The Declarations of on Orange

Chapter 3
Love is not a fable

I jumped.

I still remember the music, the mellifluous winds thrumming against my ears, and it was soothing. People (fruits) still don't believe me when I say I often hear the ruminations of winds. They say, winds are winds and winds have no tongue to speak, how will they sing, Orange? But I know it as I have felt it, not once but for a thousand times, winds have songs buried deep within themselves. We just have to listen to them with open hearts.

The winds are the messengers of time. They carry the intricacy of romance, soft whispers of love, sorrows of old age, the scent of flowers and youth, the dust of desert and childhood, all of them, blended together in a mystical way to create an epiphany, a soft music, that the winds carry along.

I looked at my Peach, drenched in dust and blood, and yet she looked beautiful. I don't remember if I felt any pain on my skin, although I could see my own wounds (we weren't really trained to jump off the trucks in critical moments) but there was a deeper pain. It is unlike any pain you have felt before, as this pain is as foreign as sunlight to stars, or thirst to water, because the whatever it was, inexplicable in nature, was like a thin rope, on one end there was the suffering of Peach, my lover, and on another it was my heart, and in those difficult moments, our pain became one.

I ran towards her and I held her in my arms, tried to calm her down, and there I felt it, her heartbeats, which were almost like a storm taking a city down, and I hugged her. The storm dwindled and then sank into nothingness. I didn't leave her for a second. I was finally with someone, for whom I could sacrifice my life, trade my remaining breaths, or feel unimaginable pain for her.

'Are we a couple now?' She spoke softly. She was recovering slowly but her wounds were still visible. Her flesh was exposed and the clever ants were trying to eat her, so I had to fight them furiously. I am not afraid of the ants. But the lizards scare the shit out of me. They are very quick and speedy but it did seem to me that they weren't interested in peaches.

'Aren't we?' I asked, my breaths battling inside my heart, 'What do they call you? Your friends-'

'I don't have friends but I do have a name-' She smiled, 'I'm Peachow. You?'

'We don't have names actually, but I call myself Orantus!'

'That's a lovely name!' She blinked beautifully, 'Why did you jump? You could have died.'

'I had to.' I spoke the truth. 'I'd to Jump to save you.'

'But why?' She looked at the clouds which were now assembling above our heads, 'Although we are in each other's arms for hours, weren't we strangers before?'

'Yes, we were strangers but there was something peculiar about your eyes, and when I saw them, I felt complete.'

'Complete?' She looked puzzled.

"Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who's in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It's like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven't seen in a long time." (Haruki Murakami)

I said.

'Oh!' She sighed and then smiled. My eyes were running bare on her curvy face, trying to embrace all of her beauty under my gaze. I could feel her warm breaths on my chest, sweet lullabies on my hopeless heart, and we both felt a strange intimacy acquiring our hearts. For the first time, I felt something with her, and not alone, and we both were now on the same road. Listening to the same music, looking at each other's reflection in each others' eyes. It started raining but we didn't care. Our lips met before the rains could touch the deserted roads but it was only after the music of rain became loud, our kiss intensified.

We spend the night under a cryptic tree, with big leaves and scary branches. She was healing faster than I imagined. The sun ascended the sky and the larks sang the morning hymn, the roads looked fresh as they were rain-washed, and the sky looked clear.

I saw a flock of birds
at dawn,
but they were just stars,
now diminished.

Peach whispered it in my ears, and it stirred me deeply. She was being poetic and I was pretty bad at it. I checked her wounds which were now healed, and she was happy about it. There was something more to her smiles, and I sensed it. The memories of night romance were filling our lips with smiles.

________________

'I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, Orange!'

'Thanks, Lych!'

'Can I sit with you?'

'Your elders will humiliate you if they see us together!'

'I don't mind. I just want to be your friend. Despite our differences.'

'Come sit!'

I smiled at her. Litchees are very polite but they are conservative in nature. They look beautiful and the human kids love to paint them in their notebooks. Humans, or particularly girls, adore them. I sometimes wonder, how do they feel when they eat it?

Lych was the youngest Litchie in the group, and she was too innocent and very curvy. Litchees were never rude but they had certain rules. They would never talk to bigger fruits such as Oranges and Apples. They were allowed to hang out with Grapes and Berries and Cherries. They had this strange belief that Oranges are jealous of Litchies, so they might become hostile with them. It could be true, but I swear I never felt jealous of Litchies or any other fruit.

'Why do they call you Chinese Strawberry?'

'Oh, our ancestors were from China. We have a history of 2000 years.' Litch sat with me and we both stared at the little girl who was playing with a magnifying glass, 'You know-Chinese emperors used to love us, we were among their favorites, but time changes, now we are just ornamental fruits. People don't love us anymore-'

'Shut up!' I said, 'People adore you. You are beautiful and you have this sweet smell, it's attractive.'

'Our seeds are bigger than yours.' Litch exclaimed and shyly smiled.

'Ah yes! You got a big brown seed in your heart, Lych, I know it's huge. We have smaller seeds, as small as your eyes!'

'They say you loved that Peach. Is it true?' Litch asked with excitement.

'Why do you ask?'

'Love is a fable, isn't it? It's not true, Orantus. Right? Tell me!'

'Lych, We all are becoming fatuous gradually, forgetting emotions like past. Our hearts are becoming empty halls filled with nothingness and void.'

I looked away as I didn't want to show my tears to Lych, but I didn't stop them from flowing either. They ran across my peel and fell on the floor.

Love is a strange word. I remember, my mother told me something about it when I was a sweet summer child, that Love is gradually vanishing from our kind. Ancient humans, who used to grow us were kind and generous and were dedicated to farming. They used to love like we were their children, they used to hold us as if we were the gifts from Gods. They were not corrupt as present Humans are, injecting poisons into our bodies to make huge profits, making us age unnaturally and in abundance. They have turned greedy, and as they say, we are mere slaves of our masters. They didn't just poison our skins, they poisoned our hearts as well with hatred, greed, and selfishness. We have forgotten our values, we are devoid of purer emotions like love and generosity. Our hearts don't feel anything anymore. We are witnessing the extinction of fruitanity (humanity of fruits) in our community and we are helpless.

When I was with her, Peachow, my sweet pale Peach, I did feel love, love that was hiding secretly in my insides, in my genes, a gift from my ancestors as they were the fruits who received enormous love from kind Humans. 'Love' can travel fast but 'Hate' always had wings. The hatred in the hearts of Humans made us emotionless, bizarre and stolid.

'I don't understand Orantus. I sometimes want to love but I am afraid-'

'Love is not a fable, Litch, it's real and it's pure. Don't be afraid, Litch. Don't be.'

I hugged the little fruit and she sobbed. I let her.

'She must have been beautiful!'

'Yes!' I nodded.

'How did she die, Orantus?' She asked emotionally, 'I've heard you jumped off a truck to save her. Many believe that she died when she fell off but I have also heard that you saved her. Orantus, are you okay?'

'I couldn't save her, Litch. I am not as brave as you think. I let her die.'

'Tell me what happened? What separated you from her?'

'War!'

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