AN UNEXPECTED EVIL

CH-7

Raj, wake up

This was the first thing he heard the next morning.

 He was an early riser. But, today, he was asleep till 10 in the morning. Saavi was waking him up. "What's wrong with you, Saavi? Let me sleep!", he growled. "It's 10 o'clock, Raj! Wake up!", she barked. He sat on his bed, rubbing his sleepy and heavy eyes and was looking at the clock. 

"Good to see that you actually woke up. You were sleeping so soundly", she said laughing because she had never seen his brother waking up so late. "You were sleeping so soundly", she continued, " as if- as if- (giggling)- as if someone gave you sleep pills!". Then, she burst out laughing.

This made Raj remember about the last terrible night. He chose not to share laughter with his sister. He remained silent. Indeed, this was not a matter to laugh about. "What are you two joking about? Me?", said Santosh who just entered Raj's room with her broom, which indicated that she had to clean the room. "Of course not! I was joking about Raj's new sleeping schedule.", Saavi said in a sarcastic tone and then she left the room.

He got up and went to clean himself. 

It was four in the evening. Santosh was watching T.V with Saavi. Preeti was doing some household chores. Harshvardhan was not at home. Raj was taking a walk in the house. That's when he came to the living room where he saw Santosh watching T.V. But this time, he noticed what was ON TV. 

His eyes went on the TV screen. It was the regular serial about domestic violence against housewives. In that particular scene of the serial, there was a drunkard man. He was moving closer to his wife who seemed to be scared. He had a stick and started to beat his wife. The wife was screaming, but her screams had no projection to the man's soul. He was doing everything absent mindedly as he had no senses. This made Raj sadder. He was re-living that moment again.

While no one had noticed Raj standing there, Santosh did! She took him to the corner. "Raj, you look terrible. What's the matter?", she asked. His eyes were still swollen."Oh! That's nothing.", he said, wiping the teardrops. 

Santosh was annoying now. She kept on asking Raj about the reason of his grief. At last, he told her everything. 

Santosh had the same reaction as Sonia. "It can't be true.", she said, not believing Raj. "Believe it or not.... it is the reality.", he said, his face hung low. She was also taken aback.