Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Marcus tiptoes out of the bar, as the doorman and he exchange their last smiles for the night. He watches the door close behind him, and the air now warming up to the smell of alcohol, emanating from breaths of drunk men and women coming out in droves. He senses in their movements, laughs and lunacies, a desire to get lost into the beauty and vast expanse of the night. The sardonic smile on his face is quite prominent now, with his lips etched out in almost the shape of the half crescent moon. His smiles are the reflection of wisdom, as he watches the night allure them away into its tempting glories and keep them enthralled in its darkness.

Marcus knows all too well about the night.


His cigarette is now almost half burnt, as he retreats to the oak tree at the back of the courtyard for his last smoke. The arrival of the first raindrops are tender, and they echo a resonance even with the fallen maple leaves below, bringing them to life as they move gracefully to the accompaniment of the wind. The wind smells bright and fresh for a change, and carries the deep chill along with it. The drizzle seems untimely, beginning during the fall season. It’s clear that the great chill of Europe had set in. A strange time for the first advent of the raindrop to fall, Marcus would think.
In the movement of the gray sea of clouds above him, Marcus begins to recognize the first signs of this great winter. He observes the oak tree that has been his famous retreat abode for quite a time now. It seems desolate at the prime of autumn. With the branches bereft of any emotion, he observes in full glory what the wind starts to do the autumn leaves below. The rustled leaves almost come into a life of their own, awoken by their slumber by an almost thunderous roar. They whirl around in volcanoes of joys, and then get lulled into a peaceful sense of contentment.
The cigarette hasn’t been smoken for a while now. A heap of ash lays barren, almost asking to be released in the dance of these leaves. Marcus stubs out the cigarette, and proceeds to take the long walk back to his home.