"I..." She could not go on.
They all listened to her hushed voice worriedly.
"I want...him to leave!"
They all heard her abrupt, feverish, and frantic words through her stifled voice. They all knew that she was not acting normal, that something was terribly amiss with her.
"A minute ago, you were condemning Jacob for something he had done before marrying you. I am not leaving until everyone knows what you did when you were married." Tim said with a wave of his hand, and then sat on a chair away from everyone.
How could Diana endure such an adversity without slipping into madness? Perhaps a simple glance at Jacob would save her and she would not be wasted. She began hating Tim like a nightmare. She thought to herself: "Dose he make a trophy from all his victims, and follows them up to the end of eternity?" Hatred and disgust strongly mingled in her. She opened her eyes wide, as she looked from her husband to others and then back again. Her mind that used to be so quick in making decision, now was so vain even to imagine that her eyes were striking only shame. That was a conviction which stayed indelibly frozen in her mind.
Jacob bluntly motioned to Diana to a chair. He sat himself at a slight angle to her. Then he faced her with an unbelievable and anxious suspense.
"What is this all about?' He asked with a silly grimace on his face that did not match his words.
Diana seemed confused. Everything was terribly foreign to her, and that foreignness was killing her. The blaze of the day had been passed; it was now replaced by a drunk night that used to have sweet smell of sleep, a sleep that awaited the tormented and the discontented. But sleep was so far away, and the sweetness was only a mirage. She wished she could dissipate this night by a wave of her hand or blink of her eyes; but the night was there, and the nightmare stared at her, and sleep was just a dream.
Again she looked searchingly and watchfully at all these listeners, who all impatiently were waiting for her to open her mouth and say something. It was cruel, yet all these curious people awaited out of spite not kindness of their hearts to convict her and whoever else they could. Were They human?
"Don't make us wait any longer!" Tim said with a faded smile in the corner of his mouth. "If you don't talk, then I will."
Diana got up. Jacob tried to pull her back to the seat, but she moved away quickly away from him. She could hardly stand on her feet. She wept quietly, being angry at her own tears. Others, who had not seen such tears in her eyes before, knew the degree of distraught in her.
"I must say first...when it happened, I wanted to tell you Jacob, but you said you didn't want to know it." She wept more and covered her face.
"I don't know what you're talking about?" Jacob said. His voice was almost dead, too.
"Now, right now..., death is a pleasant thing. I'm not...afraid to die now. I wish... it was the end of me now... I musty say, I've always loved you. My love... to you made every sense to you... before, and perhaps... it makes no sense now." Diana stopped crying. She stood next to the dining room table, leaning on it for support. It appeared that now she could talk after she had that "love" part out of her mouth.
"Please for old time sake, let me tell you the story when we're alone, not now..." She looked intensely at Jacob through now her dry eyes. It seemed that now she was making sense and was more in control of her emotions than a minute ago. Then she walked back to where Jacob was sitting. She searched for his hands, but he pulled it away.
"Jacob," She began, feeling she could tell the story and even pay the price for it.
"My dear, love is not only one thing, it's many things in one form. For me my love to you has been my anchor, my savior. When our daughter left, it was love, my love to you and yours to me... that enabled me to live, to survive. Now my kind of love is breaking down. Help me. Save me. Let me tell you tomorrow. Let's these people go to their homes. Save me from this disaster please."
"A minute ago you said that from now on you live with me out of sympathy, now you talk about your love for me! which one is it?" Jacob said with extreme sadness in his voice. Tim started to clap his hands.
"Bravo, bravo..."
Now everyone was back sitting in their usual seats. They all listened to her cry for help, her frantic, yet supplicate cry. However no one wanted to leave. Rosa, who had a very good idea what the story might be, was the only one who offered her support to Diana.
"She is right. I think we all need to leave now, and let them solve their problems without us." Then she looked with a glow of hatred in her eyes to Tim:
"I was told many times what a terrible man you are, but I didn't want to believe it. Now, I'm ashamed of myself for dating you!"
To Be continued
No comments:
Post a Comment