Max and Arin running away from the curse (Part-II)

"If I know about it, everything will change. Let's live for a while, just you and me before the curse ends us once again. Let me be with you, for one last time."

I don't know what comes over me. Whatever this emotion is, this strong, overwhelming thing crushes my heart. I can't just stand there watching him sob. I can't. If that makes me look like a coward, a weakling, be it. I decide I am going to end it. I am going to end all the pain and bring back the smile that welcomed me the first time I saw him.

And just like that I am transported back to the time when I opened my eyes for the first time to see this world. This beautiful, strange, at times nasty, mysterious and thrilling world, this world that is full of emotions that we could only sense as colours. And I saw a young man sitting on his knees in front of me. He was twenty-one then, and I was the shadow that followed him.

I haven't changed much. I am still the shadow that follows him. When I didn't have him, all I had was a soulless body to fall, to get hurt, and to shed silent tears again and again until my memory reset. Now that I am back to life as I want it to be, what am I going to do? Certainly not waste it. It takes me a split second to decide what I am going to do.

"Wait here, I am coming in a moment," I say and I walk a little further to make a call.

"Hey man, I was just going to call you," Jace says gleefully over the phone.

"Are you going to hate me if I bail on you?" I ask him.

There is silence for a little too long. I start pacing restlessly. The voices around me intensify, they grow stronger and stronger, so strong that I start missing the lines between the actual voices and the voices in their heads. People speak a lot, but more than that they think. Right now, their spoken and unspoken words attack me with all their might. I don't think I need to know about a stranger's sexcapade, or their children's tuition fee, or how constipated they are, but I still hear them.

"What do you mean, bail on me?" he asks me after a very long, distressing pause.

"I need to get away from this place for a while. I will try my best to—"

"Is it about Max?"

They could not meet yesterday evening, but I showed Jace all the photographs, and I told him everything that have transpired between the two of us. While in the beginning, I was hesitant, my skepticism went out of the window once I saw the approval in his eyes. "Is this him? I can tell what made you stay here. That smile is a million bucks worth," he had said.

So I sincerely hope that Jace wouldn't mind, or at least try to forgive me if I leave him alone. I say again, "I am a terrible friend. Trust me, I know that. I promise I will tell you everything once I am back. I will—"

Without letting me finish, he says, "Yeah, okay." I don't detect anger, resentment, or anything like that in that voice. It is just plain permission.

"Okay?" I ask unbelievingly. Jace has always been a sweet soul, a person who would go out of their way to help me. Yet, this feels wrong from my end. I repeat my words in a different manner, "You came here to meet me and I am leaving you like this, I am feeling horrible about it."

"Dude, you don't have to be melodramatic," he says. "I came here to confirm something, and now that I had confirmed it, I have no problem letting you go."

"What did you want to confirm?"

A small, sad laughter comes through the phone. "Do you have enough time to hear a small story? You always have stories up in your sleeves, and I guess it is just natural for you, considering, you know, who you are," he pauses, making me shiver. I am not quite sure whether I like this conversation.

"I was ten years old when I saw a painting in my great grandfather's stuffs. It was a commissioned painting that he could never deliver because he died before he could complete it. There was a man who looked perfect. And another man, who was not as perfect as the first man was, but he was no less charming than the first man. What fascinated me was how close they stood, and how their eyes were locked to each other. I always thought that they look weird and gay.

Many years back when I grew up and became a Youtuber, I met a man. It was a pure coincidence, but the best coincidence of my life. I got to meet an amazing person, got to work with him, and learnt so much from him. Guess what I felt like when I saw him dating someone with zero compatibility."

My throat feels constricted, my chest is heavy. Why didn't see this before? I spent almost three years with this man, this young, sensible, dutiful man who never judged me for anything, never probed me about my personal life, the man who showed me tremendous respect and support. It was my tendency of overlooking things I thought didn't matter to me.

"When I heard that you've decided to make a stop in a small, not-so-famous town, with another man you've just met, I remembered the painting right away. I asked Amy as many questions as I could, and she shared her fear with me, that you may never return from the town. I googled the town. Turns out, throughout the year the town lives like a page from a history book, but once a year, for ten days, the town lits up.

I had to come to see the town and the man you have found. I am sorry I didn't tell you about it earlier. I should have."

His remorse makes me feel like shit. He should not be the one to apologise, not when he has protected me on various occasions. I recall all the times when I healed from injuries faster than anybody else and he made it look like a common happening or the times he found me in my sleepless nights and made it look like just another habitual thing I possessed.

"I don't know what it is. I know it is some extraordinary shit that is inconceivable to me, maybe even something supernatural, and honestly, I have stopped caring about for a while now. When I saw Max, I knew you have reached the place where you are supposed to be. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am letting you go. You don't have to dwell on the past, just focus on what you're having right now."

"Jace, I—"

Once again he interrupts me to say, "You don't have to tell me everything. You don't have to tell me anything at all."

Some fragments of my past rush back to me like torn pages of a book. I can't remember them all, yet I experience the pain once again like I did many times before. Even though the memories have left me for good, the heartache is still there making its presence known. How ironic is it, that the person I expected the least from gave me the greatest gift of all! No questions, no judgment, not even showing the wonder in his eyes.

In all my past, I have met many people. While I don't recall all the experiences, I do recall the surprises and the shocks, the wonders and the fear, the disgust, and the hatred, and after facing all it is wonderful that I am still able to feel. I have not turned numb, nor have I turned into a stone-cold existence. I am still not bitter, and I can still fall in love. I thank all the goodness in this world, all the deities, and all the magic for allowing me to live.

Live, breathe, and exist.

And then I thank Jace. not just in my head, but also with some words, careful enough to not make it sound weird.

I come back to Max, who is now sitting and watching me intently. "That was some conversation," he says. I arched my brow. I talked the least, all the talking was done by Jace, I wonder what he meant by that. Max says, "Your face kept changing. Like you are going through a lot. I was going to ask if you're fine, but now your face tells me that you're more than fine."

"Now that we have established that, let's run away."

We can go anywhere we want. Any place would be better than this.

"But I can't cross the border. Remember, the curse?"

I smirk at that. "Who dares to stop the dragon and his lover?"