Lied to

Chapter One

Sarah Mohan, 17,  saw her husband to be, Anil Singh,19, for the first time at their wedding since both of their parents agreed for them to have an arranged marriage. She was not physically attracted to Anil. The thought of being intimate with him made her stomach turn. In her mind she was crying out for an escape and thinking, " oh God no... ewwww... why de hell I have to be marrying this ugly Indian... my parents wicked too bad... Father God help me..." Anil had a hawk shaped nose, small square head shape, thin lips, almond skin tone and a scrawny frame. On the contrary, Sarah had a cute botton nose, heart shaped face, heart shaped lips, upturned eyes, moderately brown skin complexion and long straight black hair. She wanted to walk away from this madness but if she did her true lover would be killed. Her family knew people so she would have been found in no time so eloping was not an option. She knew that at some points in her marriage, she would sneak off to see him. A few days before the wedding she was intimate with her true lover so there was a high chance of her becoming pregnant with his child. She would pretend that the child would be Anil's seeing that his mother had curly hair. On the wedding night, Anil and Sarah went to live in the house their parents built for them which was quite comfortable. Every time Anil moved closer to Sarah she stepped back, secretly scorning him hoping he would make no sexual advances. Unfortunately for Sarah, Anil overpowered her and raped her that night and many other nights. Sarah always refused to have sex with Anil. She went to bed in tears after being overpowered and raped. Many times, she ran away but was always found in her true lover's house only to be brought back to Anil who physically and emotionally abused her. After three months of being married,  Anil noticed Sarah was vomiting, always tired and had food cravings  but he still beat her. When Sarah's father, Samaroo learnt he laid his hands on Sarah, he came to their house and beat him until his two eyes became black and his body was in agonizing pain. He threatened to kill Anil if he ever beat her again. Samaroo remembered how he beat his wife,Vishana, so badly that she almost died and didn't want the same to happen to his daughter. From that day onward, Anil used his words to hurt Sarah seeing that he didn't want to die.
When Sarah was six months pregnant, she pleaded with her parents to keep her until she gave birth but Samaroo had other plans. Samaroo asked a few of Sarah's neighbours to eavesdrop so they can report to him about what goes on in the home. Samaroo showed up to Anil with a machete threatening to end Anil's life if he didn't treat his daughter right. Anil was no match for Samaroo since he was scrawny and Samaroo was strong and quite muscular. Samaroo and his wife knew of a midwife , Sati, who would deliver their grandchild so they planned everything.  During the rest of the pregnancy, the neighbour's kept their eyes and ears open to what happened between Anil and Sarah.

On November 6th, 1996, the midwife delivered a baby girl called Aliyah Singh to Anil and Sarah. Sarah knew deep down that Aliyah belonged to her lover but she didn't disclose that information to anyone. She promised herself that she would tell Aliyah on her death bed. Aliyah was a bald baby girl whose skin complexion was darker than anticipated so from then on she was labeled the Blackie in the family.