Free falling...a short story...

The Manhattan skyline...what's in a bunch of straight lines drawn across the horizon with nothing but speckled darkness upon it and a dimming glow behind which makes it so romantic!?! As so many people who has been to that spot which could afford that wonderful view, he did not realize its beauty until in retrospect...

"Go with the flow." "Be the man." "Don't be scared. Its all about going with the flow..."
Such words of wisdom...words of such wonderful wisdom...coming from the masters of the art themselves. He went with the flow alright...and guess what...it worked just fine. She too apparently had similar instructions from her own school of love...ooohhhh...what wonderful mentors. That was their first date...their first kiss...with the Manhattan skyline outlining the scene...picture perfect. Pity...they don't have a picture of it though...

What a wonderful time after that...speechlessness couldn't have described it better...the long lonely walks by the seaside at night...the love making in his kitchen...the long drives in her maroon Ford Ka...the way they just held hands, slowly brushed against each other and stared at the Manhattan skyline after many an evening. He did not bother thinking about it too much...you wonder why...the flow damn it!! He was going with the flow...and flow their love did.

They were going on about their love...almost like a bee buzzing about its flower...teasing each other for some time...buzzzzzzzzzz....buzzzzzzzzzzzzz...until they meet...and then symbiosis. The sweetness of it all. The calm before the storm...then the storm...then the eye of the storm...the storm back again...and wiederholen again from the top...crazy little thing called love.

"Made for eachother"...the passersby whispered..."Mad for eachother"...their friends whispered...wonderful people. People are wonderful. How much love can be in the air...buzzzzzzzzzz...buzzzzzzzzz...the buzz is getting stronger for some strange reason. And the sweetness lighter...the ecstasy remains the same though...wonderful people they were with eachother...picture perfect. A picture yet again was the need of most of their days together...but no, they did not take a single picture of together...who needs memories when life is rolled out in front in the form of the plushest reddest and unbelievably soft carpet you can ever float upon...floating...because their carpet had magic in it...yes, a magic carpet. And they flew on it...buzzzzzzzzz...that was the flow not the flew...

The passion had nowhere but higher to go...leaving behind the embers of the bridge burning behind them, they could not turn back now...they were way too much in love to try waiting for the world to accept them. Why? Oh god why? Isn't it enough if two people love each other so much...why cant you leave them in peace...in quiet...talking of which, buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...and a new sound now...thup thup thup thup thup...rhythmic...almost melodious...so steady that it gave one goosepimples. The world might even turn upside down...nauseating you...you can feel your ears pop at the pressure...but...their love was ethereal...was pure. An endless river of it for good measure...

But wait...this flow...did you even wonder what might happen if it stopped or even slowed down? No...of course it cant...it's unthinkable...just like their love was unquantifiable. Will they be shattered? Battered and bruised? Will their friends feel sad and share the pain? Or is it their own? Who cares...the flow is still there...just gotta go with it...hoho...party time again, bring on the beer boys!!

buzzzzzz....thup thup....buzzzzzzz..thup thup whup thup....bzzzzzzzz...

The accident...it was gruesome...straight off the cliff and into the waiting ocean...no...not their magic carpet...it can fly of course...but the Ford Ka. She must have been in quite some pain before the final moment...before she went under. The fall unto the ocean...what must have gone through her mind? Is it true that your life flashes before your eyes before death? Her terror must have been absolute...was she thinking of him?

His friend called him with the news...this happened just about the time when you started reading this...3 minutes...4...5 at the maximum....5 minutes. He had 5 minutes to reflect until this moment. Grief is too weak a word to describe that feeling...to make matters worse for him, not a friendly face around...no shoulder to lean on...not even a wall to lean on. Just a hollow shell of vibrating metal. Buzzzzzzzzz..thup thup thup...no, not the flow...it quite plainly came to a grinding halt a few minutes ago...for the moment atleast. But that sound...that was the Cessna...twenty thousand feet and counting...it's amazing how fast these planes can climb skywards in 5 minutes...and quite amazing how he got the call just when the plane was still within communication range. This is the point where I have no idea what's running through his mind...I am flowing now...with time in its latest avatar...I think its best he is left alone for now.

"She...I...I love her...I just love her...god...I love her...Oh god why...why..."

buzzzzzzzzzzzz...thup thup thup....buzzzzzzzzz....

"Yo Michael...what the hell you mumbling at the rear...we are almost in space now...wanna get your ass off my deck or what? C'mon man...my wife will kill me if I let the bacon get cold..."

He looks up from between his crumpled up legs and wonders at how uncompassionate that sounded...5 minutes...only 5 minutes....damn! He did not believe this...he wanted out...he wanted to escape this metal sarcophagus...he jumps...into space...away from that closed space...

The feeling of freedom, the freedom of falling...of elation...of flying...he is closer to heaven just above. He always forgets his problems and pleasures while up there...alone...when the depth of being just a speck in the wide wide universe is magnified a thousand fold in comparison to gazing at the stars by the beachside on a lucid night...quintessential reflection of the mind at its free'est. He took a whiff of the air...turned around twice...once at the waning sun and once at the waxing moon...with the stars faintly visible above. A tear formed...and instantly vaporised...he couldn't even cry here...not even allowed his pain...but then, the tonic of gravity...of free falling was almost soothing...

But this time...the closer he got to the ground...the more he hated it...more than he normally does. Times before...there was she to go back home to...now just an empty planet filled with people...hmm...heaven above and hell beneath. Stuck in a limbo for a short but sweet while...but there was nothing he could do...or was there?

The wind against his face was now making a hell of a rumble...shouting its warning against the impending jungle below. The ground below was now uncomfortably getting closer...bigger...almost like an invisible and huge magnifying glass was falling in reverse from the ground up towards him floating harmlessly in limbo. Its unfair...the planet already has so many people...why does it want him so bad? There is no life for him left now down there in hell...unbearable.

But wait...there is something yet left to think upon...should he pull the cord? In one smooth non-action, should he save himself from the agony waiting to be heaped upon him? Should he be the man and brace himself against the instance of a horrible coming together? But then...should he take this in his stride and make his life worth living more than what anyone could have dreamed of? Should he take the small step towards recovery which might lead him to bigger treasures? Should he be another kind of man and face his adversity head on?

There he was...a blip above the beautiful Manhattan skyline...the funny thing was, even from his view point, he could still see the curved Manhattan skyline...all the straight lines no more...lines now arcs...rectangles now ovals...squares now circles...their love so much etched into memory with the Manhattan skyline now getting twisted out of shape and fighting with its own surreal will. But he was now alone in this fight...in his struggle...

The skyline brought his first date to mind...and the next...and the one after that...and then, all the memories he ever had of her flashed across his disturbed mind. Was that his life flashing before his eyes? Was she his only life? Or was she dearer than life itself?

He saw a falcon swooping past him chasing after an invisible nothing...at that moment of freedom and movement of purpose, he knew what he had to do. He decided in that moment of life or death...to simply...go with the flow.