a figure of my imagination

All our treasured memories flashed past my eyes. I re lived the best moments of my life in the few seconds those three arrows soared through the sky and straight in to Derek’s back. I hadn’t seen it coming and I wish I hadn’t seen it at all. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t see. Derek fell straight in to my arms without warning and his warm red blood poured from his muscular back. Those green eyes stared into my own but not with the passion and love they once so strongly held, but with a sense of fear and coldness. As tears trickled down along my cheek I managed to take in the beautiful 4 caret gold diamond ring that only minutes before Derek had given to me. Today was the day that marked a new beginning for both of us.

My two sophisticated parents were very strongly opinionated on who I was to date and marry. When I first introduced Derek to my family I didn’t exactly receive the response I was looking for. My father stared him up and down like he was some kind of alien and my mother simply shook her head and looked at me with a sign of disgrace and shame. You could also say that I was the only daughter out of four that had brought home a boy not only out of religion but out of the chosen career line. My three other sisters had all married Muslim doctors. But I on the other hand was the wild one. I liked to explore different horizons and try different things, and in this case, men. Derek wasn’t under any circumstances a Muslim and anyone could point that out. He wasn’t a strong believer and didn’t really take interest in religion. He simply believed ‘shit happened’. Derek hadn’t yet chosen a career path but for some reason seemed to take a lot of interest in blacksmith. However I think that my sisters were somewhat happy to see Derek that day. He was like a new toy. They wouldn’t stop staring and I had to remind them a few times that they had their own boy toys to play with.

“Maya are you sure he’s the one?” My mother hammered me with questions like this all the time. My only response:

“Well mum, you know what they say, you won’t know until you try!” I swear I caught some disbelieving glances when I said that. But apart from my totally embarrassing parents and relatively sly sisters I think Derek thought they were normal. When I asked him what he thought about my family, honestly not wanting to know the answer, he took a deep breath, looked at me seriously and said, “well for one thing your dad keeps giving me death stares and I swear it scares me, and your mum feeds me anything she can put her hands on, and well your sisters, they look at me like a shiny new toy they can’t wait to play with. But aside from all that they are everything I never had.” And with that answer I looked him in his eyes and knew that he didn’t want anything more than to be with me.

I wiped my eyes, stopped reminiscing and looked beyond Derek’s bloody back to the three men in black trench coats. From the distance in where we were it was a wonder how all three of those men managed to pierce Derek right in the same spot. As I focused on the men’s faces I managed to recognize one. This man was the tallest and even under the massive trench coat you could tell he was well built. He looked right into my eyes and smirked. I tried to remember where I had seen him before and I thought it might have been that famous little bar in Burke Street that Derek used to take me to when we first started dating. I wasn’t sure and in that moment I couldn’t care less. These three guys were scaring the hell out of me and the smirk that man gave me sent shivers down my spine. Eventually the tall man broke his everlasting gaze with me and whispered something to the other men who looked like they were standing in defence mode, as if someone was about to break out in the middle of the park and declare war. Slowly they took down there guard and pulled on their hoods as they walked away, backs toward me. In those few minutes, as the three men camouflaged in with the dark night I realized that I had found myself three life long enemies.

I started crying as the sun went down, imagining what would have been if Derek hadn’t gone. But he wasn’t gone. Not yet. He was still in my arms. I could still smell that perfume he always seemed to wear; I still had the chance to take in his beautiful body and breathtaking eyes. His eyes always got me. It was like they held a spell. A spell that seemed to compel me to do whatever he said. But I knew that couldn’t be. He would never ask me to do something he knew I wasn’t comfortable with. And last but not least I was given the opportunity to touch and play with his chestnut coloured hair, I loved his hair. It was soft and messy, but in a good way. It always seemed to sit in the right spot and always looked good. Sitting their in the horse carriage, in the abandoned park I focused on Derek’s features and for the first time I really wondered what his family background was. He didn’t look middle eastern that was for sure, but he also didn’t look European. He was a mystery, but my guess was that anyone that passed him on the street would’ve thought that he was Greek or Spanish. But I guess that was one more thing I didn’t know about him.

