Crudêl (Adjective)
being without mercy or compassion; having no emotions or regard for others
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Staring against the plain, stark white wall she didn't blink. Her eyes were painfully open, they had to be red with veins visible but she couldn't close them. Her breaths were too slow, the heart couldn't be felt if she touched her left chest.
The door blasted open but she didn't flinch as the person stormed inside.
"Get up"
Her brain ignored the commanding voice but her gaze followed the younger girl's angry steps to her closet.
"Get up Mahira." The cold voice made her flinch or was it cold wind slicing through her skin? "If you don't stand up right this second, what happens next to you will be your fault entirely."
Mahira blinked hard. Placing her palms on the floor, she winced, her bruised fingers were covered in dried blood from the past hours. Ignoring her external wound she tried moving her sore muscles, being seating against the study desk balled up had made her limbs go numb.
The arm yanked her up and she winced at the harshness, struggling against the hold.
"Pack all your things. You're leaving"
"C...cherry?" She snapped towards the girl, eyes blinking in bafflement.
"Not a single word out of your lips in protest. Pack your damn things and I'll make you cross the property. Be quick."
"W...why?" She looked puzzled. She always thought the girl didn't hate her.
Chitra Bose ignored Mahira's existence in their home but today she was pushing her to leave.
"Because you're so fucking gullible that the entire world keeps making decisions for you." Cherry stated with disgust "Today I'm making one for you. You'll leave this place. You'll leave this city and never come back here. You'll break every tie with this family and everything happened here, No contact and Never coming back."
Mahira fervently shook her head, trying to say No but Cherry, her cousin threw an old suitcase on her bed and started filling it with whatever she felt was important.
"Stop wasting time you've got in pity Mahira. Pack and leave before they bring in the police and get you arrested. Mahi these people are heartless, So why don't you save yourself and leave."
Mahira felt suffocated, the pain in her heart seemed unbearable but like a robot, she gave in. Cherry is right, she was gullible and she felt disgusted by herself.
She put everything in her bag in a mere ten minutes. Keeping only the things which were most important, some clothes and all of her documents.
Cherry kept glancing at the door every few minutes but Mahira was far broken to notice the fear on her younger cousin's face, her shivering hands, and her falling mask of coldness.
"Come"
Cherry pulled Mahira out, sweeping the floor carefully before she wheeled the bag as soundlessly as possible. She brought Mahira to the back exit crossing the hallway which opened to the main hall from another end where her dead mother's picture was kept with the garland of dried flowers. People were sitting to pay homage to Mahima Bose but none cared about her daughter, Why will they? No one cared about her existence, consoling her for such a big loss was a far-fetched thought.
It has been just ten hours since she lost her mother and faced all those fake accusations. She couldn't cry for her loss because she felt her eyes empty, she tried hurting herself in search of tears but no moisture could be felt in her eyes. Her mother was declared dead in the hospital and the body was brought back for cremation.
She felt her insides freezing when she was prohibited to see her one last time, she was locked inside and blamed for being the reason for her mother's death.
Her steps faltered but Cherry kept yanking her.
Cherry pushed the small iron gate open and threw her bag before her pushing her towards the road. She fished some cash from her pocket along with the thin gold band snatched from her hours back and shoved it to Mahira.
"You'll get a taxi just round the corner, drive to the Railway station and buy the ticket to the first train you see. Make sure you leave the city in the next hour because that's how long I can hold things here."
Her words made her look up. Hold who? She wanted to ask but the words seemed to fade away from her tongue.
"I mean it Mahira. No fucking contact. Go away and never show your face back here. Go" Cherry pointed her to the turn and slammed the gate closed.
Mahira kept looking at the girl unsurely who stared back at her with unknown emotions. A little commotion inside the house and Cherry's eyes widened but she tried composing her façade.
"Do a favor to yourself and make a life away Mahi. Run far from here."
Her eyes opened and she sat up with a jerk, panting for breath, heart running miles per second. She smoothened her wet t-shirt and wiped the sweat away from her face and neck. She glanced towards the windows which were still dark, she checked the bedside watch which stated it was around 3 at midnight. Her fingers itched to reach for her cellphone, but she gave in and dialed the number her thump scrolled to, robotically.
The phone rang, three rings and she decided to disconnect when the husky voice reached her ears.
"Hey, Dove!"
