Arwy’s World

Richard

Here he was. From the moment he walked into my life, even before I saw him, I could not help falling in love with him. He could not help breaking my heart. Again and again.

He was larger than life, dashingly handsome and oh-so unattainable. No matter how hard I tried it simply didn’t work. He couldn’t stand the idea of being captured by a woman. Any woman, but HER. What was so special about her? Why did he want to marry her? I would never know, and he’d never tell me.

Dark hair, the most beautiful blue eyes, the deepest and the darkest soul. He was the man who saved my life and broke my heart. Oh, God, where is now that merciful killer? Please, send me death for I can not bear this pain any longer!

The Prophecy

“You will rule the world and control all the Universe if this is what you wish for. A mighty, powerful, unstoppable master, gaining all your goals, always getting what you want.

“Many women you will know. Yet you will be alone for so many millions of years. Then a girl will come who will turn your world upside down. She will see you inside out. She will look at you and know exactly what you are.

“She will appear in your life when you least expect it, fall into your arms like a heavenly gift. You will plunge into her soul, beautiful, light, and pure, and you will emerge a different man, the man you were in the beginning of this world. She will bring out the best in you, and you will turn away from evil.

“You will look into her eyes — hopelessly deep and impossibly green — and you will forget how to kill.”

Heartbreaking Revelation

Can you love your enemy? How can you possibly have feelings for somebody who was meant to kill you? Can you break a heart that has already been broken? Where are the limits to your pain?

Madeline was sitting by Richard’s bed in reanimation department hugging him gently, trying to conceal her tears. They were streaming in torrents down her cheeks not willing to hide at all.

He asked for an explanation.

“Why are you still here?”

Not any easy question to answer. It was very hard for Madeline to accept the things she was about to say. They tortured her greatly causing so much damage. It was not an easy revelation indeed. Richard was a person responsible for the death of her parents, and he nearly died trying to save her. Immortal creatures do not die. They stop to exist. As impossible as it seemed, he was still immortal though more human now than ever before, susceptible to pain, damage and destruction. The sound of her voice broke the silence. More fragile than ever, she was a pain to watch.

“I can not live in a world where you don’t exist.”

A Generous Gift

“For some magical reason I cannot say ‘no’ tonight when you call me ‘love’ with this charming British accent of yours.”

“I wish I had this intelligence in Paris. Then I would have escaped the heartbreaking ‘no’. Would the answer be any different if I asked you tonight?”

She laughed so sincerely.

“Don’t push you luck that far. There is not enough magic in the world to make me change my mind.”

He looked overwhelmingly sad again.

“Will you at least keep the car?”

“Of course, I will. But don’t be too excited. I have my own evil reasoning behind it.”

He looked happier now.

“Would you mind sharing your evil mastermind thoughts?”

“What kind of love of your life would I be if I don’t take the car? Your parents wouldn’t beleive it. And then they would not bother you till the end of eternity for losing such a wonderful girl.”

“I have enough time till the end of eternity to make you somehow change your mind.”

He sounded very serious about it. She laughed and kissed him good-bye softly.

“You are such an optimiste at times that you overestimate your persvasive powers.”

“Let’s go, love, you need some more rest before a new busy day begins.”

She followed him quietly.

Deadly Addictions

Madeline came up to his large oak table cautiously. Her eyes caught a sight of a big crystal ash-tray there.

“Do you smoke?” she inquired.

A devilish look spread in Richard’s eyes and a dazzling wry smile lit up his face.

“No, but I have many other deadly addictions.” He said this phrase smugly as if it was some kind of virtue.

If only Madeline could hear his thoughts she would certainly comprehend what was so funny in her question but she could not. That explained a puzzled look in her eyes which entertained Richard so much he even bothered to clarify his words this time. Mainly he wanted to see how she would react to this bold statement of his.

“And you are most certainly one of them.”

