CHAPTER TEN: BEGINNING OF END
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The old clock tower stands at the back of the ancient mansion where I live. It was built by the Europeans who first colonised this land some two hundred years ago. The aged tower still stands on the river bank, but the parts of the giant clock have long been removed. The stairs are still there and one can climb up to the second floor of the tower. The rest of the floors are too damaged and the staircase has caved in at some places, making it impossible to venture up the tower.

It is at the small balcony at the second floor that I stand now. Leaning on the old iron railings, I gaze at the ground below. The place is covered with some wild plants which are in full bloom. Bunches of white, small star-shaped flowers have covered the plants and lightened up the dark place. A wild sweet smell floats up to my nostrils and makes me feel heady.

I hear footsteps on the stairs. Ruy is coming up. 

In a few seconds I see him face to face. In the silver haze of moonlight he looks like a figure painted in Prussian blue, not black. As he comes forward, his face is illuminated by the faint moonlight and I gasp inwardly at the beauty of that face. But there is no smile on his face, only a shadow of dark thoughtfulness.

Lina's words ring in my ears. Looking at him, I try to fathom the meaning of what she had said. Could it be that this angelic boy here really had inflicted those marks of torture on her? But then, Ruy has never looked like a kind and benevolent person to me!

I feel an urge to talk to him.

"I met Lina today. She told me what you did to her." I say in a rather flat tone.

He is surprised at how casually I throw those words. I can feel it in his tone when he answers.

"Did you believe her? She's a damn lier!" He says .

I take a few steps towards him. He tries to back away. But I grip the collar of his shirt and jerk him close. 

He fails to keep his balance and almost falls over me. But I have my back against the outer wall of the balcony and his body is supported by mine.

My right hand moves to the buttons on his shirtfront and I tug at them. As his shirt opens up, the mark of wound covered with a piece of sticking tape shows up below his left collarbone. Involuntarily, I try to touch the wound and like some wounded animal, he snaps at me. He jerks my hand off his shirt and violently pushes me away. I grab the broken railing to steady myself and face him again. A mad beast thrusts against my ribcage from inside my heart. Bloodlust grips me and churns up an indescribable desire to kill from the dark depths of my soul. Before he understands anything, I grab him again and throw him over the railing. 

Half of his body hangs out of the balcony and my sense comes back. What am I doing? I just can't throw him down from here! I just can't kill  a person like this!

My right hand is still grabbing him. Instead of releasing him from my hold, I draw him towards me and throw him at the floor of the balcony. But as I release him from my grip, I lose my own balance. My body topples over the railing and hurtles towards the ground below. It smashes into the white patches of wildflowers and pain engulfs me. I lay there on my back. In front of my eyes the silvery orb of the moon slowly turns into a hazy dot and then darkness descends on my vision.

Told from Mahoba's Point of View

All evening I have been uneasy. Did I do the right thing? I have been asking myself the same question again and again. I have a feeling that instead of making things easier, I have complicated them more and more. But what could I have done, anyway?

Unsteadily, I roam about the streets. My mom isn't home. She won't be back before nine, so I don't need to be worried about going home right now.

A strange sense of premonition draws me towards Mimo's house. The huge ancient gate lies open at the front of the house. I go inside and luckily, find one of her aunts on the long corridor outside the main building. I ask her if Mimo is there and she shakes her head. She doesn't know where she is.

"Go to her room and see if she's there," she tells me.

So I climb the stairs and go to her room. But she isn't there.

I wait there for some time. She doesn't return. 

The uneasiness inside my chest increases tenfold. Where could she have gone? At this hour? Her granny is sick and I don't think she's going to stay away from her for a long time. Then what could've happened?

My instincts tell me that she is in grave danger. I start searching for her. Wherever she goes in this world, my heart would always find her.

And I find her at last.  At the foot of the old clock tower,  she lies on her back, her face turned towards the moon, among bunches of wildflowers- white flowers stained crimson with her blood that look darker than black in the murky moonlight.

I hear a muffled cry. My own voice sounds unfamiliar to me. I run towards her. I try to lift her up in my arms but my body lacks in strength. I can only half carry her to a clean patch of grass in front of the entrance to the tower. There I sit, holding her body in my arms.

Blood sips into my clothes from the wound behind her head. I gaze at her face which is stained with a bluish tint. My heart sinks. I don't have much time in my hand.

I try to invoke the healer in me. I look for the white flame flickering within her. With my own heartbeat I try to feel the rhythm of her heart that beats close to my chest. Slowly I sink into her soul and merge with her, channelling my life force into her. I can't mend this mangled human body, but I can at least make her hold out till help arrives. 

Slowly, the flame begins to burn bright. She isn't sinking anymore. I lay her on the grass and run towards her house. 

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