(A/N: Here's the epilogue finally. But in my defense, I am a college student in a highly intensive college, and it does leave me with much at the end of the day :p)
It wasn't every day that Shreya got up early morning just to put on herself the ceremonial yellow paste, ubtan, and wash with milk, only for her mother to decorate her like an expensive bouquet of flowers and gold.
No, it didn't happen every day. But today wasn't every day either. After all, today was one of her marriage ceremonies. One of the many marriage ceremonies.
today marked exactly a year of his death. it didn't feel like a long time to her. it seemed as though it was only yesterday that she was waiting for him in the safety of the army camp, with her family who had arrived safely to her just as he had promised. It was then that the bodies were brought.
she could still remember the numbness that spread through her skull when she saw his uniform, the one she had loved on him. she could remember her breathe hitching and her heart almost stopping. before she could stop herself she had already run to it and flung herself on it. she could remember the shrill wail that spread the camp only to recognize it as her own voice, the cries that escaped her as she called out to him. But unlike the other times, he didn't budge.
She had once expected her family to be furious upon finding out the forbidden feelings she had harbored for this man. but she could only see pity in their eyes. pity as she sobbed for the death of her beloved, sympathy as her brother wrapped her in his arms.
then they took him away.
many were killed, but the casualties were way lesser than what would have been incurred if the army hadn't acted. all the soldiers that were killed were saluted and respected, funds were given to their families, the ones who had survived were promoted. but the name of major Zaheer Khan was heard nowhere. his body had disappeared along with all traces of his existence.
She could hear the muted chatter, the beats of Kashmiri wedding songs, the laughter as she stared into oblivion. not caring what was happening.
her mother laughed as her aunt said something, as she shook her.
"our Shreya will now be a rich girl, she will live in Delhi!" she said as the rest of the party giggled along with her and her mother laughed again, concentrating on the henna patterns she was making on her hand.
"your Sahiba is also very handsome, I wish I also had a man like him!" one of her cousins said as everyone laughed again.
'you take him then..' she wanted to say, but then she felt it would all be so pointless. Zaheer wasn't coming back, and her brother, Aman, needed this man's help to go and study in Delhi. it was then she heard a neighbor say,
"did you know? Zaheer's father came back yesterday, along with a man. they went straight to his house to fetch his brother, but that crazy won't go anywhere!"
her head snapped to the woman as her mother chided her
"keep quiet Shabana!" she said but Shreya had already got up walked out of the room. she heard many call her from behind, and her mother shouted at her but she walked out of the house, barefoot. it wasn't a long trek to Zaheer's house, she was astonished that he lived so nearby all this time.
as she looked at the faded walls of the house that he once lived in, the feelings that she had long been trying to suppress welled up again. she had not been entirely honest with herself since his death, even almost two minutes ago, she had convinced herself that she had forgotten him and could marry another man and live with him for the rest of her life for the sake of her brother. she couldn't.
YOU ARE READING
Kashmiri lullaby
Short Story*a completed story* "The strangest thing about this strange journey is that it began with a word" Zaheer Azhar is a young army general in the valley of Kashmir. Though called a heaven on earth, this valley has become a hell for those who live in it...