Richard utterly enjoyed observing as different emotions crossed her face. He witnessed how amazement changed confusion. Her eyes were blinking fleetingly as if she was trying to process his information. Her long thick eyelashes were trembling like the wings of a butterfly. The next moment her eyebrows shoot up high and her velvet green eyes became unbelievably large. Always so expressive! Undoubtedly his words had startled her. Now all her figure conveyed an unspoken question ‘why?’

Richard chuckled.

The girl didn’t dare to ask about his previous phrase so she decided to address him with another question.

“Why are you laughing?”

Richard smiled even wider.

“I find you very amusing at times.”

Madeline shrugged her shoulders. At least he was in a good mood today. This observation encouraged her to express a daring request she had initially come here to ask for.

Some Action

Trying to describe at least some action. I don’t know why it comes out so hard. The words are running away from me. Frank explains to Richard what he had missed.

“You should have seen her drive. I’ve never met anybody more graceful and fearless. It comes natural to her. It must be in her blood. She can never fail it. She feels the car and the road so well it makes her unstoppable.

“She was running away. Already in your car, she stopped for a mere moment that seemed like eternity. Like a diver stops before the jump she came to a halt and carefully looked around. She moved so slowly we though she had changed her mind that she would not go anywhere. Then she fired the ignition. She was calm, confident, smiling. She was gone in four seconds.”

“Never afraid,” Richard murmured. “No sense of self-defense. No protective instincts at all. Embracing danger as if it’s her best friend.”

“We got into the cars and drove after her. It was difficult to chase her. She was sliding, gliding, waltzing around us. There was a moment when we though we got her. We had blocked the road. She could go no further. She had to stop. Do you know what she did? She started to spin your car around. We though she would hit our cars but she stopped short for a second, less than half an inch away from our LandRovers. She smiled and I realized we should expect no good. She drove back on the full speed, placed the car in almost vertical position and slid on the two left wheels through a small gap between our cars on the other end of the road. And then she was gone. Why did she do it at all?”

“She didn’t want me to leave.”

“Probably you should’ve just stayed then. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch Formula 1 again. Who taught her to drive? We though she would break your DBS to pieces. Not a scratch.”

Action

New part of the story. This is some kind of a trailer. I would not tell you completely who said what but it’s going to be interesting. And I would love to film it. The picture I see in my head is very beautiful and visually dynamic.

Richard was talking on the phone. His Chief of Security was telling him:

“She ran away!”

“She did what?” Richard couldn’t believe it was possible.

“She took your Aston Martin and left.”

“Why haven’t you stopped her?”

“Have you seen her drive? She is dancing around our cars that chase her. She said she would not stop until you come to get her yourself. And I’m starting to believe she will do exactly what she says. We are nowhere near her. She is a devil of racer.”

“I’m going to kill that girl!”

When you need to save the man you love how far will you go? She will go all the way at full speed his Aston Martin will allow her.

“I will not retreat. I will not stop until I see you standing on the road in front of me. Come and get me.”

“She feels the pain of every on of them. Normal people would not endure even a mere fraction of that pain. It’s a miracle she is still alive. Haven’t her father told you she is suicidal? The best psychiatrists could do nothing with her. Perhaps if you ever felt her pain you wouldn’t want to live too. Evacuate all the people out of the house! Do something before she erases half of the planet!”

“What should I do?”

“Give her a reason to live!”

Interview. The Story

This is obviously a second part of the story. Together with the other members of the cast and crew Madeline gives an extensive interview at the movie premier. I’m going to write more parts of this chapter soon as I find it very interesting.

“Why in your opinion this fantasy story is so popular?”

“This is very easy. Besides the fact that this is a fairy-tale, basically this is also a love story, a romance, something very simple and understandable for the people of all genders and ages.

“Aside from all the magical and mystery things that happen in the books, this is a story of a girl who fell in love. If only her story was that simple probably there would have been no adventure at all. Yet the narration unfolds conflicts of all kinds which make the whole storyline so much more dramatic, dynamic and moving.

