Raiden
I sat in my usual spot, loosing myself into the sound of voilin. It was soothing. It was honest. It was beautiful.
After another 5minutes the music came to a halt. That's it, for today. I Ieaned more in to the tree's bark planning to take a quick nap. It was sunny today making me extremely lazy and sleep.
I held back back a yawn as I heard the approaching steps.
"Heyy" I raised my hand waving to the violinist I have come to appreciate.
Her steps stopped. Right infront of me. I felt her walk over to me by the tree. There was again some shuffling sound and her presence felt overwhelmingly near.
Did she just sat down beside me?
Oh. I felt a giddy smile threatening to break my face.
There was another slight thud, I'm guessing this was from her violin's case being put of the ground.
Her hand again reached mine. In turn instead of getting shocked, this time my urge to smile widened.
Suppressed smile let loose and spread over my face, as I decoded her pattern drawing.
"H.E.Y :) "
And yes there was a smiley at the end. Took me a few seconds to realise, but definitely a smiley. I felt a weird feeling rise inside me, i felt ticklish, giddy, slightly happy?
"H.E.R.E A.G.A.I.N ?" She wrote after settling down comfortably. Her side almost brushing my knee sending my heart riding on a freaking horse running in a race. Calm down dude.
"I'm here everyday" I shrugged with a smile.
"I K.N.O.W"
I suppressed an urge to jump around happy. She noticed me. Daily. Everyday.
Not a big deal when you are practically sitting in her way, everyday. But still, she noticed me, my heart squealed.
"Raiden. Raiden Adams" I smiled forwarding my hand for a handshake.
She took my hand and gave it a squeeze, before again turning it face up and running her finger over my palm.
"C.A.R.O.L M.I.L.L.S" Carol Mills. Carol. Carol. I repeated her name in my head over and over. Carol. It's a pretty name.
"Carol. Suits you" I grinned.
We sat there for some more time. In silence. It was difficult to communicate for us. I kept speaking occasionally though. Something or anything. She reacted my pinching my finger or tapping my arm, just so I know that I have her attention.
It felt nice. It was nothing special, nothing much, but I was happy. After a really really long time...I was actually, even though just a little bit, but happy.
~•~•~•~
"Heyyyyy" I waved as she walked over to me after her violin practice the next day and settled down.
I waited from for her hand to touch mine. But nothing came. Nothing. I waited for a few seconds before a voice broke the silence.
"Hey"
I shoot up straight. What the hell? It was a female voice.
But that can't be hers, for many reasons. It was more like an emotion-less mechanical voice.
"What was that?" I asked intriguingly.
I heard a noise, close to a chuckle. She is laughing? Oh heart, stop fluttering.
"Google translator" came the same mechanical voice, my eyebrows raised.
There was a long pause.
"I typed whatever I had to say on here, and let it speak. It's too time taking to draw patters on your hand to communicate"
I burst out laughing. It was funny to hear that voice say stuff so mechanically in accent. And it was more than funny that she thought of something like this. This whole situation is funny.
But it was also humbling, that she thought and took the effort of finding out a way to be able to communicate with me.
"Smart" I let response laced with my laughing breath
"Thank you" I doubled over laughing at the mechanical voice. Oh god.
"Hey look at the bright side. We can finally talk" said the mechanical voice as I tried to breath.
I'm gonna choke and die. I'm gonna die because of over laughing. That would be funny. Imagine people murmuring at my funeral "he died laughing". I'll become the sole real example of the idiom.
"True" I uttered, after finally regaining my breath.
Phew! Funeral postponed.
"I have never seen you here before, recently started coming here?" I asked her after a long pause.
I had been curious about this since long. Being a regular visitor of this park like place since I was a kid, I knew she has not been here before. Atleast not in the recent years.
"My family shifted here recently, just the last month."
"Mm hmm" I nodded.
"I was born here in this town and lived here till I was in elementary school, then our family shifted. Now we are finally back here for good."
"If you don't mind me asking, h-how old are you" this question has been nagging me since the day I first heard her.
I really need to know her age before letting myself, you know, go in that direction.
"Turning 18 this year" I sighed in relief.
Perfect age gap, I did a little mental dance.
"Thank god. I was wondering what if you are a lot older or younger than me."
"Why? I sound like a very old or a very young person?"
"No. You sound like a freaking robot" i said, meaning the translator she has been using. I heard her chuckle and burst out laughing myself.
"But with the choice of songs you play. I did kind of guess that you are a girl and probably my age" how long will I anyway hide this stalker-ish-ness.
"With my music? How?"
"I don't know. I don't even know the pieces you were playing. It just formed an imagine in my head. That it's young girl playing." I sighed
"You were right in your guess then."
"You play well. Like really well" a wide smile broke through my smile, and I did not even try to suppress it.
I loved listening to music in general. I really do. I religiously follow a lot of artists. Though I never tried classical music. But I love music. Even though I have no experience with violin music, and had no idea of the songs she played, they were pleasent to listen to. And so I knew she was good at playing them.
"Thank you."
"Violin, just a hobby or passion?" I wanted to know how much her violin means to her. How passionate she is to things she like, it was somehow, important for me to know.
"Life" I heard her intake a deep breath "violin is everything to me. Everything. I love nothing more in this world than playing violin, and I want nothing more in life more than to be able to play it as long as I live"
My heart swelled. There were emotions flooding in me, feelings I could not even name. I was proud, happy, touched, kind of jealous, and there was this another emotion, causing butterflies to flutter. It felt too early to name this emotion. I knew what it was, I know it well, but...I didn't wanna name it, just yet.
"I was like that too" I leaned back closing my eyes.
"You played violin too" I laugh erupted from my throat. Oh ho.
"No. Not violin" I breathed in
"Painting. I dreamt of becoming a world renowned painter. That is until 4 years ago, when I lost my eyesight to a car accident."
I don't really talk about it to a lot of people. And specially not in this serious tone. I feel vulnerable letting sadness surface over my voice, I absolutely loath that feeling. But for some strange reason I wasn't hating my sad voice, I wasn't hating it, at all.
She became silent. For someone I knew she is looking at me, its like my face is burning with her intense gaze.
"Don't look at me like that." I gave a sad smile and heard her let out a sigh
"I haven't given up. I still do paint."
"How?"
"I can't see anymore. But I still remember what the world looked like. I try to draw it. I'm honestly not sure if they turn out looking presentable. But atleast I enjoy it" I shurgged at the end.
"Don't you stop painting. Ever. I'm pretty sure you do a good job"
I nodded and smiled.
"I'll show you my art pieces one day. Be my judge" It came out randomly without much thinking. But I did mean it, genuinely.
"I'll wait" and for some reason I knew, even she meant it, genuinely.
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