A/N: This chapter is extremely long, sorry! But yeah, this is where things really start!
***
A week had passed since then, and grandpa had already arranged her marriage with Mahesh. He hadn't told her about it or discussed it with her.
She had to find out from one of her aunties-the only one of her relatives that didn't blame Nalini for her parents' death. The marriage was happening tomorrow, and she hadn't smiled in that time or even come out of her room at all.
She let out a sigh and looked up at the cross on her bed. Her parents always wanted the best for her...
Would they be okay with this?
Nalini sighed and shook her head. There wasn't any point in dwelling on the marriage anymore-it was going to happen no matter what.
No immediate family were called because most of her cousins lived overseas. And because most of them hated her and blamed her for the same thing her grandpa did. So, a part of her was actually thrilled that they weren't there.
Nalini got up and got dressed to go out. Creaking the door open, she popped her head out to see if there was anyone hanging around her door.
Luckily the coast was clear, and after sparing a quick glance at her grandpa who was looking up at the decorations being hung up, Nalini snuck out of the house.
Her shoulders sagged as she walked down a narrow pathway. Honestly, she had always pictured her arranged marriage to be full of excitement and happiness...but it was the complete opposite.
Taking a left turn, she walked towards the house of Manju aunty. Of course, she wasn't her real aunty-she called her that out of respect, but she had been going to Manju aunty for anything that related to beauty tricks, for as long as she could remember.
With a big sigh, she pushed open the doors and grudgingly walked inside it to be greeted by the familiar cool air.
"Ah, Nalini, honey! I'm guessing the usual?" Manju aunty asked with a huge, million-dollar smile stretched across her face.
She nodded slowly in response, no trace of a smile on her face.
Might as well look presentable for tomorrow.
***
By the time Nalini came out, the sun was setting. She had texted her grandpa about her whereabouts, but she doubted he cared. Either way, she wanted to make sure she told someone, so they knew.
As she walked back home, her eyes were fixed on the ground.
If only God could talk.
Nalini wanted to ask Him a lot of questions. She wanted to know why her destiny was the way it was and why she was cursed with bad luck. Why couldn't she be given some happiness?
She walked past a house she always came across, but usually she would be with Esha.
It was a house that always brought chills down her spill as it stuck out from all the others—the front of the house was painted sky blue, the walls were chipping and the most creepy thing of all, was that there was hardly a proper roof on top. The rusty crinkle shaped door swayed on busted hinges and the inside of the house looked eerily dark.
Nalini froze in her tracks and furrowed her brows as she looked inside. There was nothing but darkness, but it was enough to creep her out.
Gulping, she willed herself to turn away and keep walking but as she took a couple of steps forward, a scream and a choking garbled noise caught her attention.
"Help!" a meek voice squealed. "I—I cant swim!"
She whipped her head around to see where the voice came from and her eyes spotted a huge water well. What was odd, was that even from here, Nalini could tell that the flowers and the well didn't seem wet at all.
The sign with the faded letters 'Wishing Well' was placed on the bottom.
Wishing well? Nalini furrowed her eyebrows. It made sense to why it wasn't wet, but she didn't understand what a wishing well was doing in the middle of a neighbourhood.
It looked like it didn't belong there at all. The water well was painted white with honey-brown, copper-coloured stones and had flowers on the floor around it.
She ran towards it when the scream rang out again and she realised that the little girl was inside the well. Her eyes widened and she looked down at the little girl who was frantically splashing around in the water, eyes wide with terror.
"Hey, little girl! Don't worry, okay? I'll help you!" she called out. The girl lifted her head up, her eyes big and full of innocence, and her heart throbbed at how adorable she was.
It was strange—how had she fallen in in the first place?
Nalini shook her head and looked around. To her luck—and most likely a very big coincidence—there was a large rope near the rotting house, tied to the handle of an old, crusty silver zinc bucket.
Things were getting stranger. No one had lived in this house for years and she didn't understand why the house had a bucket and rope just lying around unused.
A wishing well certainly didn't need that—it wasn't like a normal well.
At the girl's gargles, Nalini rid her doubts with a shake of her head and quickly rushed over to the item. She hurriedly undid the knot and shoved the bucket away before chucking just the rope, down.
"Can you climb?" she asked, hoping she could. The girl was frozen in fear but nodded ever so slightly. With shaky hands she reached out and grabbed the rope, using the wall of the well to rock climb up.
To distract her from looking down and to ease her worries, Nalini asked questions.
"So, how'd you end up in there, honey?"
She cringed—she was supposed to distract her, not bring up the subject that had gotten her into the mess in the first place.
