Short Story – Chained to Shadows Part 1
Be my valentine…the soft strains of the music bit into him like a claw shredding his insides. His fingers closed over the glass globe in which the artificial snow flew softly as the plastic couple inside twirled with the trill of the melody. Sonya had gifted it to him last year.
‘It marks our first valentine after marriage, Victor.’ she’d smiled, and he’d given her his present, a pair of diamond earrings. Her eyes had gone wide as a glow encased her face.
I love you Victor.
He’d never hear that voice again.
The thread holding him together broke and with a raw sound of rage, he flung the object far across the room. It hit the wall and exploded, glass and plastic scattering, like his own life had the moment he’d heard of the mishap.
‘Victor –’ the exclamation was half suppressed as the girl who’d come to the doorway took in the scene. ‘Victor, are you okay?’
The husky question was accompanied by an outstretched hand as though to extend a measure of comfort to him. He glanced at the hand. The scarred skin of old injury showed on it and the wrist above. But this time he was not moved by the sight and he rejected the gesture, physically turning away from her.
‘Go away, Amber. Let me be alone.’
‘How can I, Victor, you are in such pain and you’re locking it all up. Since the funeral, you have hardly spoken a word. I can feel your sadness. You can share it with me, you know. I also miss her.’
He heard the tap of the crutch as she moved into the room in direct contradiction to his command. The sound made his gut clench. He whirled in anger, his gaze sweeping on her. Brown hair tucked behind her pale face, slender figure balanced on the support of one crutch. One foot was encased in white plaster upto her knee. A fire brew inside him, blocking out the damage he could see on her. The only coherent thought remaining in his mind was: a plaster for her…while a shroud for Sonya…
His eyes burned with unshed tears as he fixed them on her. ‘I don’t want your sympathy. Your sister wanted you here and out of respect for her, I want you to keep living in this house. But don’t try to be friends with me. Don’t give me this pretence of sympathy.’
She went even paler. She whispered, ‘Victor, how can you say that? I lost her too.’
His voice was hoarse with pain. ‘She was my life, do you understand that? You got out of there alive but I died along with Sonya. My whole life was destroyed in that accident.’
Her lips white, she said, ‘No one could have stopped it. The mist came out of nowhere. A cloud descended, blanking out the road and then the two vehicles were face to face. There were just the cries, the metal striking, crashing, horrible sounds…!’
He saw tears streaming down her cheeks. His rational mind told him she needed to be comforted. Needed compassion. But the rage that consumed him didn’t let up. She was here while Sonya…
‘It was because of you she even went on that pilgrimage.’ The venom escaped, ‘She wanted to pray for your marriage up there in the hills. She was always thinking of you. Even the gods should have considered that when they let this happen. If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have gone on the journey –’
He bit off the words but the damage was done. He saw shock in her hazel gold eyes, eyes for which she had been named. Pain crumpled her face. With a strangled sob, she hobbled out of the room. The clumsy gait slowed her but there was a dignity in the straight set of her shoulders.
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