Conspicuous Love

The bond between us was peculiar but impeccable and such appealingness was inconspicuously rare. The light fluttered from the bell tower with its Victorian designed hands joining to converge at the point everyone had been waiting for impatiently. Midnight. 

It was only a matter of seconds and I knew that I had to confirm and showcase my love. To my despair, obstacles filled my path. The amorphous music. The striking of the clock. Yet, I didn’t 

wait for the path to clear, every first step in a relationship had blockages, yet one had to abolish them, and that one was going to be me. 

The stream of people covered my brown eyes, blocking the visibility, but I tried to follow his light. Suddenly, the mass had covered the love-filled sky and caused the path to be struck by a ray of darkness. I could no longer see him. 

I realised that my thoughts, as powerful as they were, had caused me to swim upstream and trip over the indefinite amount of people walking beside me. The pain of the trampling had not overtaken the pain caused by the ever-growing hole in my heart caused by the trauma of last year. 

For once I was glad to see the image in the ‘Bleigiessen’, a clearly formed heart with no visible scratch or gap. I instantly knew that this was the year where I would find love and embrace it for as long as it would last. 

Maybe the bond signified that I was meant to be with him until time repeats itself in an enigma of its own. An enigma that causes moments to last forever, including ours. 

I got up from my resting position on the hard concrete and thought of a plan. A plan to endure the pain of the last year by emerging on an escapade to find my true love.  

As my determination caused me to drift back to reality, my head spun and the blood seemed to cascade. “Ow!” I exclaimed as I stared at my blood-stained hand. 

A young man approached me. He was dressed in a modish white coat stapled with a red emblem. A red emblem that would somehow, change my life forever. 

“Geht es dir gut?” he said in a thick German accent  “Are you alright?” 

“Yes.” I replied, failing to hide the discomfort by unexpectedly wincing. 

He stared for a second as if he was able to see through me, able to encrypt the hidden code of my next plan. Slowly he smiled and asked, “Are you looking for someone?” 

A part of me was lingering to keep my affection a secret until it is confirmed, but I would need another simplistic detail about the person I was trying to find. “Yes, I am looking for the person who I was talking with before. Do you know him? He had light blue eyes, blond hair and a face consisting of the perfect golden ratio.” I replied, trying to provide all the details possible.

His expression consisted of three main emotions- anger, confusion and hints of unknown determination. After a minute, he finally forced the word out of his mouth “I- I haven’t seen any man of such. I doubt that anyone else has either. You could be hallucinating from the head injury.” he explained. After a small pause, he finally announced the main point “You should forget about that man. Do you need any further help?” 

“No.” I said solemnly. It made no sense! The trampling had occurred after my love disappeared. Was he just a delusion? I needed to know, either now or later. 

***

The morning clouds were ominous and in some peculiar way, eccentric. They seemed as if they were a lopsided roadmap leading to one which represents ideal beauty. It represented my goal for this search. Whether I was chasing a mirage or not. 

The sense of fatigue and joint pain lingered in my body. The doctor’s words repeated in my mind. I tried to replace them with a single statement- “I would never forget my love.”

After a moment of resting, I changed into a flowing red dress and tied my hair with a satin string, attempting to mimic my appearance from last night with one difference: using a speck of hair to hide the scar from last night. 

I grabbed my bicycle and rode down the streets of Liebe street. As I began to cross the intersection to enter the street where the Nazi party’s office was placed, a grey van went past me, shadowing its surroundings.

I felt a strong sensation in my lower abdomen as if I knew this van before. Suddenly, the coat was lifted from the unknown. My love revealed himself with his appealing appearance. 

The bond was ubiquitous. I couldn’t control myself and had to follow it to its destination. 

The van caused me to retrace all of my previous steps on Liebe street and travel for an extra meter towards a concentration camp. 

Was he imprisoned here? Suddenly, I remembered the red and almost diamond-shaped symbol on the doctor’s coat. Could it be the Nazi party symbol? 

My body comprised of a subtle mixture of joint pain, a headache, fatigue and now guilt. How could I be so imprudent about the first chance which I had at true love? 

As I dolorously started to ride my bicycle home, he recognized me. His blue eyes stared at me bleary-eyed and forlorn. I stared back and used whatever energy which I had left to smile. And as predicted he repeated my action, only bigger and more lively. 

I no longer felt the strength to remain standing and collapsed into his arms like a flightless bird falling from the sky only to be protected by the soft dew-filled grass. Soldiers ran behind him, holding their arms and whips firmly, but that didn’t fail his confidence and perseverance. 

He placed one hand across my cheek and bent down to kiss me with his warm lips. It seemed to melt the coldness set around me. Suddenly the surroundings melted away to a lilac filled the field with the seasons changing behind us. The spring of a New Year where we met! The hot summer! The fresh autumn! And finally the harsh winter! We remain frozen in time, place and in space. In a loop of visual rationalization. 

A whip abashed the conception. “Let’s go,” the soldier said gruffly “lass uns gehen.”

 “Wait,” I said weakly “What is your name?” 

“Edon- The one who loves.” he replied “What is yours?”

“Cara- The beloved.” I said, ending the short conversation.

As a soldier dragged him away, I knew that this could be the last time I saw Edon. Yet, I knew that the kiss was the last rapturous moment we would ever experience until the time we perished in the face of death and eternity.