The girl didn't seem to mind, though she shivered a little bit.
"My baby brother and I were playing with a ball and he kicked it so hard that it flew over the fence and landed in here," she stopped, choking on her words.
As she got to the top, Nalini grabbed her torso before letting go of the rope and tugged her up and to the ground.
Her whole body quivered with fear or the cold—Nalini couldn't tell.
"You should have told your parents," she said gently, rubbing her arms to keep her warm.
The girl shook her head. "They would have gotten mad. That's why I tried to get it myself."
Nalini sighed. "Well, stay here, okay? I'll get the ball for you."
Grabbing the bucket, she tied it to the end of the rope and lowered it down. Trying to manoeuvre the ball to the edge so that she could manipulate it into going into the bucket, she bent down a little.
As the ball plopped into the bucket, she let out a silent cheer and dragged the bucket up. She reached into it and grabbed the ball, shaking it hard to get rid of the excess water, completely oblivious to the special ring that had come loose and slipped off her thumb and into the bucket.
She heard a soft clang but ignored it as the sound of the droplets of water hitting the bucket and placed the ball gently in the shivering girl's hands with a large smile.
The girl's pale face suddenly brightened due to the huge grin and she lunges forward to envelope her in a hug.
Nalini giggled and hugged her back just as tight. She then skipped away, hollering a loud 'thank you' over her shoulder whilst she sped off.
She shook her head at the child and turned back around. The realisation of the reality of her tedious life and what would happen once she got home hit her hard and she resisted the urge to sigh, obviously distressed.
Nalini glanced down at the well, the sign 'Wishing Well' practically screaming up at her. She let out a resigned sigh, biting her lip as she turned her head this way and that. After making sure no one was there, the grip on her satchel tightened as she thought of what to do.
She didn't believe in wishing wells or magic—it was all for good fun.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she mumbled to herself, though, as she said the following words with a racing heart, she wanted so so badly for it to come true.
"I...wish to live somewhere else. Some place where I can start a new life with a different fate and possibly fall in love," she whispered whole-heartedly.
Wishing for a change of fate would mean that she wouldn't be grandpa's grandchild. As cruel and impulsive as the wish was, she couldn't help but let out a small relieved sigh.
It was just what she needed to say to get rid off the burden in her heart, despite knowing that it would never happen.
Not being able to stop herself from hoping, Nalini did pause for a few seconds, her heart aching at how much she wanted those words to come true, regardless of how harsh it was.
When nothing happened, she chuckled to herself, the harsh cruelties of life crumbling onto her like a pile of bricks.
Shaking her head at her foolish thoughts and wishes, she sighed and wrung her hands when she froze. Nalini looked down at her hand.
The ring had gone.
She gasped and bent down to search the floor in a frantic mess.
The ring was special; Esha had given it to Nalini when the latter's parents had passed away to make her feel comforted. The fact that it was a gift given to Esha by her own mum before she passed away was enough to show how important and significant it was.
Something so special and fond was given to her because Esha trusted her with it and now...she had gone and lost it like a fool. It was her fault though—the item was always loose but she didn't want to give it back to Esha. She didn't even have enough money to get fixed.
Nalini was panicking now as she looked about—it was the one thing that allowed her to feel calm and losing it would guilt her for eternity.
What she didn't realise, was the fact that the rope holding the bucket was starting to glide back down into the well due to its slippery surface.
I had the ring as I was getting the ball with the bucket...and so I must have lost it right after I gave the ball back to her? Was the noise I heard...wait so if it's not on the floor—
As Nalini made the connection in her mind, on instinct she reached forward to grab it but she didn't calculate the implications of this decision as the rope tugged on her hard, as if someone was pulling from the other side and her feet slipped.
The next few seconds seemed to flash by in a blur, and somehow, in a cruel twist of fate, Nalini found herself falling down the well, her heart battering her ribs as she tumbled forwards.
She could hear her own terrified, earth-shattering scream echoing off the walls of the well as she plummeted into the ice-cold water. As her body sank, Nalini felt numb, as if she couldn't move at all.
She was slowly losing consciousness but was still aware of her rapidly beating heart, fighting under her breastbone, trying to send her signals to fight, to move, to do something.
But she couldn't.
All she could do was watch as darkness slowly covered the ring of the well, a single beam of light shining down on her body as if the heavens had opened and was speaking to her.
She didn't have the time to ponder how strange that and the circumstances of that day was because she was too worried about not getting the chance to say goodbye to Esha and everyone else for the last time as her heart slowed and black clouded her vision.
...This was going to be the end.
