Naina / Raghav Short Story - Talking Bodies (Prologue: Page One)

"Well Mama, today is the day. In just a few minutes, I'm gonna have to go." The brunette chuckled to herself. "It's funny, I always knew we will have to part one day, just didn't think it will be like this." In the few moments she remained quiet, the dripping of the IV and the dials of the heart monitor filled the silence. "For the longest time I thought it doesn't matter that brother isn't here with you. The distance that he created between us will never come to affect the way you are being taken care of. I'm here for you and that should be more than enough. I can be your best friend and your bread winner. And I was." Her eyes scanned the steady rise and fall of her mother's chest. Rubbing a thumb across the back of her hand, she spoke. "Trust me Mama when I say I don't want to go. There is nothing more that I want in this world than to be here with you. And I tried to find my out of this, I really, really did but..." She swiped a tear from her cheek. "Nothing worked out. I have to go. If only I hadn't followed him, then this wouldn't have happened." She berated herself. However, with angry tears, she looked towards her silent mother as if she would wake up and console her bleeding heart. "But Mama, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. I had to help her out. If I hadn't then who knows how many people would have gotten hurt." She raised her mother's hand and placed it against her cheek, leaning into it to gain as much warmth and support as she could. "Mama, what I did was right nah?" The daughter's own chest rose and fell heavily as she weighed out the consequences of her own actions.

"Neenu," The woman turned around and saw her friend peering timidly through the hospital door.

Giving her a single nod, she gestured her outside indicating it was time to go. Naina wiped her tears and took one last long look at her mother. As memories of her childhood swirled through her mind, Naina became overwhelmed with the terrifying new change that was about to engulf her life. She threw her body against her mother's into a tight hug, crying over how her mother wouldn't be able to say one last goodbye. How she wouldn't know what happened to her loving daughter and swipe a hand across her head in a consoling gesture. She would never stay up till late at night telling her daughter stories until she fell asleep nor will she make her hot and spicy snacks just to bring an excited smile onto her face.

All those simple and sweet moments got snatched away the moment Naina decided to chase after the masked man. No matter how much she tried to convince herself that it was the right decision, the daughter inside of her will never be able to forgive the fact she had been snatched away from her mother.

"Naina, we have to go." Her friend interrupted once more.

Wiping her tears away and placing a kiss on her mother's forehead, Naina grabbed her purse and walked out the door.

She sniffled and took a deep breath to compose herself as Zeenat held onto her shoulder.

With a reassuring smile, she spoke, "Naina, you don't have to worry about your mom. From now on she will be my responsibility. And besides, the police officers said that they will make arrangements to ensure she gets the proper health care that she needs."

"It's not the same Zeenat. I trust you implicitly with my mother's care and there is no way that I would have agreed to go if I didn't know there was someone to look after her. But I don't trust myself." Naina admitted shaking her head. "I simply cannot see myself staying away from her for so long." Scoffing she added, "Hell, I see myself running right back to her after five days, tops!"

"As if the Austrian police will let you." Zeenat rebuked with a chuckle of her own. "Seriously Naina, what you did was remarkable. Granted, the outcomes of it were unexpected but that doesn't diminish what you did in any way. You uncovered a major sex trafficking ring and helped save so many women!" She held Naina by the shoulder impatiently, "Naina you are a hero to so many! Hell, you're my hero!"

"But I don't want to be a hero Zeenu!" Naina argued. "I didn't know I was going to end up saving all those women. It just happened. If I had known what I was getting myself into I would have just called the police. But now here I am being forced to go into a witness protection program, leave my sick mother behind and move to a foreign country that I know absolutely nothing about." Defeated, she removed her friend's hands from her arms. "I can't even be proud of what I did. Do you know how that makes me feel as a woman?" Naina's voice cracked as new tears sting the back of her eyes.

"Naina you're not going to stay in Austria forever. It's just until all of this blows over." Zeenat cups her cheeks and wipes away the new tears. "Just you watch. You'll be back home in no time and Aunty will be waiting to hear all the exciting new stories from you."

Naina chuckled, giving Zeenat a teary smile. She was ever so grateful for having found a great friend in her. Always standing up for Naina against faculty members or snobbish students, always presenting the bright and optimistic side to living a single life, and lifting her up when she was at her absolute low. She wasn't sure how she would be able to survive in Austria all on her own. With that isolating thought beginning to creep into her mind, Naina pulled Zeenat into a tight hug.

"It'll be okay Naina. You will do great." Zeenat reassured speaking into Naina's soft and curly strands.

"I really hope so Zeenu. Right now I can't imagine myself living in Austria."

"I know. But you will eventually. Trust me when I say it will all work out."

Naina hugged her friend tighter once more.

"Now, shall we?" Zeenat asked, breaking away from the hug.

Her heart racing, Naina nodded.

--

"So I've included everything in this little handbag," Zeenat said gesturing towards the black bag to Naina. "Your passport, your boarding passes, all your new cards, a little bit of money as well. Once you reach the airport, you have to check in with the Austrian police so that they can check you in. After that they will set you up and you'll be on your own." Naina gulped and nodded. "Hey, it's going to be tough but you're gonna have to try really hard to settle in. Start anew and try not to dwell on the past too much. Okay?"

