The Escaped Tear

The Escaped Tear

Juliana felt the strong arms of her father's wrap around her and she gently leaned into his embrace. This was all she needed in the worst of the times, to have her father by her side, to have him tell her all was going to be right.

The warm grasp of her father calmed Juliana to an extent, and the muteness of the moment gave him the chance to think of the next step to be taken in this ordeal. To brave it as a father, less, a man.

Now, forgotten were his own sorrows when came the question of his daughter's welfare. He was not to blame also, for he was a naked and vulnerable man when near his beloved's grave. He had never prepared himself to be faced by his daughter in such moments of vulnerability; he cursed God for this unfavorably chanced incident. That his daughter should stumble upon him when he was at his lowest, deeply grieving the loss of his wife, by her grave.

Though few of the final words of his wife were, "My dear, I may live or I may die, but remember that everything has a reason to have been happened. Please do not let it hinder the faith in God that I had so painstakingly instilled in you." he yet could not help but break free from that faith. He had no one to blame but God, and so he blamed and he cursed him.

Looking at his beloved daughter, in soft yet significant tones, he whispered eventually,

"My strong girl, are you not?" In reply Juliana slightly nodded her head. In the silence that followed, both father and daughter grew deep in their own profound reveries.

"This is life, my child, people suffer." he said in simple emphasis. "No matter the amount of wealth or influence they have. From our servants to the Queen herself, everyone suffers in their own different way. This is just how life works. Instead, people are molded by their sufferings, few surrender, few learn to accept it and few try to counter it. And thus they become the depressed, the happy and the cruel. Its influence and results are beyond human comprehension. Am I also not but a frail human, controlled by such circumstances? How can you then expect me to be excused from suffering?"

"Yes papa, I understand. But it hurts me nonetheless to see you so." said Juliana with a pained expression that twisted her father's heart.

"Haven't multitudes lived through it? Such adversaries you cannot imagine to have existed. I suppose you may have witnessed a little of it back in Villyway. Life is a game and what game is it without any obstacles? Yet, from the depth of my heart, I hope that God—though I have little belief in him—shall give you the happiest of lives." said the father, smiling a weak smile at his daughter. Who may have reckoned to be a woman but was yet a girl in many aspects. This was proven with what she impulsively said next, as the thought had struck her then,

"I thought love to be a wonderful and a magical thing, the happiest thing that could ever happen to a person. I can never fancy it to hurt as much it does to you…" after a second she continued, "You loved mother and I see how much it hurt you." and she could say no longer. She looked him in the eyes, which were now not of a mourning Lover, but a Father.

"Ah, Love. That magical love is but a…selfish beast. It tames only when it achieves its object. Then it is indeed the most wonderful thing in life, else, it is a beast and can give a mortal wound to the heart and mind. There can be a million different ways to describe it but this is what it is for me. Long ago it was dream-like and magical, every second with her, I was the happiest man alive. If I had the power, I would have made her an eternal bloom, oh, what could I not have given up for her! And now, those moments with her seem more and more beautiful and precious to me with my every passing thought." He yet again felt himself going into oblivion but this time he held his gear with firm hands.

"Papa, I might as well be the silliest to ask you this, but why don't you marry again? Afterall you are not quite old and, I say, the handsomest man alive." asked the daughter to her ideal in a guilty yet firm tone. All she wanted was her father to be happy as before.

"Oh no darling, how can I marry one when I love another? You wouldn't do that if you were in my place, I bet." he managed to say in the most light-hearted manner, then continued, "Besides, I may as well try to tame that selfish beast, hm?"

"Yes Papa, there must be something else to it. I think, perhaps, love may not entirely be a beast." she said with much uncertainty and thought. Little did she know the future.

"Well, well, Juliana you have caught me off my guard today. I have shed tears in my vulnerability and have unmanned myself shamelessly. Promise me that you will forget about today for I am indeed very ashamed. And promise me to not worry as I eventually find my way out and am not always so dreary." said the father gently patting his daughter's back.

"God wouldn't have given men tears, if they were not to be shed. Father, you have only been made superior and most prestigious in my eyes today, you have far from unmanned yourself, you have shown me your unfaltering strength and your ardent love. I am far from forgetting today, father, I shall rather long cherish this day and always get reminded by it that my father was the best of warriors in this world." she said with firm sinseierty.

The corners of her father's lips slightly turned up and his tired, sparkling eyes showed how much those words meant to him. "You have indeed grown into a woman, my dearest child. Come, let's return, it is growing darker."

"I shall follow you in a while, do start now without me."

Indeed, Lord Jackson was glad that his daughter had not accompanied him, for his tears fell fast and long throughout the walk back home. And for the first time ever, he did not feel ashamed by them anylonger.

Juliana sat where her father had left her, with her chin leaning on her hands, staring pensively at the grave before her. What went through her mind need not be stated.

Her body froze there and the hands which had supported her head trembled for a second from the mentally exhausted state. Even though her eyes were filled with tears, her face held no expression. Never did she let those tears free, never, even when the sudden news of her mothers death had been so brutal unveiled to the little girl of her past. She could not afford it, really, she held them and wallowed inside. That pain eating her insides and yet she never let them flow.

She was lost in deep thought, far away. From the past and to the present, her mind wandered everywhere, beyond her control.

Languidly, she reached her mother's grave and leaned down over it. Like a sudden gush of gale, the memory of her grieving father passed through her mind and her head drooped further down from it. A tear escaped her sparkling eyes from the call of gravity, as her face was nearly parallel to the ground. She abruptly stood and returned back home, drinking in her tears as she did so often and a feeling of unimaginable weakness washed through her at that one stubbornly escaped tear.

The escaped tear landed on her mother's grave and as it penetrated into the soil, it reached where her mother's heart had once resided. In this moment, a strong tempest swayed the land and the loudest thunder echoed.

A woman's heart was touched, her spirit awakened. The rain brought not as many droplets as were shed through her eyes and the thunder sounded sweeter than her unhearable cries. And yet, her heart was at peace, a peace which calmed her down, calmed her down eventually.

It is said that from that heart, which had been touched by the escaped tear, grew a rose, as crimson as could ever be. Only we know that its every petal manifested womanly passion and love. That rose bloomed wide and with its crimson hue, it seemed alive. As was yet alive that passion and love.

END