Please don't murder me for taking this long to update. As I explained in my PM I was in a conflicted mind regarding the basic premise of the story. But I've decided to continue the FF. Plus I have lot of time at hand these days.
Chapter 8
Two day after the marriage
It was late afternoon when Kushi woke up with a jerk. She had slept what felt like an eternity and now the house is deathly, eerily quiet. Wondering where everyone had disappeared to, she was forcibly reminded of the reason. Anjali. And she was not in her own house. She was in Shantivan ; her married home.
What happened that night and then the events following it came crashing towards her as if a nightmare waiting to ravel itself in a sadistic relish.
A wave of nausea hit her squarely on the chest as she felt herself stumble, her heart-rate accelerated and all blood drained from her face. Could it be a nightmare after all? But no. She was lying on the devil's own bed and her stomach clenched uncomfortably. Right on cue as a reminder, a crack of pain shot through the inner region between her thighs. It was all real. And the nightmare was far from being over.
An involuntary scream erupted inside her but with an immense effort she gulped it back. There was no point in screaming. She was stuck in a vortex from which no one can save her. As Kushi tried desperately to stop herself from letting image after image of gruesome display of thoughts erupt inside her, she realised her knees had given away and she had fallen to the ground at her feet.
She lay there for a moment, her brain frozen and numb. She had no memory of what happened after that night. She had been in a limbo between sleep and a nightmare that was on a never ending replay of a loop and had no recollection of what happened after that night. Her brain seemed to have closed down as a self shielding attempt to keep away the gruesome recollections.
Water. She desperately needed water. With all the energy she could muster Kushi got up off the floor, holding onto the bed as a prop before standing up. She stumbled across the room to the bathroom, opened the tap, plunged her head inside the basin and gulped water coming straight off from the opening of the tap.
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Arnav slowly got up off the guest room couch. He had taken refuge in the room for most of the day and did not sleep in his room last night. Heck he hadn't slept in two days. He thanked small mercies that his family did not question why he didn't sleep in his own bedroom with his wife last night. Everyone was too preoccupied to think much other than Anjali.
His sister was still at the ICU going through multiple surgeries for burn injury and he had hired all the best plastic surgeons the country offered and even flew in overseas specialists for her treatment. Although his sister was out of danger, her condition was still far too critical and her appearance horribly disfigured from the severity of the burns.
Irony was that all the money he possessed did nothing to alter his sister's condition. It was a bitter jolt of realisation and a harsh reminder for Arnav Singh Raizada who once sardonically proclaimed that he can change destiny at a click of his fingers and money made the world go round.
And the bas***d who did this to her had disappeared. Two days had passed and there was still no sign of Shyam manohar Jha. The police and all the Special Forces under their belt have been unable to track him down. The monster that is the reason for the down fall of his sister, his family, his everything is still on the loose and he could do nothing to make him pay for what he had done; another derisive reminder of his never existent invincibility.
More than anything, the bas***d fed him a vile story of untruths. Her parents' testimony was enough for him to realise who the victim and who the perpetrator was. And he had gone ahead and made sure to destroy the victim once and forever.
He couldn't even bring up to think her name. His insides shrivelled up in an agony of horror and the purest of self loathing one could accumulate. Oh the intensity of what he felt every passing moment for the past two days had been over whelming. He had at one point even considered running away from everything. How was he ever going to look at her and see the terror reflected in her eyes, or seek her forgiveness for what he had done to her? How was he ever going to make amends? Does he even deserve to be loathed by her? He was a monster who prayed on her innocence. He didn't even deserve to seek her forgiveness.
He had committed the gravest of crimes and even now she could send him behind bars for marital rape and with all due honours too. And he deserved it and more.
He did not find the capacity to look at her, yet as if a moth allured to the flame or a sinner attracted to the forbidden apple, he couldn't keep away from her. He had checked on her every half hour to see if she was alright, if she needed anything or made sure someone was always around. Yet she had slept most of yesterday and today and he had made it a point to not go in front of her at any cost.
He had seen her blanked out expression when his naani and Payal made attempts to talk to her yesterday. She hadn't uttered a word for two days, had refused to get up or eat and laid on the bed as if transfixed. A chill went through him. She was going to fall ill if this continued yet does he even have the right to think of her welfare now?
Yet she was showing all symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. Would she need psychiatrist help if so? But what was he going to give as the reason for her trauma? That her husband molested her on her first night of marriage?
Now that the rest of the family had gone for a visit to the hospital, he had opted to stay to look after his 'wife' because according to his family she seemed to be in delicate health. They had fortunately passed off Kushi's uncharacteristic behaviour due to the shock of seeing Anjali's condition. He knew better.
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Arnav slowly made his way towards his bedroom hoping she would still be asleep so that he can check on her and leave as soon as possible. He wanted to see her and make sure she was fine but wanted in no terms to have an encounter with her. He had no idea what her reaction would be when she saw him and he wasn't in a hurry to find out. He was happy to live for the rest of his life in denial, avoiding her and never having to think of what happened that night. But could he? Will he ever be able to stop thinking about her?
