Struck by Stupid

They should never have crossed paths! It wasn't my doing, do not for the love of god blame me. It was entirely because of my brother, he happened to take my arrow and try his luck at matchmaking. Needless to say, he struck the wrong people.

 

Where are my manners! I haven't introduced myself. I am Cupid, the God of love and contrary to popular belief, I am not a naked child. Well I was, but I've grown up since. I have a twin brother named Stupid, who is the god of Idiocy. So when he took up my bow and arrow and struck them, you can imagine what happened. Oh why did he strike her?

 

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, let me therefore tell you what happened, and I promise I will under no circumstances exaggerate or downplay facts. Let’s call them ‘him’ and ‘her’. This is their story.

 

Part 1 (The Meeting)

 

Nothing good can come out of masturbation. I say this for two reasons, one because I am a firm believer in love. The seed of a man's love must germinate in the womb of a woman and should not be splattered on newspapers, against bathroom walls or wherever else people masturbate these days. The second reason I say this, is because of what happened that fateful day.

 

It was the second of May, 2015. She was strolling in her colony at 9.15 pm. It wasn't an unearthly hour for her to be outdoors, she had the tendency to wander the streets after dark. Anyway she wasn't alone. She was with her best friend and they were talking. They were so engrossed in conversation they didn't notice a shady looking man lurking in the darkness. He hissed out to them, they walked on, unperturbed and oblivious.

He called out to them again (a persistent bastard, undoubtedly). Both girls turned around and looked at the voice that appeared to hiss from the darkness. He was a young man, somewhere in his late twenties with a receding hairline, roundish plump face, heavy groggy eyes and a slurred speech. He told the girls, and I quote him exactly "Can you stand here while I masturbate, I really like your ass"

The girls were at distance and hence were fortunate enough to not see his publicly let loose basilisk, they were however, very petrified (forgive the Harry Potter analogy, I just got done with book 2) Anyway they took to their heels and rushed into the nearest building. She extracted her phone and called every possible male friend for help. As luck would have it, no one picked up her distress call. In a frenzied moment of helplessness, she messaged him for help and  he replied. Thus began a story that should never have started in the first place.

 

He had been fond of her for quite some time. He found her beautiful which comes as no surprise. He found her intelligent, which is again no shocker. Now while these facts may not surprise me or you (assuming you know her), they greatly surprised her. She couldn't fathom how a man could be so smitten by her (effects of being struck by Stupid).

He was an artist, he sketched her face with pristine accuracy. He was careful to give a sharp curve to her hawk like nose, he sketched her catlike eyes, and he gave her cheeks a roundish turn and the slopes of her lips a slight bend. He made her more beautiful than she already was. She was bowled over. The mirror is one way to look at oneself; through the eyes of a lover, is quite another.

She was sceptical because he was younger than her in age and because he had the reputation of being a roadside ruffian. He had been involved in many street fights and had developed a drinking habit at the age of 13. They were an unlikely match, needless to say. He was very popular and she was as good as a silhouette, seen by few and known to fewer. He spent his 10th standard study break filling his gullet with beer, she spent the same time confined within the four walls of her study, familiarising herself with volumes of calculus and literature. The few people who knew her, knew her to be studious, quiet and demure. Everyone knew him as a bully.

 

So when he took her to her sacred chapel and before the Alter of God, promised her that he would never leave her and would never break her heart, she was completely sold. Her eyes welled up with tears, her pupils dilated, the pace of her heartbeat quickened. She succumbed to love sickness.

 

He told her that he saw her as his wife, and she believed him. He told her that he would pull up his socks, man up and ask her parents for her hand once he completed his degree and was financially stable. They say love is blind, and it is. But love is also stupid! Remember that.

In her defence, no one had ever displayed this kind of loyalty and love towards her before. In his defence, he, at some stage, perhaps fleetingly, meant what he said.

 

Part 2 (the courting)

 

When she was unwell, he accompanied her to the doctor and sat with her through the tests. He held her hand throughout. When she'd get late from work, he'd pick her up from the train station. He knew she loved roasted corn and would take her in the evenings for a quick snack of it. He knew she loved earrings and hence got her a beautiful pair of black ones.  He knew she loved long walks in the rain, he knew she loved talking about the books she read and he would listen patiently as she narrated plots. If she needed him, he was there for her. He cared about her. He introduced her to his parents and spoke about her with pride in his voice. She, after being initially sceptical, had begun to thaw and reciprocate his affection with equal amount of passion. They were in love and I must admit, for a moment, I was sold too.

 

Part 3 (the separation)

 

She didn't see it coming, to be honest no one did. They say bullies are the biggest cowards, and I finally realised why. While at work she received a text message from his brother telling her that he no longer wanted her in his life. He didn't have the courage to break the news to her himself. He placed a gun on his brother's shoulder, took aim and fired at her heart. She was horrified. She could not believe it. She refused to believe it. How could someone fall out of love in a day? She confronted him and he told her that it was over between them. He gave her a reason, which anyone could tell, was nothing but a cooked up and doctored lie. He made up some story of being emotionally unavailable in the future and hence broke up with her in the present. It made no sense, we all dissected his "excuse" trying to find logic behind it but were at loss. Even my sibling, Stupid found it ridiculous. Naturally, my concern was now her, wholly solely her. How would she deal with this? Would it break her?

 

Now the good thing is that the effects of stupid's delusions do not last long and crumble invariably in the face of logic and reasoning.  She picked up every piece of her shattered heart, pieced it together and walked on. Her pride and self-esteem unscathed.

 

While most of you will undoubtedly blame me for leaving my bow and arrow unattended, you must agree that something good came out of this. Since she was struck by idiocy once, her limbic system is now familiar with its effects and hence she will have developed antibodies to deal with it, should it strike her again in the future. 

 

When I saw her wear a brave smile and take stalk of her life, I couldn't help but strike her with my arrow. And if you want to know, who was the other person I struck, the answer is no one. I didn't find the need to.