Saving You

21.

Shradha stood on the porch of the safety manor house where she'd grown up on the outskirts of the city. The sheer white walls stretched above her, leaving her more lonely than she had ever been. The pillars on either side of her seemed like a cage that was trapping her in.

Raindrops fell down, leaving the pavement muddy and wet. She took a step forward, stepping out of her shoes, before climbing up the stairs to her home.

Home. That felt weird to say.

She had finished college and was back after four years. She hadn’t looked back when she’d left this place. Hadn’t wanted to look back. She was a prisoner here and returning felt like putting the shackles back on. She sobbed histerically into the arms of the only friend she was allowed to have. She didn't want to leave her, but Shradha knew that her duty as a friend was done. Her father might have paid the girl as well.

Still it broke Shradha's heart to leave the only friend she ever made. But her whole life had been a series of letting go.

When the guard opened the door, she immediately felt like running away back. This house horrified her. It contained parts and bits of her life that she feared the most. And it also contained people that hurt her the most.

Shradha found her mother standing right in the front, with a smile that she  was uneasy about. But still when the woman opened her arms wide open, inviting her for a hug, Shradha jumped in. It was flesh and blood, and it was her mother, no matter what she had done to her.

"Look at you, all grown."

"How are you Ma?" Shradha asked pulling away but the woman only passed her a knowing look.

"You know how I am in this place Shradha. Go meet your father before he gets into a bad mood." With that her mother urged her into her father's study like she wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Inside,two men sat by the fire with a bottle of port between them on the coffee table. Shradha's heart started beating harder at the sight of them. One was her father, and the other older man was her worst nightmare.

As soon as he saw her, his dirty eyes scanned her like a hawk while he smiled wickedly at her. She stared at her father in horror while he nodded at her.

"Shradha, the time has come."

She didn't pay attention to what else he said. All she heard was, "Mr.Kapoor has come to take his part of the deal."

Shradha opened her eyes wide, breathing heavily at the dream she just had. Immediately a hand wrapped around her, holding her down.  She did not know for how long she stayed there in the arms of her husband, but thoughts of her final day in her house were finally leaving her.

Her mind cleared up and she relaxed. Only then had he let her go out of his grasp. She rolled to the other side, turning her back to him, while pulling the blankets up to cover her naked frame. Tears sprung down her eyes, and she refused to cry for something that had already happened.

But the pain of betrayal still haunted her to this day.

Even after her parents' death, it stayed with her. She refused to attend their funeral but for her mother, she went. But she couldn't see their lifeless bodies without having to relive the misery she went through them every single day in that house. So she turned away and let her husband handle the formalities.

And indeed he did.

"I want to meet my mother." She asked still not facing him but she knew he was awake and staring at the ceiling like he always did.