She bit her lip realizing she is going to worry him calling in his work hours.
"I...I am sorry for calling you. I'll hang up."
"No" his voice stopped her. "Talk to me. Tell me why you're up at this time. It should be around 3 am there. Why are you not sleeping?"
"I couldn't sleep" She murmured in a low voice.
"Nightmare" He concluded "You had it right?"
Mahira swallowed and kept mum, playing with the edges of her t-shirt.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Same as always." she grimaced "I want to distract myself. Tell me anything, Tell me how your work is?"
He sighed "I had this press conference in the next three minutes which is postponed for another fifteen minutes."
"Is it because of me? I shouldn't have called you. I'm sorry Veer. Please go back to work." She rambled almost disconnecting when she heard him calling her.
"No Ira. Don't. It's because of another reason, Not because of you Dove." He stopped her again.
"Oh okay," She muffled a yawn.
"Are you sleepy?" He asked and she hummed in response. "Can you go back to sleep? Do you want to?"
"I have work tomorrow. I should sleep" She murmured sighing. "But I can't sleep alone and I don't want to disturb Sakshi. She must be heavily asleep."
Sakshi was staying today with her. It has been three days since Veer was out of the country and her friends were taking turns staying at her place. Vandita won stone paper and scissors thus she got to live two days with her, now Sakshi moved in till tomorrow when she'll go back to her place for getting ready, Mahira will stay back with Yusra or Vandita whoever comes back early from the event.
They have this much-awaited Bollywood party tomorrow, The actor Shikhar Goyal's birthday bash. Mahira didn't feel like going, there was this weird intuition that this day won't end well for her.
"Why don't you lay down and talk to me? I'll stay online till you sleep." He offers.
Her heart bloomed hearing him, she felt herself falling more in love with this man.
"I love you, Veer," She said "so much"
"I love you too, Dove" He was smiling "Now try sleeping as I try and bore you with my talks. Huh! Dove, such a tough job you are giving me today."
She chuckled and laid back, holding her phone she kept listening to him as he narrated about his surrounding and then about Danish who seemed to turn into Hot wheels as he checked everything for the nth time.
She felt herself smiling and falling into a pit of sleep, her brain playing with his face as his words hung in the air around her. She snuggled into his pillow and heard him mutter "Sleep well Dove. I'm here to chase away any nightmare you will have." at her sleepy humming.
The sunlight and loud knocking kicked her sleep away, she sat back straight and rubbed her eyes to adjust to parted curtains.
"Mahi, Are you up? Come on out we need to leave in the next hour." Sakshi said from behind the door and Mahira felt herself Nodding.
"Coming," she said and opened the gate to show her that she was awake.
"Be quick Girl. We have a long day ahead" Sakshi winked and walked back to her allotted room for today.
Mahira didn't want any of her friends to know about her nightmares, she usually toss and turns in her sleep which will eventually disturb them. She didn't want to be the reason for their interrupted sleep. It was only with Veer that she slept peacefully, held in his arms and feeling secure.
She quickly completed her morning routine and dressed up in her office wear. Also, packing her things for an overnight stay she zipped the duffle bag and brought it to the leaving room. She greeted Geeta who stood near the stove.
She passed Mahira a short smile which was weird because Geeta always was super chatty in the mornings.
"Geeta Di, सब ठिक है? (Everything alright?)" She asked.
Geeta passed her a short nod which wasn't convincing.
Mahira nudged her again and the older woman sighed.
"My daughter has this important entrance exam today which is on another side of Mumbai from where we live. No one is available to take her there and I can't let her go alone. She's just eighteen. I don't know what to do." Geeta filled in.
"Why don't you take her with you?" Mahi suggested.
"I? How can I? Sir told me to not leave you here alone." Geeta sounded horrified at the thought.
Mahira groaned but composed herself "di, I'm going with Sakshi. I'm not alone. You can take the day off too"
"What about that Little dog? Who'll care for him?" Geeta countered.
"I'll take him with me. It's just one day. I'll manage." Mahira said thoughtfully.
"We are taking whom? Please tell me it's my favorite Jimmy" Sakshi asked walking towards them.
Ma chuckled nodding "Yes, It's our little boy. Will it be okay if I keep him with me today?"
"It is more than okay. What better than a little puppy to play with."
