What will be shall be

Dance of the Angel

The old man limped towards a big rain tree and collapsed into a heap at its roots. Startled and awakened by his own impact, he was relieved to see that his beer bottle was still intact. He took a sip from it and sat down with his eyes closed. The bottle seemed his only comfort and friend nowadays.

The breeze was comforting with the willow plants swaying to the rhythm of the wind. The sun was about to set and its golden rays spreaded across the willow field beautifully. It was a sight to behold but the old man was not absorbed nor touched by the beauty of mother nature.

His wrinkles ran deep from the corner of his eyes to near the side of his ears and his eyes were lifeless and dull, seemingly uninterested in anything around him. He had no focus and was only concerned with his beer bottle.

Fate had dealt him a cruel hand. A fire 10 years ago not only took away his property, but also the lives of his wife and children. Since then he never really recovered and was living from hand to mouth by the compassion of the villagers. On the top of that, he had sought the comfort of the bottle to numb the pain of his loss, choosing to live his days in a daze.

As he was about to slumber into sleep he heard a soft music playing. He opened his eyes to locate the source of the music. The source was impossible to detect as it seemed to be coming from all directions. That was when he saw a figure standing around 50 metres away from him and it was dancing to the music.

Somehow the figure had a magnetic effect on the old man, drawing him nearer. As he came closer he realized that the figure was that of a girl and - she had wings! The old man rubbed his eyes, wondering if his beer was playing a trick on him.

The angel continued her dance as the old man looked on in bewilderment. This was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life. The angel turned and then danced towards the direction of the sun. The old man followed quickly but the weird thing was no matter how fast he moved, she was always the same distance away from him. No matter what, he was not about to lose sight of her as he believed that this angel was here to help him to relieve his pain.

The angel came to the edge of a cliff and by a wave of her hand, a rainbow appeared out of nowhere, bridging a path from the cliff to the skies. She then continued her dance towards the skies and every once in a while, turning round to beckon the old man to follow.

The old man stopped in his tracks at the edge of the cliff, seeing the angel escalating higher and higher up into the sky. Why not? he thought to himself and spread himself open and threw himself off the cliff.

He could not tell whether he was flying up to the angel or down to the pits of the cliff. But he knew that in a matter of seconds, he would be embracing the peace and reunion he had craved and waited for so long.

posted by malmoncolo @ 1:00 AM