It was a long street,with a pavement of grey cobbled stones.There were closed shops on both sides with worn out signs.
The sun was retiring after a very long day for it was the middle of summers and days were steadily getting longer and longer.
The whole alley was deserted except for a teenage boy,who with his red T-shirt and worn out jeans;looked quite out of the scene.
The boys was looking for something among the shops,walked cautiously to the dusty panes of the and peered through each of them,after sometime he would detach his face and with a snort of impatience and he'd move forward to the next.
It seems now necessary,my dear reader to,describe to you this curious character of ours for he'll play a central role in out little story.
The boy was of average height,probably in his early teens and had a curiously innocent face on which he wore spectacles,behind which were two very eager,bright,dark brown eyes.The boy had a clean face yet if one would look closer,he could discern some hair on his chin,clearly the signs of approaching puberty.
It was clear that the boy was showing the signs of weariness,yet still still he was continuing his relentless but mysterious search among the deserted alley.
The boy stopped with start,and headed in a bee-line towards the shop at the end-corner of the alley,apparently he'd found something he was looking for.
For a minute the boy looked closely at the panes of the shop which were more dustier and shabbier than the rest of its neighbours,he could discern some faint light coming through them.
With an exclamation of joy he grabbed the door and pushed it forward.There was a tinkle of bell and voila he'd found his place. :)
The place was semi-dark and was lit by only a few candles scattered here and there above the shelves.
It took some time for the boy's eyes to get accustomed to the new surroundings.
He gasped with amazement at the spectacle before him for he never imagined to find it in such a place.
The room was very large,apparently the size of a small cathedral,it was filled with shelves upon shelves,which were filled with dusty Volumes and antiques like old swords,ancient armours,cartridges of guns,old papers
and many other things that were new to him;
The placed looked that it wasn't looked after very much,it could've been a library or a museum yet it was too shabbier to be both
yet still;it grabbed his attention,and he was quite absorbed in his surroundings.
He didn't quite hear the footsteps of someone coming until he saw a man before him.
The boy wasn't startled though,he looked at the man with a contemptuous gaze,which was both puzzling and expecting.
The man motioned him towards a corner where there was a table with a solitary candle burning upon it.
a few chairs were scattered on its sides.
The boy sat the on the chair and looked curiously at the man who was fixedly staring at the flickering flame of the candle.
The boy couldn't discern the features of the man,save he was a full grown man,much taller than him and had a rough beard.
yet it were only the eyes of the man which were clearly visible to him because he wasn't wearing any glasses.They were dark black and were seemed to be shining with some inward energy.
The boy took a deep breath and asked in a commanding tone of a someone who was about to scrutinize his subject.which seemed curious because the boy had never seen the man before.
'I hear you have answers for me'
The man looked at the boy for moment,nodded in agreement and again started staring at the flickering flame.
The boy bursting with excitement yet still composing the air of command asked again
'What is love?'
The man never raised his head and began in a deep masculine voice.
'Love is not a thing that can be described or captured in words as if it were something precise,to grasp the true meaning of this it must be felt.'
The boy seemed not satisfied by his answer and the man seemed to sense that,for he began again.
'Love is one of the most powerful forces of nature,it is one those emotions gifted to us by the Almighty which are at once,both terrible and beautiful.
Love is that bird which perches in the soul of someone,and sings its sweet tune and never stops at all.'
The boy looked more puzzled yet in his mind he could feel some glimmers of understanding emerging,and his heart nudged him to move on.
'How can i feel it?'
'Everything in this universe has some time,and certainly there is a time for it too.'
The man's eyes were a little too glittering and the boy thought it might be a trick of the light,but the man's eyes were watered.he didn't seem to notice him for he looked absorbed in his own thoughts.
'Does it always hurt?'
for the first time there was softness in the boy's voice.
and for the first time,there was hesitation in the man's voice.
'It....only hurts to those... who are unworthy of sacrifice,which is the true height of love'
'Explain it to me?' the boy pounded his fist on the table.
The man never for a moment was abashed,he remained as cool and calm as ever.
'The first step of love is respect,without respect;it is nothing more than a lust,which eventually leads to the pits of hell.
If he successfully passes this step,he rises in the position till he can stand out from the crowd of millions because of his greatness.
'Greatness?' The boy inquired thoughtfully
'When someone is absolutely honest and sincere with someone,despite the other ones ignorance,he becomes great in his own eyes.He eventually knows how gifted he is from God,that's why every sincere love eventually leads to the divine.
For his lover in flesh and bone is nothing but a mirror in which he could see his own greatness.
But it is only for the people with perseverance because nobody can reach its goal.But the charm for the great one lies in the path,not in the destination.'
All this time the boy was appalled,not by the complexity of the speech but by the fact that the man seemed to be telling him,his innermost thoughts,which he never knew he had.
'But you didn't explain the sacrifice?'
The man remained silent for some moments.
The boy could see that he was struggling with his thoughts,measuring them up....
'Love is;eventually a sacrifice'
The boy could swear that he saw a tear rolling down the man's cheek....but the man face remained as impassive as ever.
The boy couldn't understand that.The man seemed to sense that.
'It obeys the laws of balance on which the very foundations of this universe are laid.You cannot achieve greatness without sacrifice'.
The question came to the boy's lips without even his thinking.
'have you ever loved?'
"yes, i have" the man answered without a moment's thought.
There was a faint stir of wind and all the candles in the room except the one on the table were extinguished.
But the man didn't seem to notice.He was still absorbed in his thoughts.
The boy was a little ashamed of himself,yet his heart seem to nudge him to move on.
And he asked with a little hesitation.
'And have you ever been loved'?
for the first time the man looked up into the boys eyes.
The boy could sense that the man looked vaguely familiar and
their was a very long pause.
'I don't know',he said finally.
After that the man and the boy remained silent for some time.
The boy seemed to have a realization of some sort.
He looked up and asked the man with a vacant and dreamy expression of someone who tangled between reality and the virtual.
'Why am i here?'
For the first time the man broke into a smile,and what a smile it was...
IT was as if a window has been opened,through which the boy could see emotions,pains,joys,innocence,mischief and passions flooding through
It was such a melting smile that the boy forgot his own question and kept looking at the man,positively stunned,for he never expected such warmth from such a cold figure.
The man bent forward,still smiling,till that his whole face was clearly visible to the boy,who was now staring at it with amazement.
The man whispered in the sweetest voice that the boy has ever heard.
'You're here because you wanted to know:what u should know'
And he blew out the last candle.
The boy woke up with his heart racing,he was drenched in sweat.,yet it was triumpth that raced his heart.
For now he knew who the man was.
++++++++++++++
The very same day the boy saw someone with black beetle eyes and dark black flowing auburn hair.
And the boy couldn't take his eyes off her.
It was as if his insides were falling into an abyss..
and he got a little tingling sensation in his feet and neck.
With a faint little smile the boy tore his eyes off and walked off
He now fully understood what the man had said at end.
That was why he needed to know that much.
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