Sakshi wasn't joking when she said she'll be playing with Jimmy to pass all her free time, She had dropped by Mahira's cabin now and then to carry the adorable pup out or just to give him a belly rub which he seemed to be loving.
Not just her, but others who weren't at the venue stopped by her desk to check out the little fur ball even when he fell asleep in its basket. This led to Mahira's distraction which ended with hardly anything done on her to-do list.
"O! Enough of your lunch break extension. Back to work and let me work too" She commanded the group who played with Jim-jam right outside her cabin.
Collective voices in protest didn't make her drop her stern face.
"Pass him to me" She demanded and Kabir passed him to her with a pout. "Off to work now and none of you are to come back here. Forget he exists"
"Okay boss," They said and strutted back to their workstation.
"You little man you seem to love attention, don't you?" She cooed him and he snuggled near her bosom. She smiled at his antics and placed with down earning a growl in protest. "I have a lot of work darling. I'll play with you after this okay?"
He whined but balled in his blanket, chewing on a toy.
Getting back to her desk, she was diving into her piles of work files when her door opened.
"What now?" she snapped without looking up, followed by shooting a glare at the person.
"O! Calm down girl." Vandita raised her hands in surrender "I'm here to ask you to come home with me, I'll get dressed for the party and you can stay there till I wrap Goyal and come back. What say?"
Mahira glanced at her unfinished work and back up at Vandita who was waiting for her response. "How about I complete my work and meet you there? You can leave for the party meanwhile if I get late because I have a lot of things to do."
"We can do this" Vandita nodded her head "You'll call your driver right? I don't want to travel in the metro or cab because it's unsafe, Mahi."
She resisted the urge to remind her how she has been using public transport from the day she stepped into Mumbai but she nodded.
"Don't worry I'll be safe. I'll see you back at your place?" Mahira said patting her arm in assurance.
"Okay then! I'll fetch you the extra pair of keys. Don't overwork darling, I plan to pull a movie marathon with you once this Goyal boy turns 23" She winked and left.
Mahira shook her head and got back to concentrating on the financial reports she had re-check.
The clock struck 6 too quickly for Mahira's liking. She still had two more files to go through, she waved at Vishal who was leaving for the day.
There were just a few more people left who were planning to hit some restaurant after work. She smiled at them while fetching a cup of tea for herself. Massaging her eyes she went back into her never-ending pile, occasionally scratching behind Jim-jams ears as he sprawled in her lap, playing with her top buttons.
Her phone rang at the desk and she was dazed out of her world of numbers. She frowned seeing the unknown number but she received checking at her watch.
"Mahira Madam"
"Yes?" Mahira tried putting a face to the voice, she felt it familiar but not much for her brain to pull an image.
"I'm Narendra, Your building watchman Madam."
"Oh, Yes. How can I help you?" She furrowed thinking why will he call her.
"Madam, did you leave anything on the stove by mistake? There is smoke coming out of your door. It seems you left something electronic on. Please come fast so that we can stop any further damage than its already done"
"What?" She stood up abruptly "Are you sure it's my place?" She quickly started picking up all her things to rush back and see what actually is wrong.
"You just come fast. We can't break doors, it is against the building rules"
"I'm coming. I'll be there in half an hour. Just try doing some damage control please." She said.
She quickly dialed Geeta and waited for the elderly lady to receive it. She was the one to lock behind her. She was anxious, it was her home after all. More than that she feared fire breaking out. It'll cost a lot of damage to their place.
"Oh no Geeta di. Please pick up" She tried again but after full rings, no one received it
Managing Jim's basket and her bag in one hand and her phone in another she ran out of her cabin, ignoring curious looks thrown her way.
"Mam everything alright?" Someone asked from behind.
"Yeah" She lied and rode the elevator descending. Instead of calling her driver, she hired a cab. She'll have to waste another couple of minutes waiting for the car to arrive so Taxi was the fastest option.
She told him the address and urged him to drive fast, ignoring the raised brow of the driver she thought back, wanting to find some solution.
"Apoorva. Yes," She exclaimed to herself and dialed the only neighbor she was familiar with.
"Hey! I'm so sorry to disturb you but this was urgent" She said hurriedly.
"Hii, Mahira. What happened?" He was his calm self like always.
"Are you home?" She asked.
"Um No."
"Oh"
"Everything alright?"
"No. I received a call from our building watchman. He said there is smoke coming out of my place. I'll take another half hour to reach home so I thought if you were home you could give me the extra key I exchanged with you a few weeks back but now that's not the option" she said more to herself.
"I'm at the airport actually, I landed some 20 minutes back."
"No don't worry. I'm on my way home already. I'll go and see but Thank you and sorry for calling you so abruptly" She was fidgeting.
"Mahira, don't panic okay? Nothing will go wrong. There are fire extinguishers all over the building. I'm sure it'll all be under control."
"I just hope so" She mumbled. "Thank you, Apoorva. I'll talk to you later."
She heard him responding and disconnected. She tapped her heels on the car floor, turning to look at how much more distance was left.
"The car won't go further, Madam. Visarjan yatra is coming from the other side" The driver said stopping some 500 meters away from her society.
"Oh," She glanced and saw people coming from the other side. "Okay. Thank you. I'll walk here."
She left to change with the driver and hurried down the street, clutching her bag and basket in her hands, she walked to the pavement diving her head as the Nasiki Dhols resonated in the air. People were dancing and throwing Color in the air as the procession kept going.
She sidestepped just a few meters away from her building as the large vehicle carried the Idol. She stepped back into the ally more to give enough space. The sun was already down so the lights only brightened some areas.
The procession moved forward and she decided to move out when two hands shoved her inside the alleyway harshly.
It was so quick that she lost her balance and ended up falling and bruising her palms and knees.
"Hey!" She snapped up only to freeze. The dark silhouette loomed over her, the bulb flickered far away throwing some light on the man's face when her insides chilled.
She felt her heart in her throat, her stomach dropping to an endless pit. Her eyes widened like saucers seeing the sinister smirk playing on his face.
"Mishti Tumi kēmana ācha? (How are you doing?" He squatted infront of her "Tumi ki āmākē misa karēchilē priẏa?" (Did you miss me, darling?)
As if breath knocked out of her senses, she jolted and backed from her. Her lips parted but her brain seemed to be drained of words or syllables.
"Are you trying to run away again Darling? But so bad this time I've blocked all your escape routes" He snorted leaning forward, his hand shot to her hair and she flinched.
"D...Don't t...touch...me" She swatted his touch away.
"What did you say?" He growled like a madman. His fingers curled around her hair harshly.
She yelped in pain.
"Does it hurt? It should because seeing you with another man hurt me too"
"L... let g...go She cried struggling for him to leave.
"Why? You liked him touching you. You didn't protest then so why now? I saw you slut, I saw you hugging him in the lobby that day. I wished to rip him away from you but then I thought to give you a gift. Did you like my gift, Mishti? Tell me you took a bite atleast" He asked sickly.
She felt bile rising in her throat, and her inside turmoil and heart seemed to beat harder than ever.
"Answer me" he roared.
She shook her head whimpering in pain as he yanked her hair more.
"Is it hurting, darling? I'm sorry but I can't help but inflict pain on you the same way you are hurting me. Why did you marry him, Mishti? Did you forget I wanted to have you for me? How shameless of you to wear his nuptials on you. Do you realize how my blood boils seeing you as a married woman when all those years I wanted you on my bed? Just thinking about you being with a man burns my blood. Do you have any idea how much angry I was after not finding you in your room? I was coming to unlock you. To take you with me away from that place where my sister used to hurt you. I was coming for you darling, I even planned to marry just the next day. I would have saved you from those allegations but what did you do? You fucking ran away. You left Kolkata. Do you know how much I tried looking for you? You have no idea how many places I looked for you. I didn't know you had it in you to leave not just the city but the state too. I was surprised to find you in that magazine. You looked so beautiful in that saree that I wished to ravish you just the moment I set my eyes on you. It was so easy, you made it so easy for me to find you, Mishti. I came to Mumbai and the very next day you came and bumped into me. You know I can recognize your voice anywhere. That day you said sorry and I knew it was you but you know what hurts me the very next second? That man touching you. So shamelessly he held you against him. Then I saw these nuptials on you I got so irritated seeing you married. You should have married me, I would have treated you like a queen but see here you're. In a dark alley begging and crying infront of me. Why? Because you married him." he gritted tilting his head acting all normal when in reality he was behaving like an animal.
Mahira was disgusted by him, his words felt like insects crawling all over her.
"We can correct this you know!"
