The Bride

Part 4 Killed

khushi has never missed her parents as she  missed them in past few days .it has been just few weeks but she felt like eternity has passed.

mother has  advised her to be a good girl  and do as told by her in laws she has done accordingly  or atleast to the  extend she was capable of . she had tried cooking whatever she knew , in the process she cut her fingers a few times or end up burning them a little accidentally . she had cried but no one came to sooth  her pain like her mother used to do, instead all she got is taunt to her and her  mother not teaching her anything .

Patience has never been her biggest virtue so she gave back as good as she got . she quarrelled back and tried to explain how small she is and how big works are to much for her small hands.

pooja had manged to save her from devyani's wrath a few times citing her childish behaviour as the reason but one day when she had broken her twelfth earthen port which was too heavy for her to carry  filled with water from well, which  was around two kilometres away from home. All hell had broken lose that day . devyani had been so angry at her . she even slapped her twice and had locked her in small room covered in darkness . she had cried and pleaded to get her out but no one listened to her . she saw everyone ignore her pleas when dadi had dragged her there .

she was a brave kid ,never afraid of anything in her life .but that day with her cries, part of her soul had broken down. she prayed to let her mother and father come to save her but no one came .

she had banged on the door continuously , she  screamed her husband's name  to  help her out which only ended in extending hours of her punishment as she once again broke the rule of a daughter in law to not to call her husband's name . why nobody understood that she was a kid and most of all she was human being who can make mistakes , who will take time to learn, to adjust ,why no one saw those burn marks on her skin, those cuts on her fingers.  why her mother has sent her to such evil people .why her husband who was suppose to be god didn't came to help her. why only  she is being treated like this . is she wrong on raising her voice to things that  she found wrong or to reject the work she knew she cant do.

no one came! no one! ,she cried the whole day  and slept   empty stomach .

she remembered how her mother said that now her husband was her everything. how he will protect her , give her name . the next morning when dadi has let her out with a firm warning , she just followed her orders mechanically. she had tried to tell arnav how hurt she is  and to tell him to protect her from such torture as it is his duty but he had ignored her pleading eyes , didn't listened to her .  she had felt helpless and angry at his behaviour .

he had went to give his  exam when  veil from face  fell of accidentally in front of dadaji  which has resulted in another punishment  .she might have been mischievous but had never done anything to deserve such cruelty from anyone. the sticks that has landed on her back with much force with increasing frequency while she had just laid on the floor folded like baby crying . she had sobbed and no one came to put her on their laps to tell her that everything will be ok that they will stop them from hurting her, no one.

she was coming from the well when she saw him looking at her with something akin to sympathy  but all she felt within her is the anger .she has ignored him. if he didn't care for her neither would she . he didn't wanted to see her face so be it . she didn't want to see him either . her childish ego has cut all ties of  friendship with him if there ever was those ties. when he had declared that he was going to delhi for few weeks till his exam finishes , she had cared less . his existence didn't matter  because she is alone.

she  now stood helping pooja make lunch. she stood their all attentive to learn  to make  the dish she was preparing . khushi is  a survivor and competitive if someone said to her she cant do it, she will put her best to prove them wrong . she took deep breaths to control those horrible memories of past  to haunt her.