As I started to cry yet again, I aimed to stroke Derek’s back forgetting that he had obtained himself three arrows to the upper left side of his back. My delicate fingers collided with an arrow. This arrow had something attached to it and not thinking clearly I ripped it off. It was a letter. It was folded in a way that you would see in an old time movie. It had a branded stamp on it, a capital D and V overlapping each other, and seeing this just made me laugh. Of all things I expected tonight I was not expecting to receive an olden style stamped letter that just happened to be attached to an arrow that was sticking out of my boyfriends back. But my laughter soon stopped as my eyes scanned over the delicately written words. I guess I was in for more surprises tonight. The letter read:

‘You made a big mistake loving him. You put yourself in grave danger. You should have listened to your parents!! I’m guessing Derek didn’t tell you who he really was and what he really wanted. We’ll be in touch soon. You can ask me questions then.’

I stared in disbelief as I recapped all the uneventful things that had happened to take place so rapidly in my life. I guess I was out of tears because I just couldn’t cry anymore. My eyes were red and sore and my arms were still wrapped around Derek’s limp body.

I untangled my hands shuffling the now bloody letter around trying not to lose it in the darkness. I eventually lay Derek on the opposite side of the carriage. I wrapped myself in his designer coat and readied myself for more surprises. Surprisingly nothing happened and I waited a while before I decided that I should call someone, not wanting anyone to see me here covered in blood with Derek sitting only a meter away. I contemplated on who I should call on this rare and unwelcoming occasion. Eventually it came to me and I fished around Derek’s pockets until I found his number. Lafayette was Derek’s best friend and they did everything together. Some nights both of them would disappear and not return until early morning. I would ask them what they had been up to and as they both looked at each other I could see the stupidity they felt for not coming up with an excuse beforehand. Eventually I would give up and come to the conclusion that they were up to no good and leave the rest in god’s hands.

As I called Lafayette I wondered if I was doing the right thing, but then again Lafayette was the closet thing Derek had to family. They did everything together and seemed to know each other inside out. As the phone kept dialling I wondered if he was ever going to pick up. Finally Lafayette answered with the handsome and sexy voice he put on when he was trying to impress someone.

“Lafayette are you serious! Is Derek’s number NOT saved into your phone or is their something you’re not telling me?”

“Hey Maya, long time no hear. Can I take my best friend out yet or have you still got him chained up to you?”

“Lafayette this really isn’t the time for jokes. I’m tired, alone and cold. You have to come right now. I don’t think I’m disturbing anything important.”

“Maya are you-“

“I said now. This is really important. You’ll see what I mean when you get your arse over here!”

“OK OK. Where are you? I’m coming now.”

“I’m at that park opposite that café where we used to have coffee together. You know.”

“I wish you could be more specific but yes I know. I’ll be there as soon as-“

“NO. You’ll be here in less than five minutes. Do you understand? This isn’t a joke!”

“YES SIR. Jeesh. I’m on my way.”

I was waiting for what I thought was forever when I heard a rustling among the bushes in front of me. I started to freak and looked around for something to use in defence. Not thinking about it too much I reached over toward Derek and broke off half an arrow that was gauged into his back. I gagged at what I had just done but held it back and turned to face the still rustling sounds in the bushes. I silently jumped out of the carriage hoping not to wake up the now sleeping horses. I stepped down from the carriage and moved toward the movement in the bushes. I staggered over a loose branch, and in that split second a figure jumped out of the bushes. He was big and broad, wearing khaki pants with a green sweater. (This guy did not have any sense in fashion.) He moved toward me, hands up gesturing ‘I come in peace’. I jumped up from where I was crouching, turned and hopelessly tried to run. The tall man grabbed my arm and spun me toward him, “Maya is that you?” I wasn’t listening to his words, all I knew was that I wanted and had to get away, “Stop making this hard. It’s just me! STOP!” Those harsh and strong words made me stop struggling against his firm grip. My breathing had become hard and I wished that this was all just a dream. I turned to face the man and in the dim light of the night I could make out his features. He had a round face, small nose, and big eyes. His face would make any women stop and stare, and only this guy would stand there like he was on display. “Lafayette is that you?”

