"Is everything packed?" a man in his forties still carrying the aura of youth exuberantly, dressed in his checked-trousers and a loose t-shirt came hurriedly and inquired his daughter.

"Umm..aa.. yes, almost everything is done. Just some of my books are left. Take these cartoons until I pack them " busied in picking out her wordy collections of books she pointed towards some packed cartoons and ignored any kind of eye interaction with her father.

She didn't want her dad to be worried over her being emotional. She tried hard but the instinct to cry right now was overpowering her determination to resist it.

Nothing in life is permanent, a time always comes when we must give sacrifices, close one chap that might intrigue us the most and begin a new one, experience the ups and downs it holds for us and cherish the exclusivity it offers and keep going like this. After all, this is what life is.

Life there in the wood of Rhode Island was different than it's going to be in the city. She couldn’t remember the time she moved into this place or maybe her parents moved to the woods before her birth. She couldn’t say anything about it because either way, she was not mentally mature enough to remember it.

She had a very unusual life, but it was all usual for her because she had not experienced the kind of normal life other people live outside of those woods. She was the reserved kind of girl who prefers staying at her home rather than going out or playing with other kids of her age.

Though she on some rare occasions went outside to play games like ‘The Masquerade -Bloodline’ with kids of her age. The name sounds like a game of adults but in her area, kids used to play these games with some childish rules to sharpen their skills and some physical tools.

winks you will know it

Despite having no educational facilities in her area apart from those games and some other activities which were merely meant to prepare those kids for a life in the woods. She was always fond of reading and writing. Her father used to bring books for her about worldly knowledge and not the typical kind of books some people in her surroundings liked to invest their time in to enhance their knowledge of advanced sorcery.

She dreamt for years. Shifting to a big state, getting an education from a renowned college, and obtaining a job to support his father and herself. Provide him the lifestyle she wanted for him because he never dreamt anything for himself, she knew that.

All his dreams and plans revolve around her. From the day she came into their lives. He struggled hard to give the kind of lifestyle they both deserve Ella and his wife.

Till the day his wife died, and after that, his world revolves around Ella and only Ella. He never wished anything for himself. That is the reason when she expressed her desire to shift for the sake of her studies. He did not give it a second thought and agreed.

Obviously moving to a new place to get her higher education costs her a lot more than she had initially imagined. Wasn't it what she wanted?

Her father despite his low income, saved money for years to be able to pay her college fees. A whirlpool of mixed emotions caused a Tsunami in her stomach, she wanted to cry aloud, hug every inch of her house, but she cannot let it all out right now as she’s aware of her father's emotional state as well.

It's hundredth times harder for him to do it than her. Going against the community that accepted him when he had nothing; neither a roof on his head nor a penny in his pocket to survive. Though the loveliest and most heart-warming people of Rhode woods welcomed him on their secret territories with their doors and hearts wide open. He made his own little hut with the cut-off tulip branches and greasy mud. Those woods had become his everything, the sky on his head while he’s asleep after the day’s long hectic work and his source of income. He used to cut woods and sell them in the city to earn pennies for him.

One fine evening of winter, he was returning home after selling the woods in the town when his stars collided with the ones he had never dreamt of. She was wearing a pastel, purple-colored overcoat opened from the front revealing the light green midi dress she had on. Her squinted eyes were moving constantly with tiny scorns changing expressions on her forehead proved that she was indeed looking for something she might have lost.

Bewildered by her enchanting beauty and the gleaming beauty bone peering out by the slipped-off overcoat from her shoulder. He changed his path unconsciously and moved towards her.

“May I help you? You seem worried. Have you lost something? What is it?”

With an organ thumping like wild horses within his chest, he showered his unswerving questions on her.

Lost in her own process of findings she jolted on this interruption as she had just witnessed a lion in the woods. She turned around and the previous expressions of searching flew away leaving her face shocked, and ashen.

“Oh my gosh.” She blew from her mouth these words while confronting a man in front of her now, instead of any lion.

“You took my breaths for some time,” she said shuddering off the jerks of shock she got moments ago.

“What? Am I just that handsome? He said as a mischievous smile brewed on his face.

Eh, I didn’t mean that.” She said in an annoying expression.

“Ok. Ok.” He raised his hands in the way of surrendering, “BTW what is it? You are looking for?” he asked her in a more serious tone now.

“Amm… I lost my earing over here.” She replied while biting on her lower and eyes pointing towards the location.

“Oh, there. Ok lemme have a look.” He proceeded towards the spot she pointed earlier and started searching for it.

“May I ask you something?” A befuddled voice came back from the weeds he had been groping in for the lost earring.

“I give you the permission.” She said uninterestingly.

