Liberation: Oscar's Story

Chapter 14: Pt. 1

WARNING: 

This chapter features parental abuse. Asterisks have been placed to skip the scene

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Ananya sat silently in her bedroom. The door was locked. She could hear the TV playing in the living room. No doubt her uncle was watching football, enjoying the few minutes that he could watch the game without his wife breathing down his neck. Ananya envied him.

She watched her aunt rummage through her dresser, tossing clothes that she disapproved of on the ground. A few whimpers left Ananya's dry lips when she saw her favorite dresses being thrown, but she said nothing, knowing that if she opened her mouth, she'd be beaten again.

***

Like a complacent child, she sat in her underwear on her bed, absently tracing the scars on her thighs and stomach. Some of them were old, from forgotten surgeries with ridiculously long names. Some of them were fresh, like the nail bites she'd received when her aunt dragged her home, or the lashes on her stomach from the belt her aunt had snatched from her uncle. Ananya could no longer feel the pain. Her body had seemed to grow resistant to the slap of leather, but she wasn't about to reveal her discovery aloud, for fear her aunt would find a new weapon to use against her.

"What kind of clothes have you been wearing, Ananya?" Rutuparna snapped. She tore a blouse and tossed it on the ground, her gold bangles shaking. "Did I raise you this way? Where are your long sleeves? Why are there leggings here? Leggings are not for modest women!"

"I'm sorry, Mausi," Ananya mumbled. "I'll put them away."

"You will sell these garments immediately. I don't want to see them again." Rutuparna tossed more of Ananya's clothes on the floor, muttering under her breath and clicking her tongue. "What a disgrace. Are you trying to become like your cousin? Do you want to become like Ai-Lee?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then what should we do so that you don't become like her?"

"We...we should listen to Mausi."

"And why is that?" Rutuparna's knuckles dug into her wide hips. "What do we say when someone questions Mausi?"

"Mausi is always right. Mausi loves us. Mausi is trying to keep us safe," Ananya repeated monotonously. She'd been saying the same phrases ever since she was a child when Rutuparna first took her into her home. Ananya wasn't sure if she even understood what she was saying. She just knew what she had to say and when so that she wouldn't incite the wrath of her aunt.

Rutuparna gave her a placid smile. "Good," she said. "Here. You're wearing this now." She slipped the long-sleeved dress over Ananya's crooked frame, her hand gliding over the curve of Ananya's back and her nails gently pinching the scars on the girl's body. "We must hide these, no? We don't want people to say anything now, do we?"

"No, Mausi," Ananya responded, obediently lifting her arms so that the dress would slide easily over her body. She couldn't lift them too high, though, as the tight tendons of her elbows resisted and caused her shoulders to resist.

Rutuparna scowled and pulled Ananya's arms higher than she could normally do. The young girl winced, biting her lip to resist yelping, but Rutuparna did nothing to ease her pain. "To be beautiful, one must suffer," she told Ananya, tapping the girl's cheek gently and removing her hand from her niece's wrists. "You understand why I do this to you, right, Ananya? You know how fragile and helpless you are. It's not right to force yourself to take care of yourself. Just let Mausi do it for you."