She stood staring at her window stilt, gaping in disbelief! On it laid a tissue paper that nestled a black chess pawn and her diamond earring that she had dropped on Phil Harley’s party the night before. Hopeful as she was, she didn’t expect it to turn up and least of all this way; but there it was glistening in the ashen moonlight.
(15th April)
Serena: Hello there!
Blackjack: Hi yourself! Welcome to the cyber world! J I didn’t know that you chatted online.
Serena: Gee...like you really know who I am, huh?
Blackjack: I know only one Serena in Milestone Valley; try keeping a nick next time...
Serena: Maybe I will.
Blackjack: So? Have you discovered your earring on your window yet?
Serena: Hey! Who on earth are you?
Blackjack: Whoa! No need to be scared, call me a stranger online or your aficionado in the real world. I mean no harm; I left it on the stile because I found it...
Serena: And that pawn?
Blackjack: Oh that! That’s just my trademark!
Serena: So who are you really?
Blackjack: Err... I’ve go-to-go, see you later!
(17th April)
Serena: Hey! Chess guy!
Blackjack: Blackjacks the nick and hello to you too J
Serena: Yeah, that what I meant. Okay now, out with the big secret!
Blackjack: Which one? ;)
Serena: You left that black bird in that golden cage on my porch didn’t you?
Blackjack: Ah! So you are not just beautiful but intelligent too.
Serena: I let it go free.
Blackjack: I knew you would. :)
Serena: What’s that supposed to mean?
Blackjack: Nothing...
Serena: You seen obsessed with black stuff. Next you’ll be telling me that you drink black coffee, like black berry pancakes and love to do the black bottom!
Blackjack: Don’t forget the black sheep of the family. ;)
Serena: Why do you have to bring up depressing stuff?
Blackjack: Because my life’s in pits...
Serena: And how is that?
Blackjack: Well, nothings ever happen straight, things always seem to go wrong when I think that fates finally being kinder.
Serena: Maybe I can cheer you up; give me till midnight, that’s three hours.
Blackjack: You are on lady! :)
(22nd April)
Serena: Hey man! Where have you been?
Blackjack: Nothing special. Did you like the kitten?
Serena: Its adorable, I’ve named it Blacky for obvious reasons. But what was the occasion?
Blackjack: Does there have to be an occasion for me to give my favorite girl a present?
Serena: No.
Serena: Say, you weren’t at Zoë’s Café last night by any chance, were you?
Blackjack: Why?
Serena: That means you weren’t!J Harley and his gang got into another fight till the old man behind the bar threw them out!!! It was a riot!
Blackjack: Err...I got to run!
Serena: So soon? :(
Blackjack: Sorry. And Serena, look under your doormat!
(27th April)
Blackjack: Hey, how is my fair lady?
Serena: As well as my stranger, so far so good!
Serena: I don’t catch you online all the time so when do you send me all those e-mails?
Blackjack: Forget that! Did you find it?
Serena: The sketch saying “all been washed in black”? Yeah, did you make it?
Blackjack: Yep! So what do you think?
Serena: It was beautiful but the figure seemed tormented and in agony.
Blackjack: Maybe it is.
Serena: Who is that?
Serena: Because the hand’s work represents the state of mind.
Serena: That isn’t you is it?
Serena: You there Blackjack?
(2nd May)
Serena: Blackjack! Hey you better tell me who you are since you seem to disappear!
Blackjack: I’m here aren’t I?
Serena: Its been ages since I’ve caught you online, tell me about yourself at least if you aren’t going to tell me who you are.
Blackjack: You know my life is living hell but ask anyways...
Serena: Gee, somebody seems to have gotten off the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Blackjack: Seems I do everyday.
Serena: So what do you do besides work, study, and sketch and play guitar?
Blackjack: I write too...
Serena: Really? What?
Blackjack: Lots of stuff...
Serena: Can I read it?
Blackjack No.
Serena: My my, aren’t we touché today, hey come on!
Blackjack: Maybe later and don’t forget our date tonight!
Serena: Our cyber date you mean.
Blackjack: Yeah well, whatever.
