UN-RAVEL : The inner strength.....

UN-RAVEL 25.... NEW DAWN....

Back in room Zamira gets into washroom and repeatedly sprinkles water on her face. She looks at her reflection in the mirror and takes deep breaths so that she could come in terms with her actions. "Yes.... Yes.... I am.... I am going to tell him. I am going to. Everything. Every goddamn thing." She repeats as she tries to think what she would tell him and how. Though there was no clear starting and lots of parts of her story were blur but she figured out her words anyhow.

An hour later when she closes the knob of the washroom and turns around she jumps at her place as her breath hitches in her mouth, "What the hell?" She shouts.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you Zu." Manik states carefully.

"It's okay. Just that I didn't expect you in here."

"Ya. But what you said earlier." Zamira nods her head, "We have two hours before anyone will come looking for us. So I want to talk."

"Alright. But what about Ivaan."

"I asked him to not come."

"But we can't talk here."

"Ya. I got that part."

"Did someone see you coming here."

"Nope."

"Impossible."

"Well, it is possible if I didn't use the door to get in." He says pointing at the door of the room in a but obvious manner confusing Zamira.

"How did you come in then?" She asks surprised.

"Come along. I will show you."

Zamira dropping her towel on bed takes Manik's offered hand in her and they walk down the lower cabinet of her room where mostly her books, electronics and other stuff was kept. Manik pulls out few books and drags the window besides it making Zamira open her eyes wide. "22#ZU_1 is the password." Zamira nods and says no word. The book rack opens upto a huge iron vault which has a fingerprint and iris scanner. Zamira sighs seeing the door open and as they walk in, it closes behind them. She enters an underground dark arena. A huge place as huge as the house above her. Every single footstep in that place echoed. The walls had torn off paint and the place felt extra chilled. The darkness, cold, silence is horrifying and damping at the same time. Zamira could feel herself gulp as Manik took her to a far away bench and they sat at an arms length.

The next few minutes were filled with silence no word left Zamira's mouth and though Manik was tempted to question he pushed away the urge seeing nervousness run on Zamira's face. A part of her knew once the words leave her mouth there would be no going back. She had weighed this moment since a long time and always had happened to have a pessimistic approach towards it but her mother confining with her father had set her to think differently but that didn't change the fact that she could hear her own heartbeat as her hands shivered and forehead had sweat laced on it.

"It all began two months ago." She turns to look at her father who was keenly listening but at the very moment she could feel her eyes threaten with tears, so she looked down at her lap but continued neverthless, "Mumma was behaving weird and I had figured out why. It was because she felt unsafe at our place even I could sense it. We both had this strange feeling that someone was stalking us. Our every move." She couldn't help gulping at the memory as it scared her to the core, "Mumma decided that we would go back to India. Then a week before we had to go on the night of my last school day some people barged in our house. They.... They were covered in masks, wearing all black from head to toe. It didn't take them long to corner us." The dark night had happened in seconds as she recalls it but that night seemed to have been the longest of her life when she had actually lived it. Telling about it felt like few seconds and so did recollecting but living it was a completely different story. Zamira feels Manik's hand tighten around her as he assures her to continue, though there was a lingering fear of what this story will lead to in his heart. "They took us deep into the forest from our house's back door to an isolated place they handcuffed me and left me into a room and took mom with them. That night was horrible I dreaded every second of it. Eventually during middle of night." Zamira clutches Manik's hand tightly as she bursts into tears remembering that moment, she vailed loudly as her insides pained remembering the very moment. For the first time she made no effort to stop her cries. Manik looked at her motionless because a part of him knew whatever was coming next wouldn't let him live in peace with himself ever again. A part of him didn't want to hear more while as knowing the pain your wife and daughter had gone through behind your back wasn't easy to digest or live with. He couldn't move or console Zamira and maybe it was better that way. Zamira cupped her face trying to speak through her muffled tone, then came the words enough to tear both of them apart, "Mumma was beaten. She was almost unconscious. She couldn't even stand by herself." The laser sharp pain that Zamira had felt while seeing her mother's condition had hit her again paining her heart. Wiping her tears off she speaks as well as she could trying to have a non shaky voice, "I swear I swear I tried.... I tried a lot to wake her up but she didn't wake up that night. Neither the next morning but when she did I didn't know what to do. I thought that was it but then it became continuous with both mumma and me. They use to beat us to pulp till we fell unconscious and then we wouldn't wake up for days and once we did they would again beat us. It kept happening for days and days. They use to come and beat us. In starting it use to pain alot but then after a while it started feeling numb but still pained alot. Sometimes I use to wake up at night screaming out of pain. I started having nightmares about mumma and me in that room where they use to hit us so bad and then panic attacks. As if fear had made a home within me. My mind didn't use to work and all the time my body felt so sour. I had wished to die at that time and may nothing would have pleased me more. I saw mumma day and night suffering and it just added more to my miseries. Everything felt hopeless as if years will pass by and we will remain stuck in that situation. Sometimes even tears use to fall short. Most of the time during that two months passed by with us being unconscious only." Zamira roughly wipes her face and looks at Manik, from the look on his face she could tell that he was numb. She could sense him feel the pain and it devastated her even more so she inched closer to him and he looked in her eyes which were red because of the effort it took to keep the tears at bay.