“What do they call you by?” he asked

she squinted her eyes again but not in search of something this time. She was startled at his question and pondered for some minutes whether she should trust this man enough to tell her name. Is he worthy enough? It took her a complete 5 minutes to make her mind and come to the conclusion.

“Abigail.” She took her name while looking around to check there’s nobody around them.

“A father’s joy. What pretty name just like you.”

She blushed on having this comment, but she was equally shocked that this man knew the meaning of her name.

“How come..”

“Edward. My name is.” He said while cutting off her sentence.

“Here it is.” He emerged from the weeds holding high in his hand an earring like a winning sword and offered it to her. A rejuvenating aura appeared on her face as she put on the earring in her empty earlobe.

“I’m so grateful to you,” she said while smiling.

This was the first time he had seen her smiling. Her glinting milky white perfectly aligned teeth were making her smile just so perfect and die for. It was the second time he got froze after being enchanted by her beauty.

“I owe you for this favor young man.” She interrupted his moment of secretly admiring her beauty, as she felt his gaze being stuck on her for quite some time which obviously made her uncomfortable.

“A cup of coffee together. I mean what better option can you offer to equalize this favor.” He suggested without showing any perks of hesitation.

“Well, I’ve to think about it,” she said and left from there.

It was their first interaction that led to a series of meetups, which later turned into dates, long walks at nights, and one day he went to his home to ask for her hand officially.

It was a dream for him which he couldn’t believe in until the day she became his bride and entered into his hut which was rebuilt, furnished, and decorated on the occasion of his wedding.

He worked hard to sell woods for years and did part-time labor to provide her the best he could. Soon that hut transformed into a two-storey house where they together experienced the most beautiful years of their lives. Now the time to say goodbye has arrived.

"I wish I could take this house with me." She muddled to herself when her father left the room, "Mom, you'll remain in my heart, forever. I'm leaving this home, but your memories will perennial in my heart, forever" taping the last cartoon she thought of her Mum and the memories they had together. She wiped out her blurry eyes with the back of her hands, pushed the cartoons out of her room, and locked the door, lastly.

"Take the last one too, and I am ready to leave." Standing at the upper stair that led to her room she forced out her voice which was blocked by the emotions stuck in her throat.

His shirt became wet from her tears as she cried on his chest because she couldn’t control herself more.

They both stared at the building of the house for some minutes, recalled all those years spent here, and finally, they sat in the car and the vision gone like the smoke from the car desolated in the air.

"Dear Ella,

By the time you'll read this later, you'll be eighteen. I better put a full stop here and wish my sweet Lil munchkin who wouldn’t be any little, anymore, a prosperous Happy Birthday.

I can imagine you, grown-up as an enchanting beauty who can take the breaths of men by her mere standing at any event. A breathtaking beauty, just like your mother was.

Seeing your passion and love for books in your early days, I could not doubt even a little, that this girl will grow up as nerdy and super intelligent. Just like your father was".

Her reading of the letter was suddenly interrupted by the presence of her father in the room, and she quickly folded it back and placed it in the same book on page 313 from where it slipped out.

Now as she headed on her new journey, eyes still heavy from the crying and constant rubbing and wiping. Her mind suddenly flashed back to the letter.

"Wait.. whattt. Why had Mum used past tensed back then? What was she meant by 'Mother was' and 'father was'?

"Maybe she was aware of her death." she tried to give reasons to herself.

"But no, it is not possible. It cannot be. Her death was normal. She was not confronting any serious or severe disease. Yes. Yes, I remember. It was quite normal."

Plus, the doctor said it was a heart attack. She reflected on the day when she was in one of the hospital's rooms with her father. When the doctor told them the reason for her mother's sudden death.

That day the hospital looked to her as the gloomiest place on the earth. It haunted her soul for several years after that. The loss of losing her mother was grave. All the lights turned into darkness and the floor vanished underneath her feet.

"We are sorry. But your wife is no more." The doctor said to her father and all she could hear was her soul screaming in the pin-drop silence of the room.

As the nurse removed the pipe of drip from her right hand and shut her wide-open eyes with her hands and covered her face with the white sheet. She stood there still looking at the face of her mother which was covered, and she could hear her soul screaming asking her to wake up and kiss her and hug her. But she didn't. She couldn't. As she was gone.

Their car passed down a bridge and the sharp rays of sun filtering through the glass window hit on her face and brought her to the present. Her heart was already heavy from the past event of her life and now this memory of her mother's death had added more weight on it as she rested her head on his father's shoulder and started crying.

But why she used past tense with her father also? She burdened her thoughts with the constant self-questioning. This heaviness drifted her mind towards an instantaneous easiness, and she slept

on her journey which will expose her mind and eyes to more surprises, awaiting her on the campus.