A Cure for the Blind

Chapter 54 - Her Lament

Chapter Fifty-Four

Her Lament

He had searched the world.

He never gave up.

Finally, he had found her. He was sure of it. The sound of that melody, that enchanted music that came out of her violin... It was unique, it was her. There was no doubt about it. He would recognize it anywhere.

He walked through the beautiful stoned streets of Paris, following the sound that returned feeling to his soul. When he was returning from a random bar to his hotel, he could barely contain his excitement as he heard the magnificent song in the distance. He was almost racing, his heart crashing against his ribcage.

He had finally found her, after months and months of searching everywhere.

He never quite understood why he had this burning need to see her again, to make sure she was alright. He just knew he had to find her.

It had been more than a year since they last saw each other. How much different would she look? Where had she been all this time? How much had the world changed her?

He wondered if she would recognize him, for he had greatly changed. His wild hair was not wild anymore, his messy clothes were replaced by an elegant suit and long jacket. His beard was properly shaved, his tan almost vanished. He had grown. He was a businessman, respectable, honorable. Yet, he still longed for the freedom he had sacrificed long ago. In a way, he thought that was the main reason he was so desperate to find her – to remind himself of what he had been, of what he could’ve been and everything he had lost. To see if there was any salvation possible.

As the notes became louder, his steps became wider. She was close, hidden away in the corner of one of the thin streets of the French city.

Her music was as enchanting as he remembered. Beautiful in all its nostalgia and melancholy. It was the sound of a soul that cries its own existence.

When he turned the corner to an almost deserted street, he finally saw her. His breath caught in his throat.

Selina remained as beautiful as ever. She still had that aura of light around her, she still felt like the saddest angel on earth. Yet, she was different. More than see it, he could feel it. She was weary, tired, sad.

Her eyes were closed, so she didn’t see him. She also didn’t notice the few people who passed her by, lured in by her song, who stood in front of her hypnotized by her notes until they finally came back to reality and left, almost always leaving a coin or two in the violin case on the floor.

But that music… it was priceless.

And she never saw them. She wasn’t playing for them. She wasn’t playing for the world.

Selina was playing for herself, completely lost in her own reality.

Jack walked closer, hands in his pockets, eyes completely devoted to her. He knew she wasn’t expecting him and he knew he wasn’t the man she most wanted to see.

When the song was over and she opened her blue eyes, her gaze fell on him like she had known he was there all along. He smiled, but the look she gave him was closer to fear.

“Jack…” she whispered and his heart fluttered as she spoke his name with such longing. He had missed her voice. “What… How?”

“I have been looking for you… Selina.” The sound of her real name was still odd, still foreign to him. To Jack she was, and would always be, his sweet Beatrice. “I am glad I have found you.”