ParkBench

Story of a couple and how an incident involving a park bench changes things

It was another one of the dreaded Mondays when he had to go back to his life of slogging it out at the work place, and he hated to get up so early on Mondays. He turned to turn off the alarm in his cell phone and found that he was alone in the bed. However the room soon filled up with a sweet aroma as she entered the room. Just out of the bathroom, with her hair wet she smelled as if he had just been transported to a garden of fresh blooming flowers. She smiled and came to his side. Slowly she began to stroke his hair and no sooner did her lips part than her angelic soothing voice filled his ear �Good morning love, time to get up. You wouldn�t want to get late on your presentation day. Get ready and I�ll have breakfast ready for you. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all.� He smiled and wondered what good deeds he had done to deserve her in his life. He got up and leaned forward to kiss her. However he didn�t reach her and was rudely awakened from his dream by the alarm in his cell phone. He was the only one in the bed and in real life she wasn�t there to greet him, at least not since she had died seven months ago.

Rachel and Jeff were a couple made for each other. After only a month of courtship they decided to get married right away, and what a marriage it had been. Rachel was understanding and the corner stone of his life and Jeff took care to see that she felt pampered all the time. Rachel would leave him love notes in his socks and pockets, and Jeff would bring her flowers for simple occasions like getting up early and take her to a romantic date. That fateful day was still etched in his mind. They were driving back from yet another of those dates. It had been a taxing day at work and Jeff had suggested that a dinner at the pool side would be welcome.

�The food was excellent today, just what I needed� Jeff was obviously unwinding now.

�You like the food outside so much that you don�t let me cook half the time; I am not that bad a cook OK�

�I never said that, you�ve got magic in your hands. It�s just that the experience in itself is wonderful.�

�You never said that but surely meant that!�

That was one of the things he liked the most about his wife, they would play with each other all the time and have fun pulling each others� legs.

�The wine was absolutely wonderful; we should stock some of it in the cellar.�Rachel continued. He looked at her and smiled. He must be in God�s good books to get such a great wife. Moments like these ignited a spark between the two. A drive would come over and consume them, and they would be in each other�s arms the next moment lips locked and soon exploring each other�s body each time as if for the first time. Given the fact that he was still driving and on the way back home Jeff merely placed his hand on her leg and stroked it lightly. She smiled and gently slapped his hand. �You might want to pay more attention on your driving mister; this is a brand new car mind you.�

�Well you better be thinking of what�s going to happen when we reach home, I can�t wait.�

�Who ever asked you wait?�

�Didn�t you just ask me to pay attention to my driving?�
She merely smiled in an impish manner. A few minutes later came a park bench and he stopped the car. As it is it was an empty road giving the fact that it was late at night. He motioned her to come and join him at the park bench. They crossed the road and went to the other side to sit on the park bench given company only by the moon and stars above them. He looked in to her eyes and gazed in them before clutching her fingers and sharing a deep passionate kiss. Somehow the moonlight seemed to have brought an emotion of peace and calm in him or maybe it was just the fact that it was Rachel who was sitting next to him. �Well we might as well get going honey; both of us have a long day tomorrow. Give me the keys; I�ll drive this time.� She took the keys and got up to open the door of the car. She was half way through when a blaring horn and bright light got their attention. It all happened way too quick; and the truck ran over Rachel leaving behind a bloody mess of her body which it dragged along for some feet. It took some seconds for Jeff�s mind to even register the thought that the accident had taken place. He ran over to where Rachel lay but instead found only her motionless boy drenched in blood.

That was slightly more than seven months ago. Jeff couldn�t get over the fact that had he not stopped the car to sit on the bench that night with Rachel, she would probably be here today by his side. Every night he would go and sit on that very same bench devotedly hoping against hope that she would one day return to him. But of course the dead don�t come back; it�s only their memories that continue to haunt us. Jeff had loved and lost, lost not only his love but his reason to exist. He tried many things to try and subdue that feeling of loneliness, pain and more so the feeling of guilt with many things. He immersed himself in his work and rose to new levels but that could not fill the emptiness in side of him. And the seven months became fourteen and nothing happened. Another year later found himself driving to that very same bench hoping may be this time he would find her waiting for him. He stopped at the red light before the park bench and heard a name that raised him out of his stupor. Somebody said Rachel, he had heard it right. He looked around and a man in the car next to him was talking on the phone about Rachel. His Rachel.