(5th May)
Serena sat gaped at her computer screen in incredulity! He was leaving town? Blackjack had the nerve to mail and tell her that he was just leaving town? After all that chatting, e-mails, cyber dates and promises? He had finally explained his obsession with black and his poem as his reason to leave:
“At times you see it happens,
That you despise the people you love,
Perhaps because they refuse to
Return all the love you shower,
They blot out your feelings
They repress your emotions,
They strangle your desires
Killing you with the slowest poison,
Your every pleading out cry is:
Treated heedless as a scared whimper
Your every buoyant glance,
With criticism and repugnance.
It happens once, then twice,
Then it happens all the time,
Slowly but surely, little by little,
That special love for them wanes,
Leaving behind a painful black patch,
A haunting patch of distress and hurt
A coal black patch that leaves its stain.
Angry tears welled in her eyes. He swore that he loved her and she cared about him too in a way and she had to meet him! Suddenly she was hit by a brainstorm and her fingers came to life on the keyboard.
(That evening)
Blackjack: Hi beautiful!
Serena: I’ve been waiting online for an hour now.
Blackjack: I know, I’m sorry. So what all that stuff in your email?
Serena: Exactly what you read.
Blackjack: Are you saying that you know who I am? Give me a break.
Serena: Yeah sure!
Blackjack: Yeah right!
Serena: Hey, there only one guy in Milestone Valley who obsessed with black stuff.
Serena: You there? Listen I think we need to give each other a chance. Get together, not in the cyber world but the real world.
Blackjack: You really mean that? You want to get together with me?
Serena: Lets put it this way that I wrote you some thing. Check your email inbox.
Blackjack: Yeah its here, I’m reading it.
SOMEONE OUT THERE
“I look around to catch that smile,
But my eyes search in vain,
‘Cause I’ve been dreaming again;
I run blindly where I think you’d be
But that’s another nook empty,
‘Cause we not yet to meant to be;
You exist, but then you don’t exist,
You exist for the world that knows you,
But doesn’t give a damn!
Yet you exist for me half way through,
Me, who’ll place her whole world in your hands;
I search for you among people,
Look for you hidden behind faces,
Mingling with crowds old and new,
‘Cause you have to be someone out there,
Who I know, will be dream come true .”
Blackjack: Its beautiful, is it for me?
Serena: No, the guy next-door! Of course it’s for you!
Blackjack: Serena I got you a goodbye present but that will be one for our first real date I guess.
Serena: What is it? Something black I guess!
Blackjack: You’ll find out. Are you in your room?
Serena: No, the study. Why?
Blackjack: Wait a second; I’ll be right back.
Serena sat drumming her fingers against the table waiting for Blackjack to return. Its seemed life forever! An ear-piercing screech followed by a crash made her jump out of her skin. Startled she rushed outside to find Phil Harley trapped in the twisted metal cage of his car. The truck driver had escaped unscratched.
Her heart throbbed and the red flash of the ambulance and the sight of blood made her giddy. Men swarmed around the car and then all the hypertension grew at a halt. “He’s dead,” the man pronounced.
Dead? The word echoed in Serena’s head. A guy she knew was dead. The ominous word took a special meaning. All her special moments with Phil flashed before the eyes of her mind. When she was seven and had fallen off her bike, he was the boy next-door who had bandaged her cuts, wiped her tears and set her off again. At ten he was her super hero who had told off the bullies at her school and they didn’t dare look at her again. When she was thirteen and at her first dance party, he was the best looking guy and had asked her for her first dance ever when no other guy had, they all hated her braces. On her sixteenth birthday party, Phil rammed his fist into her boyfriend’s face breaking his nose because he had the nerve to get drunk and walk in on her party with another girl. A year later his father died and they shifted. From then on she saw him at college at a distance with an occasional hello, missing him even more.
It felt as if she had stepped into a dream. Blackjack was forgotten. Phil, her little hero, her first crush, and her favorite guy was dead. Benumbed, she stared as they pulled him out of the wreckage.
Serena couldn’t blink, couldn’t breath and couldn’t look away. The crowd began to drift away and it started to drizzle; only she stood. Her tears mixed with nature’s tears, she stood rooted to the ground staring at the wreckage, staring at the single black rose that had fallen from Phil’s lap when they had pulled him out.
