EMMA

She was, the most beautiful girl in the village, her name was Emma.

She must be in her early twenties, Ovoid face, prominent zygomas, firm dimply Cheeks,
well-delineated eyebrows with vivid blue innocent eyes, Upturned nose, red lips unfolding her beauty as petals of a rose, long black hair entangled in white scarf with few falling over her face, Long, thin legs with prominent calf muscles, a perfect body like Venus de Milo. She had all the curves, which could make a boy go gaga over her looks, and for me she was no less than an angle.

I always waited for hours together outside her house to just have a glimpse of her dazzling beauty. I wanted to feel that amazing beauty closely. I wanted to marry her. I wanted to worship her as the goddess of beauty. I wanted to tell her that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. I always imagined how life would be with her.

She lived with her mother Sudha and stepfather Pritam. A train overran Emma’s father Jaswant while he was crossing the railway track when she was just 2 years old. Sudha married Pritam after Jaswant's death. Everyone said, her ostensible purpose was her poverty but actually she had an affair with him.

Pritam was an astute shylock, a hulking tall man, who limped with his left leg. He had that perilous look in his eyes that everyone in the village dreaded him, nobody dared to speak against that Neanderthal and stayed away from him. Other reason why they feared him was because they all owed him some amount of money to be paid back. There was a famous anecdote about him that once a farmer named () failed to pay back his interest and became his quarry. Whole of () property was filched; he was abducted by Pritam's men and then perished brutally.

Pritam's malevolence didn't ever spare Emma. She perpetually suffered from his egregious behavior. To make matters worse he would drink in front of Emma and would berate her on petty things. He would beat her to unconsciousness and leave her bleeding all over her body. Sudha, albeit rarely, but if ever audaciously thought to demur this iniquity had dire threats to her body and soul.

Emma's life with her parents was in complete woe. Innocence in her eyes and the rueful expression on her face always made me comprehend as if she was asking me to come and rescue her from that beastly life. I lamented seeing her like this. I wanted to help her. I wanted to give her all the happiness and love she deserved.

That day I was going to village well before dawn to bring water for our house. On reaching its vicinity, I saw someone jumped into the well. I ran to find out and I was surprised to see, it was Emma, the queen of my thoughts, the beauty of my life, my angel, my love; Drowning. I couldn't believe my eyes; nothing was coming into my mind except how to save her? Hastily, I jumped after her. After half an hour of ordeal, I somehow managed to catch hold of her and brought her unconscious body out of the well and lay her on ground.


I checked her heartbeat, it was running normally but her eyes were close. I was in shock
thinking, what could have happened if I wouldn't have reached there on time, the only thought of it gave chills to my body.

I remembered last summer when my cousin almost drowned in the village's pond while fishing Tilapia and how my father saved him. He was unconscious, not breathing when brought out of water. Everyone got scared but my father consoled everyone and continuously pressed my cousin's stomach to bring out excess water, which he had gulped. He blew air in his mouth to help him breathe. It was due to my father efforts, that my cousin was saved and I had learned the skill.

Today, it was the same situation but, in place of my cousin was Emma and there was no one to help me.

"I couldn't live without her, she was the very important part of me.” I thought.
There was not enough time to call someone for help, so I was just followed the steps, which my father had performed with my cousin. I pressed her bowel to draw out water but she didn't breathe. I blew air into her mouth, but that was also of no use.

"Will I loose her forever? Won't I be able to see her again?” these thoughts disturbed me again and again as I blew more air in her body.

Finally, god listened to my prayers and Emma moved. I pressed her bowel harder and water pumped out of her mouth. She coughed badly and barely got hold of her breath. I felt as if god has given me another life not her. She opened her eyes slowly and was amazed to see me there.

"Oliver, What are you doing here?” she asked.

I couldn't believe she knew my name. I told her that I had come to bring water and saw her jump in the well so jumped after her.

"Why? Why did you save me?, Why didn't you let me die?", she said with tears flowing from her eyes. I could think of the probable reason, why she wanted to die? But I still asked her, "Why do you want kill yourself?”

"As if you don't know.,” she said looking in my eyes.

"What", I replied baffled.

"Don't you know everything Oliver? Don't you know about my father? I always saw you waiting outside my house. I believed that one day you’d come and save me. But you didn't. You failed my hopes and me. So, I was not left with any other choice but to kill myself”. Her words hit deep into my heart.