“Nah it’s not. Maya it’s me, stop struggling. Why are you crying?” I hadn’t noticed I was crying and I hurriedly wiped the tears off my face. I took a step back and looked into his eyes. A thousand thoughts were running through my head; what had I done? Why did I call him here? This is going to break his heart. No he has to know, he has a right.

“Lafayette I have to show you something.” I didn’t wait for his response and walked back toward the carriage. He followed me without arguing.

“Can you just tell me already? I do have places to be.” I didn’t answer and he sighed in great exasperation. I stopped right before the carriage and looked at the blood surrounding the floor and seat. I hadn’t noticed how much blood there was and tried to ignore it. Lafayette looked beyond me and straight into the carriage. I heard him gasp and I tried not to cry.

“What happened?” Lafayette sounded defensive and aggressive at the same time, however he sounded like he somewhat knew this was bound to happen. I didn’t know where to start so I told him what had happened throughout the day.

“WOW.”

“Is that all your going to say? Your best friend just died and you’re only response is ‘WOW’.”

“Well it is a pretty good story you must admit. It’s like a fairytale gone wrong.” Lafayette was known for his outright sarcasm but it just wasn’t working tonight.

“Lafayette can you just stop?! What am I supposed to do? I can’t just drag him to the hospital.”

“And why can’t you do that?”

“For god’s sake Lafayette. He has not one but three arrows in his back and I’m covered in his blood. What am I supposed to tell the doctors; ‘Oh we were in the park and he proposed to me when all of a sudden these three random guys shot him with arrows.’ You seriously think that’s going to work do you?”

“Well…”

“I don’t think so! Can you just tell me what to do? Please?” And I waited as he contemplated on what to say.

’Well… all I can tell you is that he was planning on telling you about his past.” With that small sentence came a lot of weight and I didn’t like to think about what it meant. While I was desperately trying not to scream and kick at the night Lafayette had gotten into the carriage and was pulling something out of his chest pocket. I took a deep breath and walked to the carriage. Lafayette now had a vile in his hands. It had a black sparkling liquid in it and I wondered if he was doing a drug. That was until I saw him lean over and pour the vile of liquid into Derek’s mouth. “What is that?” I asked

“I really didn’t want you to see any of this.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I was starting to get nervous and my head was starting to hurt.

“Maya there are a lot of things Derek and I didn’t tell you. A lot of things.”

“Well maybe you should start. Now!”

“It isn’t that easy and I think you need to go to bed, you don’t look too good.”

“I don’t want to go home.” I wasn’t in the mood in going back to the place that held so many precious memories.

“Well maybe you can come stay the night at my place. I don’t want to leave you alone tonight.” I stared at Lafayette. He seemed worried about me and that was a little weird. Lafayette was Derek’s best friend but before I got to know him Lafayette and me sort of had a thing. This was uber weird, but then again I really didn’t want to be home alone.

“Ok just hold on.” As I walked over to the carriage to take a last look at the love of my life I noticed that he was half gone. And by half gone I mean that the lower half of his body was now thick black smoke. “What have you done to him?!” I exclaimed.

“I told you their were a lot of things we hadn’t told you. Just quickly say goodbye so we can leave.” I jumped onto the carriage and sat next to the upper part of Derek. I looked into his eyes and couldn’t believe that this was the end. The end of us. I wasn’t really comfortable in kissing a dead guy so I cupped his cheek and focused on his face and hair. This was the last time I would see him so I intended on using it wisely. Slowly and eventually his body disappeared and I sat among a thick cloud of black smoke. I started sobbing and covered my face with my hands. I forgot that Lafayette was there when he sat down beside me and put a comforting arm around me.

“Hey you aren’t the only person that lost a loved one.” I looked at Lafayette disbelievingly and decided not to say anything. We sat there for a while and it started to register. I was yet again alone in the world.