Mara hurried down the lane, her feet swift against the hard road, as she followed the crowd of paparazzi. They were all in a haste to get the buzz, hot, and live. The teenage pop star, Kyle, was being crazy again, and they were sure to get that on the live feed. However, on getting to the skyscraper, Mara diverted from the others and disappeared into the backdoor.
She made her way up the stairs, past the security, and weaved herself to the fifteenth floor, where the girls-sensational-idol was standing, about to throw himself off the railing.
He had a bottle of brandy in his right hand, while his second hand gripped the railing of his apartment’s balcony.
On seeing this, her heart leaped – it was worse than she had thought. He was practically about to shove himself down fifteen floors, and it would be all her fault.
With a sharp scream, she called him, “Kyle!”
That was the one call she ought to have made years ago. If she had only screamed as loud as she did, eighteen years ago, then everything would have not been this bad.
She had become a coward.
She had let her fear and uncertainties consume her, and her indecision had led the young man to stand over his own death.
But, like a ray of sunshine, he turned his head to her, and suddenly, she knew the heavens had given her another chance to right her wrongs.
Without hesitating, as she had done years ago.
She ran.
Like never.
She leaped to him and grasped him in her arms, as tight as she could, knowing she would never let him go, never again.
Kyle squirmed silently into her neck, and he looked up at her face.
As though in a whisper, he breathed, “You are here now, mom.”
The tears she had long held in her chest as guilty pains came rolling down her cheeks, as she smiled – sincerely for the first time, and asserted saying, “I am sorry, my son. I’m sorry I left you. I’m sorry I was a coward.”
These were the words Kyle had waited his whole life to hear as his purple lips pulled into a small smile.
“Yeah, mom, I know.” He simply said.
That smile burned Mara’s chest, and she knew at that moment that it was too late. He removed himself from her grip, and with one swift move, he was over the railing. She rushed to him, holding him by his arm, but he had his mind made up.
He smiled again, but underneath that was a deep sadness that had swallowed him up.
“You can’t go back, you know, mom. It’s never going to be the same again.”
With these words, he peeled her fingers from his arms, and even though she tried, he slipped away, and she watched – helplessly – as he fell down to the darkness already awaiting him.
What was the use of her tears? They were pointless.
She knew, yes, she knew at that moment that if only she had been brave when she needed to be, then time would have not gone against her.
But Kyle was right.
She could not go back, as it would never be the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment