Pain.
What a simple word to express such a haunting emotion. If only the word managed to have the power to express the feeling that the young woman was feeling as she ran through the narrow roads between houses with no sense of awareness. Awareness of where it lead.
She ran and ran without a thought, but each step she took was becoming harder than the previous one. She had no idea where she could run off to for anywhere she went, they would find her. There was no way she could hide from them in Bareilly. She had to escape this hell but it was getting harder to continue running as the adrenaline that had helped her to continue her race so far had finally began to subside and the pain she felt in her limbs had begun to call out to her, begging her to tend to them.
But she couldn't stop, not after whatever happened. She wasn't safe here. Although there weren't any voices behind her, she knew they would be coming for her any moment. After all, the villagers weren't going to forgive her for running away from her marriage with the so called king of their village, Kaali Thakur.
But what could she do? He was trying to get her married to his brothers along with him. Besides, he was an old man, nearly as old as her dad who wasn't even alive. She had agreed to the marriage only because they had kidnapped her mother, but now that her mother was no more, she didn't have to be their puppet. She squeezed her eyes tight, trying to stop the tears that were coming from her eyes as her mind that kept replaying the moment when she found her mother's lifeless body. Her mother had killed herself so she could escape from those evil men. Although she could never forgive herself for being the reason of her mother's death, she knew the only way to honour her death was to fulfil her last wish.
To run away from this hell.
So she kept running, not caring to tend to the wounds in her legs that had formed as a result of falling down again and again. Neither did she stop to catch a breath, she couldn't waste even one second. But as she continued running, her vision started to blur out, her lungs ran out of air, and a burning sensation had begun in her limbs but still she couldn't stop.
Clutching into her heavy skirt that was embroidded with silk threads and made with great works, she kept running. But the heavy lehenga combined with the jewelries were only making it harder for her.
She stopped for a moment as she realised the change in her surroundings. She wasn't running in that narrow road anymore. She was in the middle of a street that had the woods on either sides. She hadn't even realised when she had entered the woods.
She lifted her leg to continue running but her leg stood frozen in place, unable to move. Dread filled her as she turned her head to the side hearing the sound of a car! They were here! Her vision began to blur even more as nausea struck her. The world around her moved in circles as the sound of a horn rang in her ears.
Beep!
But she stood there frozen on the spot as she held up her arm to cover eyes from the blinding lights of the car's headlights. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, her head throbbing in pain as she tried to not give up the fight.
Was her effort going to go down the drain now? Had they found her?
As she laid there on the ground, the car that had come to a halt beeped it's horn once again and then she heard the sound of a door being shut. She tried to look up to see what was happening but her body wouldn't move an inch.
"Excuse me?" Came a manly voice from beside and she looked at him. He had long hair and was wearing a black suit. His facial features and everything else had not even registered in her brain as he seemed like a blurred image. "Are you okay? Can you get up?"
