touching Khandu’s hand which curved Nika’s face.

"Our daughters always longed to see you,” hot stream of tears run down his cheeks.

“I have always longed to meet them and finally I could come,” a smile stretches on her face.

Khandu holds Nika’s hand takes her inside the house

“Shhh!!! They are sleeping,” Nika put her index finger on her lips.

“Don’t you want to talk with them?”

“I don’t want to disturb them from their peaceful sleep, ” whispers Nika.

“They are Nima and Dawa, our sun and moon,” Khandu’s face gleams.

The two girls have taken after their mother. They look beautiful and peaceful in their sleep. Nika touches the faces of her daughters and kisses them on their forehead.

“We need to go Khandu,” says Nika.

“Are you not staying with us? You have come back after a long…”

“I have come to take you with me.”

“Where?” Khandu ask in bewilderment.

“To the world I live.”

Nika holds Khandu’s hand takes him out of the house. Khandu is astounded to see stars twinkling over the sky. The bright full moon ruled the blue sky. He sees flickering red flames far away and the rainbow emits a horizon of colors in the sky. A step on the grass creates a halo around his foot and he feels like he is flying. Khandu feels calm and immense peace surrounds him. The colorful light flickers on the tree and the fireflies dance to the rhythm of the gentle wind. Khandu feels the soothing song of the nightingale touch his heart. Holding hands, Khandu and Nika disappear in the flickering flame. Everything vanishes and darkness crawls in.

“Dad”, Nima bangs the door.

“What happened to daddy today,” Dawa says with a worried expression.

Nima and Dawa bang Khandu’s bedroom door in the morning but Khandu does not answer. They are frightened and they go to the window at the backside of their house and the window is open. Khandu is lying on the bed holding the photo frame. It is Nika, their mother wearing a beautiful wedding dress. The photo was clicked by Khandu on their wedding day. Nima and Dawa bawl as their father breathed his last with memories surrounding him. Nika has come in Khandu’s dream to take him away from the world to her world.

The thunder roars with grief, the lightening flashes like a dagger piercing someone's heart and the sky cries in anguish pain touching the dry mud giving a melancholic muddy smell. The black could surrounds darkening the morning dawn.