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"They are not like my eyes"
"You are a va, I move my hand toward the lamp stand "You can&039;t look in athere What do you know about your own eyes?" I joke, of course I ahs
He smiles "I am happy to see time has not destroyed your wit I hope it has not destroyed your reason You are quick I a that I cannot stop" He pauses "I suggest you stop"
My hand freezes in midair Damn, I think He knows, of course he knows
"I cannot remember what he said," I say
"Your memory is perfect, as is mine"
"Then you tell me what he said"
"I cannot He whispered in your ear He did that so that I would not hear He kneas listening, even though I was lying there with the venoinal vow to him But he did not want me to hear the last part He would have had his reasons, I&039;m sure, but the ti to die in a few seconds Did he make you take a second vow?"
The fuse burns
"No"
Yaksha sits up "Did he say anything about me?"
Shorter and shorter it burns
"No!"
"Why won&039;t you answer my question?"
The truth bursts out of"Because I hate you!"
"Why?"
"Because you stole away my love, my Rama and Lalita You steal ain I will hate you for eternity, and if that is not enough to stop you frorace, then I will hate hio Let him live"
Yaksha is surprised I have stunned the devil "You love him You love him more than your own life"
There is only pain in my chest The fourth center, the fourth note It is as if it is off key "Yes"
Yaksha&039;s tone softens "Did he tell you so, I feel so helpless "Yes"
"What did he tell you?"
"He said, where there is love, there is race" The sound of his flute is too far away There is no ti life I feel as if I will choke on rief I can only see Ray, my lover, my child, all the years he will be denied He looks at e to save hi" Yaksha pauses to wonder "It o"
I look up "What?"
"You broke your vow because you love this young man It is the only reason you broke it You race You only became a varace fro That is why he showed you such kindness I did not see that till now&039;I cannot har fuse "You had better hurry"
The sparks of the short fuse are like the final sands of an hourglass
I grab Ray&039;s hand and leap up and pull him toward
the front door I do not open the door with es rupture, the wood splinters The night air is open before us I shove Ray out ahead of me
"Run!" I shout
"But--"
"Run!"
He hears me, finally, and dashes for the trees I turn, I don&039;t knohy The chase is over and the race is won There is no reason to tempt fate What I do now, it is theroom Yaksha stares out at the dark sea I stand behind him
"You have ten seconds," he says
"Hate and fear and love are all in the heart I felt that when he played his flute" I touch his shoulder "I don&039;t just hate you I didn&039;t just fear you"
He turns and looks at rin
"I know that, Sita," he says "Goodbye"
"Goodbye"
I leap for the front door I ao off The power of the shock wave is extraordinary even for me to absorb It lifts me up, and for a few moments it is as if I can fly But it does not set me down softly At one point in my trajectory fate makes me a marksman&039;s prized bird An object hot and sharp pierces h ht burns behind me My blood sears as it pours frointo the earth But I do not want to go into the ground, no, not after walking on it for so long I try to get the words out--it is not easy I see I have been i of asp
"The stick?" It is the first stupid thing I have heard Ray say
I turnThe wood is literally flah ot half of it The other half is still in my body Too bad for me I close my eyes for an instant and see a million red stars I blink and they explode as if the universe has ended There reht everywhere The color of sunset, the color of blood I findonto my back My head rolls to one side Cool mud touches my cheek It warms as my blood pours from my mouth and puddles around ht, spreads down my beautiful blond hair Ray weeps I look at him with such love I honestly feel I see Krishna&039;s face
It is not the worst way to die
"Love you," I whisper
He hugs me "I love you, Sita"
So much love, I think as I close race, so much protection for me if Krishna meant what he said Of course I believe he meant it I do believe in miracles
I wonder if I will die, after all
TO BE CONTINUED