Machu Picchu

Immortality is hidden in every corner. When Fiona and Niall entered Machu Picchu, they felt they were in another world, far far away from any reality. They felt like nymphs wandering around between the old ruins, lying hand in hand on the grass, touching old stones, discovering mythical animals...

But nothing is forever. He was from Australia, she was from England.

They seperated.

Still, even their love faded away with every day they didn't see each other, the friendship remained. And the promise. Almost two years they planned to travel together, and this time they would visit another world wonder : Taj Mahal.

They would hike together, as these days in Peru, in Nepal. Fiona's friend could arrange a very cheap hike, so she told Niall in a mail about it, and he asked for more details. He ended the mail with many hugs. He was already going to the North of India, several weeks before she should leave, with his best friend, but he would wait for her in the airport.

She sent him the details of the hike, and waited for the mail. She smiled, remembering him climbing rocks, for the adrenaline, but also meditating to become one with the landscape . He took pictures of a story he didn't understand. He took « Frames », in which different landscape elements like branches, stone pillars... were a frame. They talked so much, about love, death, pain, parents, future, and their countries and it's strange habits.

A memory popped in her head, where they found a whole carpet of red butterflies on the earth. She reached her hand to a butterfly, who flied up, and -to their surprise- landed on her ring finger. He took a picture, and add that Mother Nature is the biggest witch he knew.

According to Fiona, Niall loved kicks, so he could feel alive . He was the kind of guy who spend money in skydiving, bungyjumping... he was so afraid for the rat race. He was like a tragic hero, she felt, from the Ancient- Greek myths. He was looking for immortality...

In their last evening they had danced the night away in Cusco. She still could feel every emotion of that night : joy, pleasure, fear, anger, sadness... every color of the spectrum.

A week passed, and he didn't answer. She did not panick. She would leave only in 3 weeks, and she was used to wait for answers from him. A second week passed. She got a bit irritated. She was a bit afraid that she would arrive alone in scary India. In the third week, she planned to write on his facebook wall a big subtle message to ask for attention. Suddenly she saw all the other messages beneath the one she was writing. First, she didn't realize... but then it appeared everywhere... RIP Niall.

It became totally white for her. No emotions.

She scrolled down and down. She couldn't believe this could have happened to him... to her ... This is a story for a cheesy Hollywood film, not for her life. She had so many thoughts, words, emotions, images, memories... crossing her mind that she never really got over it, and even years after, she can cry... in a sudden moment, when a memory touches her eyes.

India was not so crazy as she expected. Yes, she went. India, with all his colors and smells, was maybe the best cure for her. In the first week she saw how a car hit some Indian people, who flied in the ground, and landed on the earth. A whole red carpet spread the floor. She looked up, and the only thing her broken heart thought was that nothing is forever... After she visited the place where he died on an overdose, she went to an internet bar, and looked to the black screen. Since then, she does not like it anymore when lovers and boyfriends.. don't write back soon. She is afraid they will never write back...

Her lovers and (ex)boyfriends don't understand why she gets upset if people don't write back... because she doesn't talk about him. Talking about him makes him too mortal. She wants him just to be someone of her past... so she could continue to live...