“Our girl gave her heart to no ordinary person. She fell in love with a man who was all wrong for her from the point of view of anybody and everybody in her world. Their love has to endure the most extreme and severe conditions, undertake every possible challenge to live through the end or perish. If there is anything that can go wrong it goes wrong in this story. If you can think of an argument against their love it will be spoken aloud and very clearly in the tale. Her family and friends, her own people, the history of their world, even the very own nature of the man she loves — for he struggles fiercely, he doesn’t want that love, his heart rejects this emotion — everything goes against their feelings. And yet they are there and they are very strong and passionate.

“The person she loves so dearly is very special and he has a lot to say from his point of view. Perhaps his record of events that happened is even more compelling as in the course of the story this is his character who undertakes the most dramatic and impressive changes. Thus in the end he is a completely different person possessing the qualities necessary to be together with an extraordinary girl he loves.

“You should not forget that this is a story of true love, of devotion and friendship, of betrayal, numerous prejudices and hatred, and of a devastating war that provides the most dark, dangerous and tragic background for the narrative.

“And this is a great story about hope. It was written in a very dark time for me and I was desperate for it to be hopeful. I was craving for it to show that even in the darkest hour there is always a ray of light, there is something you can hold on to until the darkness passes so you can stay sane and stay alive. In times when everything is against us, when there is no hope and it doesn’t seem that anything good is going to happen, when the world we knew and loved is literally falling apart in front of our eyes, the story teaches us to be strong, to fight for what is good and true, to protect the light and all the important things within and around us. It encourages us to believe even when no one else does.”

“Is there a man behind the male protagonist of the story?”

The question made her smile.

“I’m sorry I cannot tell you. Otherwise I will violate my own rule: no personal questions.”

However, the journalist was not going to give up so easily.

“I guess we’ll have to take your charming smile as ‘yes’.”

A radiant smile lit up her features even more brightly.

“I’m afraid I will chose not to answer this question of yours either.”

Red

This episode shows a true nature of Madeline. She has a unique vision of the world. She sees it as an artist who can easily distinguish the slightest hues of different colours and name them. It’s always surprising how some things which are so easy and natural to her may not be as obvious to the others.

Madeline promised to make Mary a dress so she can impress the man she loves.

“What is your favourite colour?”

“Red.”

“Which one exactly?”

Mary was confused so Madeline explained to her as much as she could.

“There is no simple red in my world. There are so many choices. Warm red or cold red? Closer to orange or to violet and pink? Bloody red, burgundy red or cherry red? Raspberry, rose or magenta? May be even coral red, rosso corsa or crimson? Scarlett, terra cotta or venetian red? These all are very diferent colours, and there are a lot more. I need to know precisely which one is your favourite. Then I can chose the fabrics for your dress.”

Unhappy Man

In order to explain you a little bit what is going on. Mary is a maid in the house of Richard Spencer and she is a friend of Madeline. Once Richard returns home and cannot find some of his things. Being in a very bad temper he questions Mary where he can find them. However, the poor girl cannot provide him with an adequate reply. Richard loses his temper and shouts at her. That’s when Madeline comes in and says she was the one who took Richard’s belongings, leads him to his room and shows that they are neatly folded and stored in his luggage ready for his trip. Richard says Madeline never fails to surprise him, and she leaves to comfort her friend who is crying in her room in the other part of the house.

“It’s so strange. How come of all the people around him you are the only one completely not afraid of him?”

“This is simple, Mary, everybody sees him in a different way. Frank thinks he is a soldier and Richard is his commander. He would obey any of Richard’s orders without doubt or hesitation. For Mrs. Hudson he is like a son, a little boy she knew and nourished who grew up in a powerful man. She still loves him like her own child and he respects her. He will never behave in any way to offend her, he will never hurt her feelings.

“For you he is an all-mighty master who rules his own universe, so strong and dangerous you believe his only glance can kill. You are nothing to him, just another employee, one of thousands. It’s a miracle he even remembers your name.”

