A touching love story

10th December 2000

It rained so hard tonight.I could feel the wind piercing through my ribs.

 A rainy Christmas eve.It just made me feel sadder and lonelier.It had
 rained the day he was buried into the ground and I had cried just like now.
 I was attracted to this cheerful guy when i first started helping out in
 the 'Home for the Disabled' three years back.He was a very special guy
 who was almost perfect if not for his eyes.He was blind.He became blind
 when he was 8.He got the high fever then and the doctors could do
 nothing.He lost his sight as a result.

 He told me he didn't really mind not being able to see because he could
 always touch and feel things we normal beings werent able to.I was really
 touched by his optimism. Even though he was blind,his eyes were the most
 soulful eyes that I had ever seen. He was extremely helpful towards
 others and always did his best to give others what he could. He showered
 his love lavishly on everyone he knew. He was like an angel. He had a
 kind and unselfish heart.He gave half of what he earned to charity and he
 would help out at the 'Home' almost everyday.

 Whenever we were free from tending to the people at the 'Home',we would
 talk to one another for a long time.He talked about God a lot and how
 blessed was he to have found joy in the Lord.He didnt blame God for any
 misfortunes that had befallen on him.He said the Lord had his reasons for
 not giving him sight and he didnt blame God for the fact that his parent
 got killed in an accident when he was barely 12.

 I felt somewhat ashamed when I heard his words since I had always blamed
 God for not giving me a prettier face. I bore a grudge against God for
 not giving this wonderful angel His fullest blessings.I thought that God
 was unfair to him for taking ,apart from his sight,his loved ones away
 from him.I felt that he truly deserved more.

 Luke and I were completely different from one another.He was an optimist
 and I was a pessimist.He could overlook flaws easily while I would always
 pick at others' faults. However we did have one thing in common. We both
 had an undying passion for astronomy.He told me he still remembered how
 lovely the stars had looked like before he became blind.And how his dad
 used to tell him about stars,black holes and space before God took him
 away to Heaven.One thing he didnt know was that I was silently crying for
 him all the time while he talked. I knew then that I loved him more than
 I could ever loved anyone.

 Luke and I had been together for almost two years.We could hardly bear to
 be away from one another for less than half a day.We spent most of our
 time helping out at the 'Home' and 'watching' the stars at a pasture near
 it.I would tell him the names and shapes of the constellations that
 appeared in the skies and he would listen carefully with a smile on his
 face.It seemed like he saw the stars that I told him, behind those
 soulful eyes that could never see the art of God.

 Maybe God thought that Luke was too good for this world.He decided to
 bring him back to His side.Luke contracted leukemia that fateful 1994.
 He kept his illness from me and thus I didnt know anything about it at
 all.It was only when he started looking sick that I noticed something was
 wrong with him. When asked why,he would pass his paleness off as a slight
 flu.I didnt believe his words but I didnt say anything.
 It was September 1994.I was waiting at the 'Home' for Luke."A call for
 you,Calista.It's from a hospital,"a helper at the 'Home' passed the phone
 to me worriedly.

 "Yes,hello?This is Calista here.Can I be of any help?"I asked,chewing my
 lips nervously,sensing bad vibes in my spines. "This is the Boulevard
 Hospital.We found your name and this number in Mr Pietra's wallet.He had
 fainted on the streets just now and someone brought him in. I was hoping
 that you can come down to the hospital now and help us with the
 documents."

 I hung up the phone and ran all the way in the rain to the hospital which
 was a mile away.

 I signed whatever documents that were needed and ran to the ward that
 Luke was in.There he was my angel,lying almost lifeless on a bed that
 seemed too large for him.

 "Calista,is that you?"He asked when I held his cold hand.
 "Yes it's me,"I choked on my words.
 "Aww..please dont cry.Everything will be alright,"he smiled.
 I looked at his pale face and it broke my heart.
 "Luke,"I sobbed."Why is God so unfair to you?" I bawled out on his chest.

 He stroked my hair and said softly,"God is fair,my love.He's gonna take
 me to a far better place called Heaven.Don't you agree?"
 I didn't answer him as I was lost in my own thoughts.I really didnt know
 what was going to happen to me without him in my life. Moreover,I had
 this dreary feeling about going to hospitals ever since I  was young. I
 felt so lost and detached from the world. Why must God take away my one
 and only true love?

 Three months had passed ever since Luke was admitted into the hospital.

 It was December and Christmas was nearing.My visits to Luke had grew
 lesser over the three long painful months.Each time I visited Luke,we
 would have nothing much to talk about.There was always this awkward
 silence between us. I didnt know what caused it but I guessed it had
 something to do with the atmosphere in the hospital.Luke had lost his
 cheerfulness over the months.He was always too tired to talk.At times,he
 would try his best to listen to me while I talked to him but the pills
 they fed him always put him to sleep before I could finish.
 We drifted apart somehow although I still loved him a lot.I had only
 visited him once during December since I was busy working and the 'Home'
 needed helpers desperately.

 It was the 24th of December.I realised that I had not visited Luke for
 almost three weeks!How funny time seemed to fly when you were busy.I had
 prepared a gift for Luke for the past two weeks. It was a piece of
 cardboard pasted with 3D star stickers .I called the constellation that I
 made up 'LoveLuke'.I hurried to the hospital with the gift in my hands.
 I walked briskly to Luke's ward.On the way there,I felt a sudden fear in
 my heart.I didnt know why but somehow,it made me hurry my pace.To my
 ultimate fear and worst nightmare,Luke was not in his ward.

 He was gone!I ran to the counter and asked for Luke but was handed a
 package and a letter instead. I opened the letter with my tears flowing
 down like mad.

 'My beloved Calista,
 Please don't cry when you get this letter.I just want to let you know
 that I will be happier at the place where I'll be going soon.God and my
 parents are waiting impatiently for me.I'm looking forward to see them again.<

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