I didn't know how to respond to her. What should I say? She knew everything. She knew I waited for her. I had failed her. She had tried to kill herself because I didn't do anything to help her. These thoughts circled in my mind. I hated myself.

Thinking quickly I responded, "Let's elope."
"But where will we go?” she asked inquisitively.

I told her there is a train which passes from here in the morning and goes to the (), a town. We can go and live there and no one will be able to trace us.

"But how will we catch the train?” she asked worried.

"Leave everything on me. You just be ready at 2 in the night.", I said with confidence.
I had planed this my times before but couldn't ever muster the energy to ask her to this.

I asked her to go to her house and wait for the night, which will take her away from her sinister father.
After she left, I filled my bucket of water from the well and went back to my house and acted as if nothing had happened and entered my room. I collected the money from my trunk, which I was saving from long time now for a day like this. I stayed in my room for the rest of the day thinking what will happen in the night.

It was quarter past 1 in my watch when I left my house. Millions of stars were twinkling in the vivid sky above. Cool breeze brushing against my skin titillated me at regular interval. It was stark black everywhere, no whining glumps, no shouting children but only the regular dog barks could be heard from outside the village. I was continuously looking back to make sure that I was not followed.

When I reached her house, she was already waiting for me, all set to go. I could imagine her desperation after seeing her jump in the well. Without wasting another minute there, we ran towards the railway station. While running I crossed pass my house where my parents were sleeping, the village school which I rarely attended, the village temple where I first saw Emma and fell in love with her, the well where we had met in the morning, village farms where I had worked with my father. "I am going to miss all that", I thought.

After 40 minutes of Byzantine marathon through the village farms, we finally reached the station. We had to wait there for one hour because the passenger train passed from there at 4 in the morning so we stopped few meters before it and started waiting for the train. We sat there silently, without uttering a word from our mouths. I looked at Emma; she was looking lovely as always but a bit tired from the long run. Everything was going as per plan. Suddenly we heard some riotous sounds coming from village side. I asked Emma to stay calm and hide behind the bushes while I went to see what the noise was? It didn't take me long to realize that it was rabble-rout of villagers heading our way and Pritam was leading the group. I ran back towards Emma and we both started running towards the station. Pritam saw us running and order his men to catch us.

I heard the train's rattle from a distance now.
"Run Emma run. We can't loose now", I shouted hard.
Emma responded well seeing me shouting and ran faster. I turned back to see the crowd, they were quiet far from us but I could hear Pritam shouting, "They should not catch the train". As we entered the station, we saw the train coming but the crowd approaching us faster. We ran in the opposite direction of the train, which had now entered the station and was now coming to a halt. But we kept running.

Train stopped. We ran faster and climbed a bogie near the engine. Train only stopped there only for few seconds but today it seemed to have stopped from hours. The crowd drew closer and our heart beat rising. Train started to move slowly. As Pritam’s men reached next to our bogie, I asked Emma to stay behind me. But before anyone could catch us train revved outside the station making the crowd look ludicrous.

I waved back at the crowed and turned back to look at Emma. She was smiling back at me. I could see that happiness on face. She was now a free bird. We moved inside to bogie to find a comfortable seat for us.

We sat near the window looking each other in eyes. I had never seen her so happy before.
She looked at me with those innocent eyes, tears flowing down her cheeks, she said, "Thanks, Oliver".

I smiled and hugged her tightly. I closed my eyes and started imagining how beautiful life's going to be. I had got what I always wanted.
"Should I tell her what I feel? Should I ask her to marry me?, Is it the right time?"
I was amidst my thoughts of living a beautiful life with Emma, I heard someone shouting from behind me.

" Oliver. Oliver, Get up.". I angrily opened my eyes and was shocked to see that there was no train but big white walls; I was lying on a bed. Emma was gone; I was hugging my pillow and my mother standing on my head shouting, "Get up Oliver. It's 8 in the morning."

I realized the situation and shouted disappointedly, "Oh, God!!. Was I dreaming?".
"Dreaming, what were you dreaming about?” My mother asked.
"Nothing" I said.

She shrugged and said uninterestingly, "Ok, get ready fast otherwise you'll be late. Breakfast is ready."

I wondered what to do, just lay there thinking, how beautiful everything was with Emma and that I had again lost her.