A trafficked girl.
A monster in the dark.
A tortured soul.
A woman's might.
A desperate struggle against the oldest sin in the history of mankind!
""I changed that day. The old Vijaya died, in its place an ugly creature reared its head which cleaned...
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I slept fitfully, swinging between violent dreams of men fighting to their death; to my mother packing my bag while a teenaged me pleaded with her to let me stay. The muddled state of my mind made me relive the agony I had felt over a decade ago.
I was scared, vulnerable and beyond everything, hurt.
Please, I don't want to feel this way. Please!
"Mr. Kaushik, please wake up. Sir, are you alright?" A panicked female voice penetrated my subconscious to draw me out of my misery. Soon, a touch joined it. Someone was shaking me. it was my abhorrence of touch that did it. I woke up with a start.
The worried face of an air hostess swam in front of my confused gaze. My mind snapped back into reality. I was on board the flight to India. After more than a decade later.
"Sir, are you alright? Do you need anything? Water? Medical assistance?" Her perfectly made up face was concerned. But her gaze was roaming all over my face, in scrutiny, in admiration.'
Oh, hell!
I sat up straight to gather myself.
"No, no. I am alright. I am okay. Just get me a glass of water, please."
"Yes, sure. I will get that right away."
The worried look had dissipated from her face and she smiled.d
As she turned to leave, I asked, "How long till we land?" She smiled sweetly, "Just one more hour Mr. Kaushik".
I settled back onto my plush seat. Just one more hour till the nightmare starts.
I was lucky, it took only forty-five minutes in the immigration. By the time I came out of the airport to the country of my birth, it was almost midnight.
The heat and humidity in the air acted like a wakeup call. If I needed any more reminders that I wasn't in UK anymore, the men with garlands in their arms sitting on two Jeeps occupying the space in front of the Arrivals did that. I sighed. My family's hired goons, or for a better word, bodyguards. I should have expected this.
The men all sauntered forward. Before I could react, they had the garlands around my neck and a loud cheering was going on, which attracted the passer-byes. Their smirks were humiliation enough.
"Uh, guys." I tried to make myself heard over the din. "That is enough now. Please stop this. You all are a little excitable. I don't want to cause trouble with the security here."
A young lad who looked like the leader of this small gathering puffed up his chest.
"Who would dare to cause trouble for a Kaushik?" He proclaimed loudly, for everyone to hear. "This city runs on our money."
That's it. It was too much. the last thing I wanted was to draw attention to myself.
I grabbed my luggage and started walking towards the cabs on rent; but was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I stilled and turned towards the offending person.
