The Wilted Flower

LOVE WITHOUT LEGS

BACKGROUND: Anna's Apartment

A month has passed. But she is still stuck. Her mother moved on. Suhail moved on. Everything she once saw as hers, all of them left in a single blow of wind. Her mother was aging quickly, falling calm and sitting in a corner of the house. But she would smile at her whenever Anna would get worried and teary. She left in peace. Talking about Suhail, cancer hadn't left his body completely and the last operation on him was a failure. Eventually, cancer ate him up.

He was looking forward to that moment. He made arrangements for her future without him. He wrote his will for all his properties to be given to her name after he passes away. He couldn't give her the bright future of 'together forever after'. At least she could survive the harsh world using that wealth. That wealth wasn't only his. Everything that he had, were equally hers. His father died early, leaving his vast wealth and JK limited to his physically disabled son and there wasn't any other legitimate heir for a competition, leaving his father's cunning shareholders who tried to manipulate him, with the reason of him being impaired. Everything was wearing these love birds down. World was pressing them to the ground.

Anna eventually fell silent as her mother died and Suhail started facing problems. They both eventually decided on selling a few of the branches of the company so as to handle the rest well. Anna gave up her desk job, stayed with Suhail till late nights, solving the problems faced by the company.

Suhail gave a blind eye on his draining health and just tried to hold on to what was left of his life. The bright light from their lives was melting away in darkness and one by one, their happy moments wilted away. Now, all that was left was a tiny hook that held them together. They didn't fall apart.

Anna's senses started to fall apart after she found him unconscious, lying on his pile of files, blood spilled all over. As mentioned, it was a failure- her prayers, her tears, her broken smile and her existence. What was the use of it if she couldn't keep even a single one of her loved once alive? She lay there, on the hospital floor, crying and banging her forehead on the cold floor, which wasn't so cold when she was being proposed to and when she took doubtful steps while holding on to her mom.

Was it all a dream? It can't be! If you see something scary in your sleep, you can always wake up. But when you see hope in your dreams and you open your eyes to the emotionless ceiling of a lonely bedroom, that's what scary is. She would never be rolling his wheelchair and giving him pecks from now on. Hope is scary. She was losing it.

She looked at his wheelchair, starting to get dusts and spider webs. She was wearing smelly, ages old pyjamas and cut short, tangled hair, which was giving her troubles. That apartment was bought for Anna and Suhail to settle down after studies. She felt sad because nothing happy about their love life came to her mind, only sad things.

One time Suhail himself brought up that he wanted breakup and there were serials of events that followed. She slapped him across the face when she found out that he broke up because he wasn't looking forward to her holding on to a rotting rope like him. They never talked about leaving each other's side after that. That might have been a sweet thing to remember but her mouth felt bitter.

A month later, she was still hung up on the completely rotting rope. She stood up from the cold ground and the whiskey bottle rolled away at her motion. She started liking the coldness of the floor and alcohol. They helped her sleep at leasts a few winks, She quietly took a numb shower, wore a fresh pair of outfit and left her apartment after grabbing her bike keys.

She rode her bike in the influence of alcohol. That's what she wanted. She wasn't left with any purpose to be staying alive anymore. She was on her way to end her life. She choose to end it quietly at the dam right outside the city. That's what she wished for. Her tear droplets ran for the opposite direction as she sped up. Her vision blurred and her handle went out of her control. Her legs were frozen to the spot and her bike crashed into something. She fell into the deep slumber that she has been wishing for the past month.

There were screams around. There were also honking, smokes and the weight of her bike over her body. It felt just like how all her hopes sprouted when she broke her leg for the first time. It was ending at where it started. She closed her eyelids, hoping never to open them again.