Lamps

^{Photo of my property edited with Canva}

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The night Lucian left, all the lights went out. Only a glow appeared in the sky; one that brought the fall of rain. Karina stood in the doorframe, glimpsing her husband's face disappearing into the distance. The water was falling like knives that cut into the nostalgia. That night she cried as much as the clouds that unburdened themselves for hours.

Lucian and Karina had married just days before their departure. She, pregnant, a housewife, dedicated and loving, and eager to be a mother. He, a serviceman, was bound by a duty that would take him back into the conflict, and days later, it happened.

Lucian received a letter that he was to go to war. German troops were advancing into France and military support was required. When Karina heard the news she felt a sharp blow to her chest. The impact went down to the lower part of her insides, and it was there that she began to crack like a mirror struck by a frustrated soul.

She sighed as if she wanted all the air in the environment to enter her lungs. There were arguments. Crying in loneliness. Lucian was packing his bags to leave without realizing that every brush of his clothes tore at his wife's heart.

Suddenly, the storms came; there was one the night before Lucian left. Karina lit all the lamps in her house and left them burning until they dissolved the night of the next day. They were wedding gifts from her mother; the last thing she left her before she left for Helsinki. They were beautiful and round, and they beat colors for Karina's eyes as they stayed lit.

But the light was cut off that abysmal night, and the shadows took over. The months became odysseys of struggle. Karina was soon to give birth and was sad that her husband was not with her. She tried not to fall into depression and then lit a lamp.

The effect of the light plunged her into thoughts and then woke her up in memories. She went back to that day when she first spoke to Lucian in the middle of that garden. The glints of sunlight danced in the air as if they had a life of their own. Karina sat on a stone bench, staring like a statue beyond the garden gate.

She felt Lucian approaching and she did not flinch, for she had known him before and found his presence pleasing.

"How much do you look at the horizon?" he asked her. She stared into his hazel eyes and smoke-gray hair.

"The same as you do when you sit and think about this bench," she replied. Lucian cracked a smile and that was the beginning of the connection. They began to bond with each other. Their words slipped out with grace and sweetness, and so many were those moments that they decided to bond forever.

Karina remembered those beautiful moments until the lamps went out. The light was cut off that night. A flash of lightning announced a furious storm. Rain began to be heard from the roof. Darkness covered everything and a stabbing pain ascended from Karina's belly.

Her water broke. Her son's story was about to begin, but she had no one to turn to and gave in to the pain that accompanied her. She threw herself to the ground. In an instant, she screamed her husband's name as if he were there. The storm sharpened the agony and gasps manifested simultaneously.

She took the courage to face it alone and raised all her energies. After a while, the lamps were lit again. Heavy footsteps sounded louder and louder. Karina was losing consciousness; the energies had left her. In a flash; before losing her vision, she glimpsed Lucian's face approaching her.

The next morning, the sunlight shone on her cheeks. She lay on a hospital bed, her husband holding her hand. Another light came through the door brought by a nurse. It was another lamp in the shape of a baby now lying in its mother's arms.

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THE END