Blood made a linear run and touched the tip of his bare toe. Astonished and horrified at the red trail at his feet, Danielle calls out,
“Monica, Monica… what is it that has been ripped off? Have you stumbled upon your own colors?” The musty order of blood embraced the already caged air. Danielle wends his way in search of his darling Monica. Somewhere in between, he comes across a clinking iron chain wriggled up like a deadly serpent.
“ MONICAAAA. …..how did you land in this pool of scarlet water? Come on get up. Now you’re playing the game too far.”
Danielle tries to pick up the lifeless Monica from the pool of blood.
Memories unfurl in front of him. An abandoned orphan found in a dustbin at the crossroads near the Don Bosco church, Danielle had grown up in dark isolation. Like the other boys of the orphanage, he never played cricket or football. Never did he take up to occasional puffs of smoky pleasures . Teasing friends got him into a skirmish, leaving deep scars on their bodies and none on his soul. Father Agnel tried soul cleansing episodes for him. He was tired of Dainelle’s brawls at the crossroads.
So be it. Monica came as an oasis of relief in the dunes of his loneliness. It became a regular affair for the soul mates to meet at the crossroads. One road leads to the world Monica belongs to- busty, effluent, cozy whereas the other to where Daniel came from- narrow, dark, lonely. Condemned by society, the two some flee the crossroads forever.
Year goes by contently in this small dark hole they amicably call as home. The tick of the clock brings him back to the present hour. Very carefully he picks up his dead love and buries her in the backyard. Picking up his belongings, he walks back to the crossroads of the city. Deep in thought and stoic in action, Danielle finds a pup loitering at the crossroads. Suddenly like a toddler he picks the pup and starts his way back to the dark hole called home.
Daniel names the pup Love because that is what he has always lost and found, to lose again. Tided by the rusted iron chain Love wanders only till the reach of the chain could allow. Life was smiling on love the Monica way. Every dog has his day and love had a whole fortnight of love and pampering before the disastrous Sunday broke.
The siren changed sounds from wail to yelp bringing along a pack of sturdy cops. The cops drag Danielle out of the so called home as a murder suspect of Monica. Love is freed from the clutches of the iron chain. Chain being the murder weapon. Love refuses to live its site of bondage. The cops kick him out of the dark hole and close the doors of his loving abode.
Like Danielle Love too is again orphaned at the crossroads.
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The story travels to a different world altogether, the fiction seems real, the characters so humane and meeting at crossroads for sake of love is amazing travel of mind from one corner of world to other world altogether