She yelped as he pulled her nuptial chain, breaking it and slicing through her skin. The burning of her neck made her tear up, she felt blood oozing out of the cut.
"See now you look no more like a married woman" He grinned.
"You're sick" She spits on him.
"What did you say?" He slapped her hard, her head bumped into the gravel. "Repeat your words Mishti and see what I'll do with you"
Mahira coughed for breaths as he yanked her up back into the sitting position. Her vision swirled, the black spots fading slowly but the lack of lighting made it worst.
Her head hurt, her neck burned and her limbs were numb. Dread settling into her senses.
The small but sharp barks made him tear his gaze away from her.
"Who do we have here?" He cooed which almost made her puke in disgust.
"No" She tried holding on to the raging little puppy to seem to realize what was happening but the little man attacked Naveen.
He bites a mouth full of his leg making him growl at the sharpness of his new teeth. He shoved the puppy away with a powerful kick and Mahira lunged forward at a groaning puppy, she gathered him in her arms and tried crawling away from him when he cursed loudly.
"You little shit" He threw a big stone to squish him when Mahira shielded him away from his attack. The stone hit her shoulder and she screeched in pain. Her lips trembled as tremors of pain shot through her entire body.
"Oh no, Mishti. Why did you do this?"
"D... don't touch me e...ever" She flinched away from his touch, breathing heavily to calm her burning body. She cuddled the puppy more into herself, hiding it away from his sight.
"What did you say? Are you trying to insult me?" His cold voice made her shiver. Her blurred eyes tried searching for anything to defend herself from him.
"You want to know the consequences of insulting me, Mishti? I'll gladly tell you. Last time that nurse saved you from me didn't she? Because of her, I got slapped. Do you want to know what I did to her? I made your mother have her fit, wrong medications, and hurray! your mother got all hyper and ended up injuring that woman so bad, That nurse never got back to her job again." He snickered "Your mother was a really amazing weapon Mishti, Push her to the edge and she used to go all berserk. Pity, she died before having one last fit I planned. I made the nurse give her another dose but instead of reacting she dropped dead. Insane woman"
"You murderer" she snapped hitting his face with a wooden block she found in the darkness.
He stumbled back in force.
"You killed my mumma. You gave her the wrong medicine which poisoned her. How can you?" She felt anger shooting through her blood.
"You slut" He growled stomping forward and shoving her into the wall with force.
She felt her arm piercing with something sharp, she cried struggling to push him away with whatever strength was left in her.
"Mahira"
A voice called her name in urgency and she stilled, the hope blooming in her heart.
"Help m..." Her face was muffled roughly but her voice had already done the job. Footsteps rushed towards them and she blinked to clear her blurred vision to see the person who came to her rescue.
"Who the fuck are you? Leave her"
She thrashed in his hold, her screams muffled but tears trailed down. Her breathing felt choked.
"Don't you dare take a step forward or I'll break her neck" Naveen threatened him. His voice un-wavered even while getting caught.
"Leave her, I'm warning you. You don't know who I am and it'll be better if you don't." The man took an intimidating step forward.
His face is visible in the flickering light.
"You"
The hold on her loosened a little and she jerked out of it. Her collapsing lungs demanded all the air they could get.
"Step back" The man commanded.
Naveen followed gritting.
"Oh god! Mahira, can you hear me? Can you stand up?" He squatted near her, his grey eyes taking in her face. A wince left his lips, eyes turning into slits shooting fiery glares back at the man. "You bastard. You'll pay for it. First to me then to RV Malik. That geek won't let you breathe another second for harming someone he madly loves."
"Indraneel" She whimpered feeling little body against her body still and unmoving.
Mahira couldn't look up at the two men, her head hammering, her eyes seeing nothing but black spots. Her lips trembling. She tried moving but her left arm made her stay back. She felt a sharp object digging into her flesh.
"Let me show him hell for doing this to you Mahi. You'll fear thinking about rebirth once I'm one with you bastard because this life will be over for you before you know. " Inderneel strides forward but recoiled back as Naveen landed a punch on him. "You fucking shit."
Mahira was losing her sense of vision and hearing, the shuffling behind her didn't reach her and she felt herself dropping into unconsciousness.
"You are messing with the wrong person."
"Oh yeah?!"
The last she heard was a gunshot.
I hate him! I so hate him for hurting my babies 😭