Mary burst in tears again. Madeline hurried to embrace her and continued very mildly.

“I’m sorry, I did not want to upset you. I don’t say he is right. I would like to point out that he treats this way everybody whom he doesn’t consider his family. So please don’t take it on your account. You are a very kind, diligent, supportive girl, you do your work well and you deserve all the respect. Yet he is very hard on you from time to time. And you are so scared of him, scared to do something he wouldn’t like.”

“Is it any different for you? You both seem to argue a lot.”

“Yes, it is different for me for I just see a man with very beautiful blue eyes, the most beautiful I have ever seen, who with all his good looks, wealth and power, knowledge and generous gifts is very unhappy with what he is. What do you think he can do to me? He has already saved me therefore he is not going to kill me. I owe him my life, probably, more than once. All I want is to make him smile again. Everybody deserves to be happy. It’s unfair that he is not. And you are so much luckier than he is — you are in love!”

“I think he is already in love with you,” Mary said warily still without any doubt.

Sound of numerous silver bells filled the room — Madeline was laughing.

“Oh, dear, don’t be silly! Haven’t you seen him? He can have any woman in this world. For all I know he thinks I am the most annoying creature doing everything in my power to irritate him to death. Why on Earth would he fight his own nature and chose me?”

Mary was staring at her in surprise.

“I cannot find words to express how wrong you are. Why wouldn’t he? You are so wonderful!”

“You are too kind to me. You are my friend and you are biased,” Madeline was still laughing.

“Do you love him?” Mary asked unexpectedly.

“I don’t think I am worth him…” Madeline sounded sad. “And,” she added more merrily, “it would be very inconsiderate of me to fall in love with such a man. I know a thousand of women who would suite him better.”

Mary pouted her lips.

“If you say so.” She had no intention to agree with her friend.

“Don’t be sad, my dear! Go to bed, it’s already so late and you have to get up early tomorrow. I’ll try to tell him he was wrong. Just don’t take it to heart too much. I think he had a very difficult day. I don’t justify his actions. I only ask you to be wiser and forgive him generously, will you?”

Before Mary could reply, the most unexpected visitor entered the room.

“I am so sorry to disturb you in such a late hour but I’m leaving soon and I came to apologize. Mary, I’m very sorry for being so rude. There is no excuse for such behaviour,” Richard told her in his most apologetic voice.

To say that both girls were utterly surprised would be an understatement. Mary was so shocked she could barely speak.

“Mr. Spenser, I’m so sorry I made you worry. It’s nothing, really nothing. You should not have bothered,” she stumbled through her words awkwardly.

Madeline left the room quietly. It was not long before Richard caught her by the stairs.

“There is something I need to tell you before I leave.”

Madeline turned around to face him and gave him a curious look.

“I am listening,” she assured.

Richard looked uneasy. It was hard for him to say the words that followed.

“You may be right about me, right that I’m unhappy but you are so wrong about yourself.”

“You listened to our conversation!” Madeline was truly astonished but for some reason couldn’t feel angry enough with him.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help it,” he told her smilingly.

“I guess we haven’t closed the door well enough. I would not forget to do it better next time,” Madeline blushed and looked down to the floor.

Richard chuckled and then said something Madeline couldn’t understand.

“I’m afraid there is no door that could’ve kept me from hearing what you were talking about.”

He continued more seriously.

“You have no idea how invaluable, how precious you are. And you are definitely worth it, worth the fight with my own nature.”

Madeline was so startled she took her eyes out of the floor and stared at Richard. She couldn’t say a word.

“I have to leave now,” he said kindly. Strangely his voice sounded as if he didn’t want to leave at all.

“Good luck on your trip and take care!” was all Madeline could say.

“Be safe!” he said in return. And then he kissed her swiftly in her forehead and left without saying another word.

Madeline stood by the stairs for a while staring at the door Richard had just went through. She couldn’t believe it was real.