What was the relationship they shared that made it impossible to stop thinking about her even after everything?
The moment he entered he realised that the bedroom was empty. Another chill of horror ran through his spine. Had she run away? This thought had never entered his mind until now. Sure he had wronged her on so many different levels yet she can't leave him. She would refuse to see him or lay eyes on him. Yet the fact that she was living in the same house would have sufficed to keep him going. With the eminent thoughts of never seeing her again or something happening to her, he thought he was coming close to encounter a panic attack.
He rushed to the poolside and being unable to find her there while his worst suspicions were coming true, ran to the bathroom to find the door fast shut and only silence emerging from within. He gave it a push and looked inside.
Kushi had been clutching at the basin for the longest time; her head plunged inside as if to cocoon herself from outside influence. A hollow sound of nothingness rang through the basin which was soothing and eerie at the same time. She could hear her blood moving inside her ears. A strange but fascinating sound; she thought.
What was she thinking? Is she actually delirious? Is she about to loose her mind?
The sound of a door opening interrupted her stupor. She slowly straightened up to see her nightmare looking at her through the mirror. And she knew she was falling, falling hard and fast into a vast expansion of emptiness. An explosion of sound went inside her. There he was staring at her with those maniacal brown eyes embedded in a dark stubble covered face looking like an incarnation of the devil himself.
She took a steadying breath. She was hallucinating. What she's seeing isn't true. Besides he's in the mirror. It wasn't real. She closed her eyes tightly. When she opened them he would be gone. She wouldn't have to see him.
She opened her eyes and knew he was there for real. She saw her own face whiten in terror, blood rushing from her face as she stared at him for a long moment.
"Kushi? Are you alright?"
He was amazed at his own audacity for asking that question. What wretched irony was this?
He saw in the reflection of the mirror which was illuminated with the bright sidelights, the deathly pale face that stared back at him contorting into a collage of expressions. Before he could do anything she turned to face him, her face an absolute mask of horror. He knew that face would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Please don't come near me"
Her whisper carried across the expanse of the bathroom reverberating across the walls.
Her eyes startlingly brilliant scared him beyond bounds. They were haunted by an unidentified terror.
"I promise I wont" he heard himself saying.
"Please! Please go away! Go away! Go away!" her voice had a mechanical affect of a chant.
"Kushi Im not going to hurt you" he was pleading, almost crying now.
"Please Don't touch me!! Go Away!" she shrieked, her voice a high pitched scream now, her eyes wild and ferocious.
He backed away. Her countenance had turned from resembling a haunted deranged deer to a fearsome wild animal. He had anticipated an over whelming reaction. But not as severely disturbing as this.
He backed out of the room making sure the door was opened and making as much noise as possible to signal her that he had left the room.
His heart was racing, scared out of his wits. He felt as if he's trapped inside a never ending symphony of horror. What the hell was he going to do? On one hand he wanted to help her but on the other he had absolutely no idea how to do so. How could he after what he just witnessed? She refused to even look at his face without divulging into hysterics.
The rest of the family's arrival broke him off his thoughts. He was just in time to see JP opening the door.
He walked down the stairs slowly, his feet weighing heavily as if his body was made of lead and not flesh and limbs.
"Naani, was everything all right?"
"Haan chottey. She still can't speak. But we held her hand" his grand mother's eyes were moist from tears.
Sudden change in direction of her look toward the stairs made him turn around. He gaped at a Kushi now bounding down the stairs, her hair neatly combed and let loose, a new salwar suit adorned, mangal suthra bouncing off her chest, sindoor firmly drawn on her maang and a look of absolute calm on her face.
'Arrey Kushi bitiya! kaise hai aap?" his naani's voice was laced with concern as she took in kushi's pale face.
"Main teek hai naani ji. I'm terribly sorry for not joining you yesterday or today. I was very sick."
"we know bitiya. After the marriage this is the first time I'm seeing you actually talking. I'm glad you're feeling better. Did you have a nice long sleep? It's the best remedy when you are ill at health." his grandmother's voice calm and controlled just as hers.
"Yes naani ji. I'm feeling fine now" she even gave a slight smile.
"Acchcha hain. I want to talk to you anyway. Come with me"
With that naani took Kushi's hand and led her way towards her room while Payal, Akaash maami and maama ji went to their respective quarters.
Arnav stared after them stupefied beyond words, wondering how she managed to change her demeanour within a matter of fifteen minutes.
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In a far off village named Ganjuri in Jarkhand, Shyam Manoher Jha bid his time waiting for the right moment.
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So how was the comeback? 😉
I need comments!! Tell me what you want to see in the story, what you feel about it. I might shut this down if the response isn't good enough.
xxx
Edited by CDlove - 13 years ago
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