Short stories born out of mere emotions of Life

Slum: A home in Hell

Tara, for the past few weeks was looking out of the window of her broken shack, which, for her was the palace where her life throbbed. She was only 6 and was waiting for her elder sister, Chandni who was taken away by force by an unknown stranger.  All she remembered was that, one dreadful night there was a huge fight between her single mother, Sunita and a stranger whose face looked dreadful and evil in the light of the Hurricane lamp. Suddenly the man's eye fell on her sister, Chandni who was trying to hide near a basket from what was about to happen. Perhaps, both her sister and her mother knew what was to come, for there were tears of pain and immense fear in both's eye. The man suddenly pushed her mother aside and took her sister away forcefully. Tara was lost in her own thoughts when her mother suddenly spoke up, "What is it beta "... "Ma, will sister never come back ?"....Sunita's face suddenly went red with shame and grief "You see child, we poor are just an object for the rich to exploit. We do not have a choice. I don't even know if your sister is alive....." and she broke down into a  pitiful sobbing." I am afraid what happened to your sister might happen to you too." Tara then sat down beside her mother on the ground and consoled her. The Sun went down and the Sky became reddish- orange as if expressing sorrow and shame.

7 years went by but Chandni's grieving face of that night still stayed fixed  like a nail on a wall of  memories for Tara. She was now much older and as she grew.... grew within her the hatred for her life. She realized that she was another unfortunate female born in the hell on Earth. She was born in a slum which was just another place for the rich members of the society to carry out their dark activities. Crimes were all around her, and for her company, she had criminals to live with. More she grew aware of this, the more she wanted to run away from her life in the search of a better society to live in. Her mother was still working as a domestic helper and Tara also started doing odd jobs in nearby shops and houses. But, the Creator was yet to take the final test.  One Day she had to run from her work to home for she got to know that her mom had fallen seriously ill while working. "Ill?..but she was absolutely fine in the morning..could it have been that they tortured her?...."  My, how her feet trembled for the first time  as she entered the hut! Tara slowly sat near her mom on the floor where her mom seriously injured lay on a torn sheet. Her mother saw pain screaming from the eyes of her dear daughter. She laid a tired hand on her daughter's lap and said slowly with voice breaking with sorrow, " Dear, Do you now see what I had told you 8 years ago ?? This place is a hell filled with evil souls, and now, after your sister, they have broken me. You see, the mistress of the house I work for, have an illegal business and they sell children and women to other people as workers. They had forcibly taken away your sister in exchange of some money. And then when I wanted to return the money and bring your sister back, they told Chandni was dead...but today I overheard the mistress saying that Chandni was alive and in fact, here in this village ! They saw me hearing them and tried to kill me but they couldn't and brought me back home just to die !! My daughter, how will you live here anymore !!Run, run forth in search of a new life and....." "I am never leaving you alone mother." cried poor Tara, tears falling down from her scared cheeks. "You don't have to,daughter. My blessings, my memories will always be there with you...Just try to find your sister....."...and then...Death snatched away her mother from the mortal world, the tired hand on Tara's lap went cold with Death. Tara screamed with fear. Then suddenly a man spoke up, "The slum hag is dead. Let's throw her body and her daughter in the water to leave no proof or witnesses." Tara's instincts woke up, she looked around her in a fit of fear and jumped out of her window and ran not knowing where to go....