If It Isn’t For Love

The keen eyes of the falcon flying close to the horizon landed on it. A vulture was scavenging, and the falcon stared at it. A sense of familiarity hit the falcon’s mind, so it descended to a lower altitude to check it. It noticed the ragged brown threads on the beak of the vulture.

The dark red blood oozed from his stomach and splashed all over her brown trousers. The knife in her hand bathed with his blood. Not able to believe what just happened, she stood stock-still.

At closer look, the falcon identified it isn’t the body of a dead animal, and it is a corpse. It knew the deceased person and instantly whooshed down to scare the vulture away. Distracted by the falcon, the disappointed vulture soared away, leaving the half scavenged body.

Her motive wasn’t to kill him. She grabbed the knife to cut the cake. Empathy and the act of forgiveness comes with a slice of chocolate cake, she thought, but, forgetfulness ain’t a straightforward job. She couldn’t figure out what happened or how she did it. The sight of blood made her feel as if she was in a dream hallucinating herself.

The disheartened falcon’s pitiful eyes saw its keeper’s lifeless figure. It couldn’t hold its grief. Suddenly, it noticed a steel strap lying nearby.

She stared at his wrist. Steel strapped Tissot watch — it was her birthday gift to him. Her mind wandered to the beautiful moments they both spent with each other.

The falcon disliked him at first. It thought that he wasn’t friendly and interested in owning it, but as days went on, it got used to his soulless eyes and stubborn hands.

Clara loved falcons, and that’s the only reason Mike bought it. Otherwise, he hated them. He seldom held it in his hands. He got sick of her activities lately but never expressed it to her.

Clara had no clue why he did it to her. All she had in her mind was rage.

How could he do it to me?

Why did he do it?

Isn’t it unfair?

All things which made her love him turned over. She found more and more reasons to hate him. His acceptance made her even more frantic.

How could someone do it?

What could be the motive?

The confused falcon attempted to find the answers to appease the loss.

Losing Mike could be an insurmountable loss to Clara. Does his death compensate for his infidelity?

She felt a sense of hurt from the deed he did, but the pain she is going to bear if he loses his life would be terrible. She watched him collapse out of excessive blood loss from the deep cut she made, sinking in the two worlds of sorrow, one from betrayal and the other from the revenge she has taken.

The falcon saw the cut in the abdomen. It looked as if the knife had gone a few inches.

“What a merciless kill? More brutal than my hunting,” it thought.

Clara was the only name that occupied its mind, so the falcon made a loud, piercing noise.

The scream followed the silent air. Mike got his consciousness. Slowly, he stood up and wobbled out of pain. He snatched the knife from her hand and stabbed her many times. It was Clara who screamed.

She fell to the ground, and her soul left the body with a brief struggle. He then took his mobile and recorded something.

The falcon’s claw landed on the mobile, and the audio played.

If it isn’t for love, neither Clara nor I would have left this world.

The falcon recognized the voice and knew it was Mike’s. It looked around and found Mike’s body lying on the nearby cliff. It’s an immense blow for the falcon, which lost both its beloved keeper Clara and Clara’s beloved husband, Mike.

The falcon furiously flew and hit the top of the mountain cliff and fell to the ground. Blood splashed from its body.

If it isn’t for love, neither would have played the victim.

Author's Note:

This story is the revised version of my old story which was originally published in medium.com.