AS YOU MELT THIS HEART OF STONE

WINGS ON FIRE

" Come, let me love you,
Let me give my life to you,
Let me drawn in your laughter,
Let me die in your arms,

Let me lay down beside you,
Let me always be with you,
Come, let me love you,
Come, love me again..."

- John Denver

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Tick tock
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Lub dub
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Tick tock
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Lub dub
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Lub dub
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All I could hear was the precious time ticking by and hammering of my heart which was trying to come bursting out of my chest.
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And all I could think was that she was trapped.

She was trapped in a room which was on fire.

I had to save her.
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But let us admit, even in my best form and urgency, I was no superman! I needed a minimum time to reach the twentieth floor of the seventh branch and that time seemed to take a lifetime.

My mind averted to the conversation in my office this morning.

*Flashback*

"Is this some kind of joke, Stevens?"

"She is in danger, Mr. Ellington! Can't you hear me! She went into the lion's den all by herself!"

"And you, being an extraordinarily caring friend, didn't think to stop her or inform me beforehand?"

"I...."

"Don't stutter, Stevens. Answer. How long has she been gone?"

"O-one hour."

"And you have come to me now!"

"But she..."

"Basta! Romeo, pick up your best team. And you, Stevens, I'll deal with your negligence later."

*End flashback*

How could she be so hopelessly foolish? Why didn't she just tell me about all these? Didn't she trust me? For heaven's shake, she promised me!

Endless questions and infinite dreadful scenarios crowded my mind. But my limbs were moving on their own accord, taking me closer to her.

When I reached the twentieth floor, dense smoke made it hard to see or move forward. But my gruelling training days at military and the adrenaline pumping through my veins were enough to guide me to the office of Byron.

Through the veil of dense smoke and fire, I saw Byron strangling her neck and they were dangerously close to the window. With a strong punch on his nose, Byron was knocked out, but before I could seize her and escape, the bloody woman decided to jump!
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Yeah! You read it right!
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She actually jumped!

Jumped!

From the window of the bloody twentieth floor!
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For a fraction, a tiny horrifying fraction of second, my heart stopped beating... My whole body froze... Just as in front of my eyes she let go of her feet from the windowsill... And gravity started to swallow her petite body with its fierce pull.... Her hair flaying upwards.... Her hands and legs moving at its own accord to hold on to something, anything... Yet her eyes lost the shine as it came into terms with what was going to happen.... That she was going to die.
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WHAT!
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DIE!
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Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit! What the hell are you doing Rickard standing still like a pathetic idiot!
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All these happened in, as I mentioned before, the tiniest fraction of second and as the siren blew out in my mind, my trained-at-army body acted fast.