"I can't just forget my mom Zeenat."
"I'm not asking you to." She argued. "Just pretend like you're on vacation. You'll be gone for a weeks or months and then you come right back. Now, you better hurry or you will miss your flight." Zeenat began urging Naina towards the boarding area.

As they stood before the gates, Naina felt a strange sense of foreboding wash over her. She truly wanted to believe in her friend's optimism. She will return just like she said. But she couldn't ignore the tight tug at the back of her head. Hugging her friend once more, Naina tried to leech out all the warmth, love and positivity as she could.

Walking down the tiled airport floor, Naina became lost in the screaming echoes that she had heard when she stumbled upon the girls. She would never admit it to Zeenat, but she honestly couldn't remember what had happened that night. She simply didn't have the heart to tell her after she had been praised so highly and had become essentially a role model for her. So she stuck with whatever the police and newspaper clippings had informed her. She had followed a shady man and stumbled upon a building that was hosting a cage full of shackled and beaten women. She apparently had called for the police and was able to save all those women but for the life of her she couldn't remember any of that happening.

She did remember fragments of the conversation that had piqued her interest in the first place. The horrible and derogatory language that he had been using to speak of women had ticked her off in more ways than one. Common sense would have involved her walking away and cursing out all mankind in her head. But she told common sense to go take a hike and began following the man to teach him a lesson or two. The courage and bravado that she had initially was completely gone as she began to venture into an isolated part of the city.  Goosebumps had started to form over her skin as she had walked into the building after him. There was an illness in the air that she didn't like. Almost as if something was not right. The haziness in Naina's memory had started to form around then. Her vision being blurry, her legs moving like lead, her heading feeling incredibly heavy, the desire to get out of the place had been incredibly high.

She might have called upon for help but she couldn't for the life of her remember when or how. Then there was the matter of the strange bruises and rope burns on various parts of her body. The purple black bruising around her wrists, ankles and upper arms were almost gone. The most terrifying element about the whole incident were the odd bruises along her back and upper thighs. The police officers had said that they had found her unconscious, a blow taken to the back of her head that had rendered useless for at least a few hours. She had initially dismissed the bruises as a physical assault but the more she thought about it, the more she questioned what had actually happened. She was practically fed all the information by the police when she had first woken up in the hospital. She followed a man, uncovered a sex trafficking scandal and helped save a number of women. As for the injuries on her body, they were received while she had been trying to help some of the women out. But again, this was all information that had been fed to her. It wasn't anything that she could remember for herself and that frustrated her to no end.

"Ma'am, please put your seatbelt on. We're about to take off." The air hostess informed Naina with her compulsory smile.

Locking herself in, Naina looked at the person sitting beside her for the first time. Normally her mother's voice would ring inside her head, reprimanding her about staring at people but this particular individual completely captured her attention. There was something about him that was so incredibly familiar to her but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was almost like he was a fading memory that she was trying really hard to hold onto but the harder she tried the quicker he got away.

"Can I help you?" He asked raising his brow, feeling a bit self-conscious.

"No, no, sorry." Naina said, her cheeks reddening. "I wasn't staring, I mean I was but not because well you know, I'm, I'm sorry. I'll just..." She cut off, turning her body towards the small window.

In the glare of the window, Naina caught him staring at her for a few moments, almost as if he was assessing her. Her eyes widened as his pair struck a nerve in her. It was those eyes, the same eyes that were looming over her that night. He was there, in the building, involved in the sex racket. Her first instinct was to get the police or some sort of authority but she froze as she felt his hot breath at the back of her neck. Her hands fisted as he took a long inhale.

"Still smell as great as ever." He whispered raising the hairs on the back of her neck.

Naina whipped her head towards his direction and glared at him. The amount of disgust and vile loathing that she felt for this man was unbearable. All she wanted to do was throttle him right then and there, removing the smug look off his face.

"What happened Naina?" He asked, feigning innocence. "Oh don't tell me you don't remember me." He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger, saying, "Considering the night that we had, I thought you would never be able to forget me."

"Looks like you didn't try hard enough." Naina rebuked, surprised at how calmly she was able to articulate herself.

She took immense pride at the pure rage wash over his face and didn't care much of the fact that he now had his hand squeezing her throat.

"Just because you stopped one operation doesn't mean you have ended everything Naina. Remember, you are now leaving your beloved India. Your safety zone, your family, friends, the very people you can go to for help." The rage subsided for a calm confidence to take over. "Now you're coming to my territory." Leaning into her ear he whispered, "My home where you are going to make me millions."

"You wouldn't dare." He couldn't, there is no way that this could happen. She didn't leave her country to be sold out to a low-life criminal like him. "I will,"

"What?" He cut off. "Call the police?" He laughed. "Guess who made the arrangements for you to get here? Who idolized you as a hero and convinced you to hop on a plane and stay undercover for an indeterminate amount of time in a foreign country? Really Naina? Did you really think that the police somehow wouldn't be involved in this? Oh Naina," He patted her cheek, "You really are nave." With a raise of a single brow, "Not that I'm complaining of course. A lot of people like that in their clients."

Highly disgusted and terrified, Naina swatted his hand and leaned far away from him. His echoing laughter put her stomach into twisted knots. All she wanted to do was get off the plane but the vile sickness she had felt in the air in that building that night returned.

The plane took off, the man beside her began to hum a tune. Naina curled in on herself, willing herself not to cry but failing in her endeavor.