A Breeze in the Sky

A Breeze in the Sky

 

Depression had settled down like a heavy weight. Losing my job at the company could be listed as a sole reason but apart from that, my girlfriend had left me, I got into a huge unforgivable fight with my parents and again the job. Two years have passed since I have been a jobless, unemployed sloth and worst; my bank balance was steadily drawing to a meagre amount.

The thoughts circled around my head as I sat on a park bench with The Guardian. For someone observing me closely can easily tell I was least interested in the paper but rather, at the stiff blonde girl sitting opposite to me, flipping through a magazine while twisting a gold enamelled pen in her hand.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, with flowing blonde hair and an icy shade of blue in her eyes which were lowered down into the magazine and emphasized with kohl. She was unnaturally tanned for the winters and going past her sleek nose and the flush of her cheeks, her lips were a plain coat of gloss.

Suddenly she met my eyes; her icy blue ones with my ordinary brown ones. A moment passed between us like a sort of connection until I hastily looked away.

“Wintry Day!?” a voice said beside me.

To say that I was shocked would be an understatement.

I blinked once before responding, “I did not mean to stare at you...”

“Drop it” she said waving off the fact, “Anyway, you have been looking at me for quite a long time, so what do you think?” she asked in a sing song American accent.

True, I had been looking but I was just observing the innocence of plain beauty.

“I am sorry” I said.

She nodded thoughtfully and I realized her eyes weren’t icy but a vivid shade of the skies.

“I am Charlotte Price” she said with dry humour “And I ran away from my wedding last month.”

When I did not say anything, she continued, “For all I care I was forced into this tedious affair, which I wanted no part of it. I so simply ran away to England, just till the storm passes. After all, I have a wonderful job in America and well, I want to marry my boyfriend.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Well” she went on, “my parents do not accept him. His name is Michael and he is black. Speak about racial discrimination! You might be wondering what I am doing on the park bench in Hyde on a Tuesday morning. Well, you have your answer there. And what about you?”

It was a simple question but the moment she asked me that, I broke down. I ended up telling her my life; all my problems and anxieties, my mistakes and repents and my hopes and expectations.

Now when I think back, I remember her listening patiently as I cursed life, and the world and all the sickening people in this world. I even told her my attempts of suicide to which, instead of registering horror, all she did was nod sympathetically.

“You just lost a job.” She said softly after I finally stopped.

 “That’s just about it” I said blinking back the raw tears.

“Your parents will forgive you and you will forget Kate and in fact, find someone better. And you will also find a job again.”

I leaned back on the bench and a small smile crossed my lips, “I used to be a high powered lawyer. I lost the company 250,000 American dollars. You think anyone is ever going to employ me?”

“Yes” she said quietly, yet with confidence.

“I love your optimism, Charlotte.” I said wryly.

“I just realized who you are. William Fields.”

“And?”

“And well, Michael’s father is the CEO of Hastings Enterprises and they are looking for an experienced lawyer and pretty much-well-you.”

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I twisted the pen five times in my hand. It had been five years since I met Charlotte.

I got the job at Hastings Enterprises and I have been heading the law department since the last five years. To think that I had almost given up to life is like distant nightmare. Like a breeze in the sky, the nightmare has blown away forever, allowing me to heal and discover new beginnings in life.

I twisted the gold enamelled pen again three times in my hand and finally decided what I was going to get for my two-year old godson, William.

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Pixie Holt