
Transparent
Flash Fiction
They looked into each other’s eyes, a young man and a woman, Ray and Sumaiya. Ray, tall and large, held Sumaiya, the petite one as if he would never let her go. And he wouldn’t.
Like vines entwined they were sleeping, warmth of two bodies seeping to each other. There were two pillows on the double bed, but half the bed and one pillow remained untouched. After two days of driving from North Carolina to Massachusetts, both were exhausted. They fell into the bed in their motel once they had checked in. At last, they were far from the death threats. Or were they?
I hovered over Ray and Sumaiya, seeing them like one sees bodies in x-ray films. The bones were white, tissues grayish and the spaces in between were black. In those films, they was little difference other than their structures. In fact, no difference at all when I saw them as spiritual beings. They were soulmates. Both were peaceful in sleep until suddenly Sumayia became restless.
“Please let us be…don’t hit me Baba.” She cried out, coming out of her nightmare.
Ray, awakened by her voice, snuggled into the deep curve of her neck and whispered, “We will be safe, far away from them.” His hands pulled her closer till her body was enmeshed against his. Sumaiya relaxed and went back to sleep. A while passed and again she was talking in her sleep, shivering with the terrible nightmares.
I looked on. Ray and Sumaiya, so beautiful and young and in love. Both were in their late twenties. Beyond the physical bodies, to me they were transparent beings, were forms of energy blending into each other, on way to form a beautiful life together. They were lights, brightening corners of loneliness in each other.
On the other side of the coin was a ruthless society. Sumaiya’s nightmares were of her father and brothers threatening to kill her for falling in love and marrying an American. Honor killing, they said was to prevent disgrace of religion and their heritage.
US veteran, Ray was stationed in Afghanistan for a year and knew about nearby Pakistan and their system of honor killings. He was also aware of how serious fathers were on killing their own daughters.
I was concerned when, for the third time, Sumaiya woke up. Sleep was too troubling that night.
“ No, don’t take me, I love Ray.” She shrieked and bolted up, tearing out of Ray’s embrace.
“Sh..sh..baby, don’t be scared, I won’t let them come near you.” Ray was up too, holding on to her shivering body.
“ I know, I know.” Sumayia stammered. Her body heaved as she sobbed on and on. “And our baby in the womb, what will happen to her?”
“ We will all be safe baby.” Ray said. He covered Sumayia’s trembling body with his own, smothered her with kisses. She calmed down as the warmth of his body seeped into his. The touch of his body, his lips on hers, his body odor, all of that was her world. She wanted to be with Ray that she had taken those impossible steps and eloped.
I looked on. To biased and ignorant minds, they were ‘American’ and ‘Pakistani’. One was brown skinned and another was white. One had dark eyes and the other blue and one was a church goer while the other went to the mosque. On the outer shell the differences were many when scarred by ignorance.
However, I saw two transparent beings who shared the color of blood, tissues and valves, bones and muscles. Two heads blended on the pillow, golden and brown hair, held no color differences beyond their pigments. They were transparent too.
I brought Ray and Sumayia together. My name if Love.
Tulip Chowdhury writes from Massachusetts, USA.
