The wilted flower

Looking out through the window, watching the entire city come to a halt, brought back vivid memories from that fateful day. It was the 31st of July. The incidents of that day raced through my mind, and just the thought of it, gave me goose bumps. 

The day dawned like any other day, bright and sunny. 

I counted as the cars that sped by. The Earth is really getting crowded of late. The amount of traffic on the roads made me wish I had wings. The sound of honking filled the air. I somehow wanted to get away from all this madness. I took a left from the main road, and made my way down the deserted alley, happy to be on my own. I glanced at my new FastTrack watch, which my parents had gifted me for my birthday last week. It had a white strap with a head shaped like a rhombus. Pretty funky! So engrossed was I in my thoughts, that I failed to notice a group of gruff looking men drinking merrily in a van, ahead of me. My short moment of peace was broken by a shrill whistle.

" Hey beautiful! Where are you off to? "

My heart skipped a beat. I could sense little droplets of sweat drip down my brow. I was too scared to lift my head up and face the tormentors. I quickened my pace, and just when I thought I had slipped past them, I felt a strong arm grab my hand. I tried to wriggle free off their iron grip, but the ruffian was too strong. I broke down and pleaded with them to let me go, but to no avail. Next, I tried screaming for help, but all my cries were drowned in the mid day scramble of cars honking and people screaming and what not. Finally I resorted to the only thing that came into my mind, something I did when I fought with my younger brother. I bit his hand with all the power I could muster. The molester screamed in pain and let go of me. Little did I know that my desperate attempts to free myself from their vile clutches would only enrage and aggravate them more. 

I had just taken two steps towards my supposed escape, when in my hurry, I tripped and fell flat on the ground. I felt someone grab me and lift me up. The next moment, I found myself in one corner of the van with all the hooligans grinning above me. Life could never have treated me worse.Thoughts of my parents and my little brother floated around in my mind. I somehow got a gut feeling that I would never see them again. For a moment, I was about to give in to my fate.

I will not die without trying! I decided then and there that I will give my best shot. I started kicking and thrashing about in my seat with my new found adrenaline rush. My captors tried to pacify me to no avail. I wouldn't sit still. Amidst all this commotion, I managed to reach out my hand and catch hold of the door handle. I used all of my remaining strength and will power to pull the door open. I saw a few people around and I screamed my lungs off. I could actually feel the rush of air through my lungs. But the response I got drained all my energy. The people around just stood and stared. No one came forward to help me. Perhaps they were scared. Probably, they didnt want to mess up their peaceful life trying to save some unknown girl. Whatsoever, all hope was lost. All of a sudden, I felt a thud on the back of my head and then it was total black out.

My head felt light and cold. In fact, I was feeling very cold all over. I ran my fingers through my hair, which was all wet. I froze when I saw my hand. It was covered in blood. It was only then that I realized that there was water all around me. I was lying all caught up in a tangle of sea weeds with mud and dirt all over my body. I noticed my dress was all torn off and that was why I was feeling the cold so intensely. I didn't know what to do, and I just lay there huddled up, crying. I couldn't find anyone around me. I tried to get onto my feet, but my legs hurt real bad. I dragged myself to the shore and looked around for anything recognizable.

All of a sudden, a girl my age came out of the nearby woods. Her clothes were all tattered and torn. To say the truth, her situation didn't seem any different from that of mine. She had some clothes in her hand. She came over to my side and handed them over to me without a word. I felt really relieved and took the clothes from her and covered myself up. I tried asking her some questions, her name, whereabouts etc. She just told her name was Ramya and she has been around this place for around 8 months. There was something missing somewhere and I didn't feel really comfortable around her.

" Come with me.."

Ramya beckoned me to follow her. I obeyed without a word. She took me through the woods to another side of the lake, which was not visible from the place where I woke up from my trance. I could hear the sound of people talking among themselves in hushed tones. The air seemed to be filled with a sickly kind of excitement. We moved in closer to the crowd. I was feeling pretty embarrassed because of my shabby appearance, but no one seemed to notice us. They seemed to be completely drawn in by something on the ground ahead. We pushed our way through to check what the commotion was all about. I could see someone lying on the sand though I couldn't make out who exactly because of the crowd. I put my head through the only gap I found and looked down.

A girl lay on the sand, clothes all torn, sporting a white FastTrack watch on her hand.

I turned around shocked, not believing what my eyes just saw. I looked at Ramya and she stared back calmly.

" I am sorry dear...you are just another victim like me, all thanks to the atrocities of this filthy world! "

I stood stone faced, as the crowd closed in on the lifeless corpse, another flower wilted, lost forever within the realms of Mother Earth.