When You Least Expect It!

You're fucking mine...

Kabir looked at a worn out Avani curled up on his bed. Kaveri sat beside her, who has stopped crying since she came from Mithila's room.

Avani sobbed for almost an hour after he brought her to his room. There was no use in asking her about the horrible incident that happened in front of them, or something terrifying that must have happened in the past.

It wasn't the right time. They would have to wait. Avani was exhausted with all of these, the exhaustion drained her completely. She fell asleep as the tears reduced a little.

It was hurting him to see her like that. But there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even start with Mithila's state. The girl was a closed book, only Kunvar could read. But today even he was lost.

"Bhabhi you should sleep too." Kabir said looking at a motionless Kaveri, completely void of any emotion. She kept looking at Avani, without actually looking at her.

"No Kabir, I don't want to. We should go downstairs. She is asleep now." Kaveri said and left the room slowly closing the door behind her.

Kabir covered Avani with a blanket. All her liveliness was gone. He kissed her temple softly and left the room keeping the light on, just in case she wakes up. He didn't want her to get scared in the dark. He kept the door ajar.

Once downstairs Kabir saw Samar and dadaji sitting on the sofa. Lata aunty sitting on one of the dining table chair. Kaveri in the nearby cushioned chair sitting and hugging her knees.

Nobody was saying anything. What would they. It was something they have never seen or expected. All kinds of wheels were churning in their heads. They couldn't even call her parents. It was in the dead of night. They were miles away from her. There was no point in worrying them now.

Kabir was thinking it had something to do with her father for sure. Domestic abuse did that to you. But why was she jerking away from everyone? There was something seriously wrong with her.

"She didn't fell off the stairs, did she?" Dadaji asked suddenly.

Samar and Kaveri looked at him and then at each other. That's what she told them. Kabir looked uncomfortable. Dadaji looked at all of them. Once he saw Kabir avoiding their eyes, he knew Kabir was not telling something.

But he didn't press the issue.

"Dadaji you should sleep." Samar suggested. "And Lata Aunty you can sleep in our room." He said looking at at her. "It's quite late. And I think she might be asleep now. We will talk in the morning." Samar was worried about them.

"No Samar, I have seen a lot of bad things in my life, but seeing that girl, sitting there with lifeless eyes, crying silently, her screams..." Dadaji closed his eyes. A lone tear escaped from Kaveri's eyes. Dadaji shook his head. "I will never be able to forget that. Knowing that she has gone through something that horrible, which made her like this, make me question the whole humanity."
He took a deep breath, "I will not be able to sleep even if I tried."

This was the same case with everyone.
They had a long night ahead.

Kunvar saw a drained out Mithila sleeping holding his hand. He softly kissed her hand. He wanted to take her out from under the bed and put her on it. But she might wake up and he didn't know how she will act.

He kept looking at her thinking all the possible scenarios of what must have happened. Sleep was long gone by now.

(Next morning)

Everyone gathered in the hall after freshing up except Mithila and Kunvar. Avani was also there. She was much better than yesterday. But she still didn't say anything. Nobody tried to push her.