"I LOVE YOU"

"It's the best feeling you can have in your life. Guess what that is?!!!!"

"..hm.....It's to fall in love and to be able to say the most beautiful words in the world, to say "I LOVE YOU" to 'that' someone, who you care about and truly love!!

...the best feeling, indeed!!!"

....sighs.....

"I wish I could tell that to you. I wish...I was a bit stronger. I wish I could say those words, at the top of my voice, so that, ....so that, everyone in this world could hear and feel, just how much I love you, how much I care for you and what I feel about you. I wish you were by my side, always, close to me.. next to me, by my side, forever."

" It may sound like excuses but if you, actually were beside me, I think I could have said it because it's a fact that, I love 'the' you, who is this special to me, who I love this much, the only one for me, my love and my life, my exclusive-god-send-angel ba!!!"

"I could brag, about my love for you, to the whole world!!... If only, you were beside me, I could put my heart in the open and show the name written on it, for everyone to so....just..if you could be beside me....."

...sighs....

"That day when you saved me from that gang of retards and protected the maiden within me, I learned for the first time, what this thing called 'love' was and that I was also someone who could be protected, that I too am a girl. I always thought I can fend for myself, I was used to fighting my way out from anyone and everyone and was used to protect my heart from anything and everything. But, suddenly you broke through my defenses and saved my fragile self which, I thought, had become rock-solid..hurhur. You became the light of my dark life!! So, I decided that I'll be yours and will only love you, for the rest of my life and will devote my everything to you, my empire, my love, my body, my soul....my everything".

"....yo-you too, love me right?...", the girl asked, in her small trembling voice.

But her face was aloof, it didn't have the same bashfulness as her stuttering voice, it felt like 'it' had something else to say.

She had an enigmatic countenance.

With a pair of dead-fish like eyes, she was staring at the face of the man in the photo, she held. She was staring so hard, it was as if the man was actually sitting beside her.

At times those dark pupils felt as if they could swallow everything, even the lights just like a black-hole, it was like she was staring into nothingness but at times they twinkled as if they contained all the stars in the universe.

She just stared at the photo for a long time, till the night ended and the first light of the day came through the gap between the curtains and then she smiled dotingly but those eyes no longer had any light.

Her innocent smile gave a sinister feeling.

The air around her was definitely not that of a girl in her teens, yes, she was just 16, but her forehead held dark clouds.....

The way she had asked the previous question, not including the look on her face, was that of a teenager who was experiencing the first 'spring' of life but the same on her face gave the foreboding of a storm!!

She was seriously asking the photo to answer her plea and then waited for a countless number of breaths for it to respond. Just like a child, she had held the same position for the whole night, waiting for it to answer.

But, alas, the answer never came out.

How can a photo possibly talk?!....

But, she had waited and waited.....

Time flew by and the dark night had already changed to a sunny day.

The lack of response was too much for her to handle, it slowly but steadily took away the light from her eyes and also probably, from her life.

She feverishly took the photo close to her heart and continued, "....why aren't you saying something?...please, please say something!!", her voice was hoarse.

".......", but still, there was no response.

"....are you angry at me?

...hey.....I promise I'll never betray you. I will make sure that you are never sad

...I-I won't even ask you to answer me.....so please, I am begging you, come back, come back to me.

Don't leave me alone in this scary place.....

I am scared, I am scared of living in this place.

I don't want to stay by myself, all alone,.... without you...please don't go.....pl-please...", she sobbed and whimpered.

She was at her wit's end.....

Unable to take this silence more than she already had, she made her way to the rooftop.

It was the tallest building in the city and she was the sole Queen of this entire empire.

But she was a lonely Queen....

She took steady steps to the edge...all the memories she had with the man resurfaces like a movie...she smiled and then jumped off the building.

Her last thoughts were "I still love you. Even your death can't do us apart. You will get lonely there, right? I won't make you wait anymore. You already waited for a whole night...Just a bit more, I am coming to you, my love".

The innocent face was contorted into a devilish one and had an evil smile on it as if, possessed by the devil itself.

...............

At the same time, in a graveyard nearby, a funeral was held.

It was the funeral of the same man in the photo, the girl had held all night.

But in this photo, he was donned in a military uniform.

"I heard that it was a suicide.", X said.

"Yes, I heard that too.", Y said.

"It seems like he was being stalked by a lunatic.", Z affirmed.

"The pranks were getting darker by the day, blank calls and life-threatening notes to his family. It seems he was cornered. Sudden accidents occurred to immediate family, his wife lost her baby, she was 6 months into the pregnancy, even his firstborn was kidnapped. Lord, talk about bad luck. "X whispered.

"A retired militant, age 46, no previous records, passionate about work and family...Stalked by Miss Y, a reputable face in the country, who was previously saved by the same, in the last mission of his career...threatened to death..was it really suicide?...RIP."....read the excerpts from a daily newspaper.

"What will happen to his children and wife? He was such a good man too...poor soul", the neighbors mourned.....