�Yo man, No Cash, no girl man. Yes you got that right, give me a thousand bucks and then you can meet Rachel and do whatever she�ll let you do. Rachel�s the best girl in the joint and quality demands price. What do you mean you haven�t got that money on you right now, I won�t even let you step a foot near her you f*cking loser.� Few words meant something to Jeff, if the man wanted a thousand dollars he would gladly give him the money if that is what it took to meet Rachel again. He followed the man till he stopped his car a few blocks later outside a hotel.

�Excuse me Mister, yes sir you there in the white shirt.�

�You talking to me man?�

�Yes sir, I couldn�t help but over hear you talking about my Rachel over the phone. I�d like to meet her if you can arrange it.�

�Well yeah, Rachel�s famous alright. But like I said, no cash no bash.�

�That�s not a problem, here take the thousand and another five hundred for your effort, just take me to Rachel fast.�

�Well that�s pretty neat of you man for the extra five hundred but you�re gonna need to pay up to Rachel too.�

�Sure that�s not a worry, anything for Rachel.�

�Well today just happens to be your lucky day. She�s inside by the pool area, the brunette in the black dress. Just ask any waiter and he�ll lead you to her table.�

He sped off in that direction and reached the pool area as fast as he could but could not find Rachel. As instructed he asked a waiter and he pointed to a lady sitting next to where he was standing. She wasn�t Rachel, but may be this was a test as the man and the waiter had clearly mentioned her as Rachel. He pulled a seat and sat opposite to her.

�Well hello there handsome, I�ve been waiting a long time for you to turn up.� She loved him too and was waiting for him in the same way he was waiting for her!

�I am sorry I got so late you see I found it hard to overcome this feeling of guilt, I am really sorry.�

�What�s there to feel guilty about honey, let�s have something before go to the room? How about some scotch?�

�Sorry but I haven�t had drunk alcohol for quite some months now.�
�Oh don�t worry love, I am there aren�t I?�
�Oh yes, this does call for a celebration.�

He promptly ordered for two glasses of scotch for it was what Rachel wanted and quickly drank his glass empty.

�Where were you all this while Rachel, I was waiting for you at the park bench every night?�

�Oh I was here and there, just roaming around.� What park bench she thought, to her he appeared a little off his rocker, but as long as he was treating her well and was going to pay up, she didn�t mind. She had dealt with stranger people before.

�Dude what are you doing here?� How rude it was for someone to interrupt his talk with Rachel. He turned around and saw his colleague Sam standing over.

�It�s nice to see that you�ve decided to move on and enjoy life at its fullest. She�s quite the wild one here.�

�What do you mean Sam, this is Rachel here.�
�Exactly dude, this is Rachel here. She�s a female escort as you may call her, one of the best. I�ll leave you two over here, have fun man!�

Those two sentences brought him to his senses real hard. She was not his Rachel; he was just getting carried away by his desire to meet Rachel once again. Now that he was back in his senses he wanted to lose them again. He drank some more scotch and then some more stopping almost two hours later only when Rachel got impatient to go to the room and get on with it. He left his credit card on the table and got up and left. He tried to go to his car and drive, but couldn�t get the door opened so decided to take a walk back. After walking for a few minutes he came near that park bench again. This time however someone was sitting on it.

It was his Rachel, sitting there in an elegant dress all ready for another dinner with him. He rubbed his eyes and confirmed that it was indeed his Rachel that was waving at him, beckoning him to come and sit next to her. He started to cross the road but kept falling down; having drunk so much of liquor after such a long time. But his Rachel was still smiling and waving at him, calling him and he got up soon so that he could reach her and touch her, and apologize for his mistake. He was half way through when a blaring horn and bright light came out of nowhere. It all happened way too quick; and the truck ran over Jeff leaving behind a bloody mess of his body which it dragged along for some feet.

But for an instant just before the truck hit him he was happy. Happy because he would not finally get to meet his Rachel again.

Author's Note

This one was difficult in getting the feel across

Reviews

[TL Boehm]

oh yes, I love this, strong dialogue and story line, I really loved the description of her hair in the first part, that was a very gentle image. WELL DONE. So good to see you back.