Rootless Tree

Part 4

“It’s so dark…I…I am so cold.” She began to cry though never turning to look at him. Her face lost from his gazes.

Amar brought his hand up slowly, reaching towards his beloved with trembling fingers. “I am so sorry…I am so sorry.” He willed himself to not fall into her sobbing. “Please….please forgive me.” A plead so desolate his tone broke between words.

“I’m so cold…so so cold…” Her voice carried the truth as she stuttered to produce sound.

His fingers slid along the curves of her back. She was frozen to his touch as if she had never known the kiss of the sun or its warmth; he would not allow it to keep him from caressing her. Amar’s arms timidly wrapped themselves around her fragile frame as she tightened and shivered against him. He folded his arms against her breast, pushing her back into his chest, pulling her into him as tightly as possible, willing his body heat to go forth and warm his angel. His face buried into her hair as he inhaled deeply but found her scent replaced with a foulness he would not easily forget. He cringed knowing he had done this to her.

“Cold…so…………..cold….”

“Hush my doll I will warm you.” He wanted to free her from this pain and the constraint of death's fingers that were soundly clutching her.

“Cold….c…..cold.” Her voice began to trail off. “Amar?”

“I am here my love. Shh…shh…I am here.” He pushed his face further into her hair until he found the nape of her neck, hiding his shame and guilt there as the tears streamed down his cheeks. Anguished he could no more comfort her then he could himself.

“Look what you did to me.” Her tone instantly changed. It became void of emotion, flat. Amar felt the unease he had felt earlier returning. “Look what you did…” She uttered again.

He felt her turning within his arms, as if she was rotating by an unseen force twisting her body no matter how hard he tried to hold her still. His face lifted and the sinking filling in his gut strengthened. Curl after curl passed his gazes and he knew beyond those strands was the face of his porcelain doll. Her jawline tracing around to her chin that would crawl up to her perfect little lips and petite nose, the bridge would branch out between her eyes. But no longer were they the vibrant colors they had once been. The gazes that greeted him were sunken in, a murky film layering across her pupils; causing them to be without color, save for a dirty, waxy looking gray. A dim and dying gaze replaced her orbs with each blink of her lashes.

“Look…what you did…to…me...” She choked out the words along with the ocean as the water gagged out of her. Amar was forced to observe his deeds. The hope he had had of a nightmare replaced by a shared dream with Ofelia became once more the reality of his tormented endeavor. Her arms shook as she brought them around her shoulders and sobbed. “I am so…cold…cold….LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” Her scream rattled through him and he could not deny her suffering made by his hands.

Hesitant though he could not resist wrapping his arms around her again, trying harder to soothe his beloved. “Forgive me.” He sniveled in a feeble sound.

Panic-struck and her eyes widened. They were forced to the ground as her weight however light fell into his chest and her legs buckled. Amar followed with her onto his knees and kept her supported in his lap. Her body convulsed against him; not knowing what else to do he clutched her firmly. Water choked out of her lungs as if she were drowning all over again. She clawed at him, nails digging into his skin. Her arms flailing wildly, reaching for the nothing that was above her. He was helpless, had the inept ability of just sitting and watching as she tried to gather air again but each breath gave way to yet another mouth full of water. He could hear her lungs inflate then crackle as nothing but water filled them. He swore he heard a strangled heart beat fighting to keep life within in, it too suffocated by the relentless ocean that filled her to capacity. Her body stiffened, her dainty feet violently shuffling and kicking off the floor, heels scraping, trying to gain some type of ground, a desperate act to fight against the impending doom. Her back arched and her chest heaved up in a way that was unnatural, he feared her ribs would pop through her opaque flesh. Her hands finally went to around her throat as if in one final act of despair to allow just one more breath. Her eyes pleading with an unseen force for mercy and salvation from this cruel torture.

                He cradled Ofelia, feeling the life and fight slowly die inside her, like a lantern dimming in the darkest of nights, the shadows snuffing its perseverance. Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes as he was made to witness the pain she suffered.

With a final short sudden convulsion of her body she became still and the once clinging fingers loosed to allow her arms to fall lifelessly to the ground, her head flopping to the side as if the weight of it pulled it from its current position. Silent at first as the world felt motionless, Amar then cried out in a hoarse howl of tortured anguish to disrupt the absence of sound. It was a painful cry one he had never really heard made from his own lips. Back and forth he began rocking Ofelia’s body in a most heart-rendering manner. He coddled her like a mother holding a newborn. His fingers could not hold steady as they quivered to brush the curls from her face, haphazardly fighting the tremors so he could properly care for her.

“Ofelia?” He murmured as his face leaned closer. “My Doll…my love…forgive me.” His lips lowered for a kiss, as if he could breathe life back into her. Or perhaps a small part of her was left for him to taste, he yet yearned to relish the sensation of her lips one more time. As he relaxed to accept the silky touch against him, her body gave way without warning and burst into an eruption of water within his arms. Unable to react, his arms folded into his chest as the mass he was clinging to was removed and literally slipped through his fingers.

In attempt to scream he could only gasp. Awestruck, his chest rose and fell hard from the shock, his head shook back and forth unable to clear the fog clouding his thoughts. He fought to make sense of the persecution of his sanity that he had just endured. Helplessly he tried to grip and grasp at the pool of water around him, despairingly attempting to reform it back into his Ofelia but to no benefit. He bent over and scooped it back into a massive puddle but as water does it succumbed to no action of his. It merely followed a path draining away from him. No matter how many times he pulled it back to him, it found a way to leave his side. He was destitute of any saving grace.

 As one nightmare ended…another began. Amar now held himself, sitting down and pulling his knees to his chest in attempt to keep from crumbling with her. He stared into the water that had just moments before been his beautiful angel. It offered him no condolences or comfort. The water built around him, gathering and churning as the air hit it, brushing up and nudging his body. Uncaring as to its purpose, he sobbed; his tears only adding to the flood…

TO BE CONTINUED...