The Fallen Widow

20. Dawn Breaks

Golden orange rays broke the night away and the rain finally stopped. The saturated ground told the story of the night before; today would change the fate of Meh'r-Bano. With a heavy head and blurry eyes, she twisted her body in a strange bed. The silk sheets, the firm mattress felt luxurious but strange. As she opened her eyes at three strange women who looked down at her. Where am I? Her head was pounding as she rubbed her forehead. The  pillows were soft like a bed of feathers. It was too comfortable. How did she come to this strange place? Her ankle shot pain through her leg; she hissed but it passed. What's going on?

As she sat up, her bouncy auburn hair fell around her shoulders and back. The clothes; loose beige kameez, these weren't her clothes. A young woman made her way towards her and offered her a glass of water.
"Where am I?"
Silenced ensued. She looked at the tiled floor, where were her sandals? She tried to jog her memory but it was pitch black. Nothing.
"Can someone tell me, where am I?" Her tone urgent with anger.
"You are in Manghal Haveli." The tall woman at the back smirked. "You have been here all night; in Choudhary Shah Nawaz's bed."
The woman's tone was harsh like she threw a stone at her forehead. Meh'r-Bano shook her head. This wasn't right. She flicked the blanket away. She sat up in a panic and looked around the room. Why was she here? She searched her memory for an answer but there was blur. Nothing. No memory. Nothing. How was it possible?
"What happened to me?" She asked the woman.

The woman snorted and looked down her nose at Meh'r-Bano. They watched her and judged her with their narrow eyes. Meh'r-Bano wasn't the usual women who decorated Shah Nawaz's bed; she wasn't a dancer, a city girl or a foreigner. She was a simple, married woman from Chiragpur; one of their own. This was a scandal beyond the world's imagination. After tonight, she could no longer live in Jahanpur, once words spread she would be ousted from the Jahanpur.

"I need to go- I need to go home." She looked around for her slippers, her shawl, for anything- she had nothing, not even the clothes she came in. But how did she come here? Where was she? Nothing made sense. Who undressed her?

"I need sandals- I need a shawl." She ordered the maids who stood around watching her like a museum exhibit.

"Hurry! I have to leave!!

Veiled in a black shawl, Meh'r-Bano sneaked out of the haveli like a thief. She rushed out of the gate and once she was on the road she ran. It would be a long walk home. Why was I at Manghal Haveli? With her legs racing, her mind raced back through the night. The Darbar! I was at the Darbar, I was eating, praying then I fell asleep. Her legs slowed down as the tractor passed. Yes. I was then called in to pray and read with Peer Saab. She recalled the strong smell of incense. After those moment her brain shut down. Nothing. Then she woke at the haveli in Shah Nawaz's bed.

After a long forty minute walk, Meh'r-Bano went to her best friends mud house to make sense of her everything. She rapped on the wooden door where a child opened the door and let her in. Inside the raw mud huts she found Kalsoom brushing the courtyard with her dupatta tied around her forehead like a headband. Her sleeves rolled to her elbows, she smiled when she saw Meh'r-Bano approach, but then her smile melted.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Kalsoom. She'd bid Meh'r-Bano farewell on her spiritual journey. Why was she here dressed in strange clothes and her face veiled?

"I'm going mad Kalsoom." Meh'r-Bano eyes were bubbling with tears. "My brain has drawn a blank and I can't remember anything. I'm scared."

Kalsoom took Meh'r-Bano inside her hut and shut the door for privacy. Kalsoom's heart pounded with fear; did it happen to her?
"Here take this."
Meh'r-Bano's hand trembled as she held the glass of water to her lips. Her mouth was dry and throat parched.
"All I remember-" Meh'r-Bano gasped through her breaths as she took large sips.
"Calm down." Kalsoom held her- her arm around her shoulder. Fear spread through Kalsoom as she looked at her neck for bite marks like she once suffered.
"One minute I'm falling asleep in the darbar- the next-" Meh'r-Bano froze. She couldn't utter the words; it was a sin to mention it. Kalsoom stared at her moist lips.
"What?"
"I don't know how to tell you- I promise you-"
"It's me Meh'r-Bano, your friend. Trust me."
Covering her face with her hands, she sobbed. "Manghal Haveli- in his bed."
Kalsoom comforted Meh'r-Bano as she cried against her shoulder.