The Heart of the Sphinx

Chapter 3

Hugh's POV

The depth of the sky's blue is as our love, that only over the years to we notice the strength of the hue. Up close it is as clear as pure water, yet when we see the miles it is the blue of fairytale dreams. In a world of endemic sickness, where cruelty is the cause and love the antidote, the patients declare themselves doctors and seal the fate of the world.

As Aristotle alluded to, a man who does not enjoy the act of doing good deeds is not a good man; thus, for a virtue to exist as a virtue, it must stem from love and thus love must be the supreme virtue from which all others branch.

The world has a broken heart and all the money man can invent will never fix that. Our problems may seem as a "Goliath," yet love is our stone and any good heart can be a "David." Only love can heal our world, love between we brothers and sisters, all over the world.

Isn’t it funny, that if I had made a different decision I wouldn’t be here now? If I had put a different answer on that sheet, my fate would’ve been written in different ink. Because if I was sat here in a different universe, without you by my side, I would have never become complete.

As sunlight enters raindrops and emerges as rainbows, so love enters the soul of each person and emerges as their passions in the arts, in science, in nature... in whatever sparks their curiosity and drive. It is how they find their truth and purpose. It is how they give of themselves to others. Love is what makes us who we are, it is the energy that brings us to life.

Some call it bewitched; I call it love. For there is an emptiness in the freedom of being alone and a liberty in being caught in that divine spell. And so when I see in her eyes the feelings of my heart, we become one... and if that isn't magic then I cannot say what is. I thought that all these feelings that had were true, how wrong I was. I had no idea that I could think of something to be true but never would I really know how it would feel when the other person will love me the same. I had thought that when I had found Lilliana I had found the one that I had been waiting for. She had been everything that I could ever want in my life. She was beautiful strong and she was intelligent, not to mention the fact that she was insanely sexy but she was absolutely unaware of the fact that she had captured my heart.

We were together for three years before I felt that it was finally time to take things to the final step and I had guessed that the fair haired witch would be similarly reciprocating my feelings just like I had for her. But how wrong could I be? So wrong that she would….

I had planned a trip for her sake, for our sake. It was going to be one of the best trips of my life, the one dig that I had been so excited to go on…it was supposedly to find the Eye of Nazareth. It was one of the most stolen and the rarest gems which would have made the greatest find of my career and I wanted to share this with none other than Lilliana Despar.

It was said to be one of the best and the worst cursed items of archaeology, and probably you guys have also heard about the town of Nazareth of Israel and thinking that if it is somehow connected with the same place but I would be very sorry to say that I would be lying through my teeth if I did say so. Moreover enough of this nonsense, let me get on with the story that I was already saying. So the Eye of the Nazareth is said to be a charm against all the evil in the world. It is fabled to have been crafted by the love of a mother so pure that nothing can ever surpass it. A lot of blood has been spilled in order to get access to the Eye of the Nazareth all these years but now I was hoping to reclaim it back for my country and glorify everything that I stood for. It would be the full stop to the critics who have written always against me but have never even stepped out of their posh rooms or gotten a speck of dust on their polished shoes and might I dare say, heels.

Lilliana was excited as well since she was although the professor of literature but come on, who does not love a good and bloody mystery. She was not the kind of woman who would shy away from a bit of a dirt and sand. She was the one who was always interested to see things close and uphand. That should have been a warning since the beginning but I thought that in a good natured manner then and always and that was one of my big mistakes.

Love is sweet, yet more as fresh fruit than candy or confectionary. Love is colourful, yet more as summer blooms than the neon lights of frenetic city streets. Love is steady and forgiving, yet more as the wise mother than the servant in chains. Love hears and speaks with the wisdom of the heart, with a sense of the soul of the other. In love we have our "forever home" and it gives us the ability to fly so freely, joyfully returning when each heart calls for the other's touch, she used to tell that to me and like a blind fool I used to believe everything.

It was a very tough dig and the entire place was crawling with snakes and scorpions. People used to think that they are their because of the curses but actually I have come to find in all these years that they are nothing by very carefully placed booby traps which have spilled out the creatures which had been carefully contained in them. But now a days nothing unfazed me moreover even if I was a slight bit scared or nervous I would not be able to show that since Lilliana was with me. And after a long time and we finally reached the place where the Eye of Nazareth had been buried about a few decades back to keep it from falling into the hands of the wrong people.

Little did I know that I had brought the wrong person to the direct source.

Well after the dig was finished and I was on my way to bend down on my knee to propose her with the ring in my hand there was a blow to the back of my head and I lost my consciousness. The next time I woke up was bound and there was a knife dangling before my eyes.

“I found this in your pocket darling…is this for me?” asked Lilliana as she opened the ring and held it before my eyes.

“Of course it is for you. Who else did you think I was going give it to? Is this some kind of prank? If it is then it is not funny anymore Lilliana, come on…open these things,” I said with panic rising in my voice.

“Oh dear boy…no no not at all…this is not a prank…what do you think I was doing in your home and your bed and heart along with it? Well I always wanted the thing that has been out of the reach of most of the people and now, thanks to you my sweetie, I am going to be a billionaire in a few weeks…how could I ever repay your debt?” she had asked me with a smirk.

And I had felt that how would it have felt for Jesus to know that Judas had sold him for thirteen pieces of silver and it was going to be the last meal that he would ever have. The poison of betrayal had burned bitter in my mouth and my throat and I knew that I was going to die, and I would die at the hands of the woman I had loved the most in the world but alas, that was not gonna happen.

A shot rang close to us and Lilliana had dropped the ring on the ground and fled from there. That was the last I saw of her.

And with that thought in my mind, the aircraft entered the Heathrow airport. And I was back to solving murders again.