With no other option, she welcomed the darkness that overtook her body and senses.
***
Nalini gasped for air as she surfaced from the well, hacking and coughing out water.
What happened?!
She wasn't entirely sure of the situation; she could only think about heartbeat pounding in her ears.
Breathing heavily, she swiped a hand over her face to get rid of the water dripping down. Looking around, she found herself inside the well—except, it was different.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she studied it. Instead of being white with copper stones like she imagined, the well was actually black and lined with bricks.
Nalini shook her head slowly. There wasn't any other explanation other than her imagination. She must have seen the well as a different colour the entire time.
Or maybe she was dreaming.
Of course, that was the only thing that seemed to make sense. What else could have caused the well to change colours so quickly?
Tilting her head up, the top of the well was much closer than she imagined, meaning it wasn't deep at all. Naturally, she let out a deep sigh of relief, and she blinked a few times, her vision still a bit hazy.
The whole wishing well situation was probably just her imagination-in the end; the well wasn't even that deep!
She let out a short laugh at her silliness and clutched onto the side of the well, fear in her heart that she'd sink like before, even though it was barely that deep.
First, she had to make sure that this wasn't a dream. She brought her hand up, her wrinkly fingers indicating to her that she'd been in the water for quite some time.
Before she did anything, her eyes narrowed in on the ring that was secure around her thumb. Now, she was more than confused.
She was sure that it had fallen off and that the last time she had looked at her hand, there was no ring.
Was I imagining things?
It was more than likely just a dream but how she got in the well in the first place if that was the case, was beyond her at this point.
To test her theory, she pinched her arm. Nalini yelped, the sound slightly echoing and she covered her mouth.
She was alive and not dreaming!
The thought made her let out a half sob, half-laugh as she smiled to herself.
Thank you, God!
Her smile soon faded when she thought about how that practically quashed her theory on how she had been dreaming.
The fact that the ring was on her thumb now made no sense to her. She didn't even remember finding it.
Nalini shook her head—she was just glad that the ring had been found now. Plus, she was more scared about how mad her grandpa was going to be for not getting home on time.
He didn't care but he was very adamant on getting her married and if she ran away, knowing him he'd probably send his gang of violent misfits from back in the day or Mahesh and his people to come after her.
Or all of the above.
In a hurried manner, she tried to climb back up, only to lose her grip and fall back into the water again.
Clearly, climbing wasn't going to work. She was going to have to rely on her voice and hope that people were passing by at this time.
Nalini sighed in frustration and cleared her throat, preparing her voice.
"Help!" she screamed. "Is anyone there?! Can someone please help me get out?"
She heard hurried footsteps from above and looked up to see a foreigner, who gasped. That caused her eyebrows to raise in confusion, momentarily forgetting that she needed help.
What's... a foreigner doing here in this neighbourhood?
The woman didn't look like some of the foreign tourists that came to India either. Her dark brown hair was parted in the centre with ringlets at the side of the head and she wore a large bonnet, a violet ribbon keeping it in place under her chin.
Nalini didn't want to question her style of clothing—she was just glad someone was there to help.
"Please help me! I need to get out, please!" she yelled up to her, hearing her voice bounce off the dark well.
The woman gazed down at her with wide green eyes.
"Do not worry, I-I will be back promptly!" She turned and her figure disappeared.
Nalini felt her shoulders slump in relief and as she waited, she couldn't help but think back to the woman. She spoke in a very different accent and also spoke...weirdly.
It was strange; English never sounded like that to her. Or maybe she had never heard proper English before? She didn't know what to think.
Just then, the woman came back with an older man who scrutinised Nalini as she floated above the water. She just wanted to get out of the well and go back home-these new faces scared her.
Nalini couldn't stop shivering from the cold and despised the feeling of her wrinkly fingers and her dry face.
Looking back up, she watched as the woman and the man moved away and she could hear their hushed whispers, even from where she was.
Why do they even need to discuss something like this?
All she wanted to do was get out of the well and be on safe land. Before she knew it, she was hit on the head with something hard, but not painful.
Looking down, she saw a thick, strong rope in the water in front of her. Her eyes glanced up and saw the man pointing at it, holding the end of the rope in his other hand.
"Take hold of the rope!" he yelled, his tone...distasteful. An uneasy feeling swirled within her at the hateful tone of his voice.
She didn't like feeling like a burden to people and made a mental note to apologise to him after she was safely pulled up.
There was a strong pull on the rope, and she immediately placed both her feet on the side of the well, walking up as if it was a rock climbing wall, as they tugged.
When she reached the surface of the well, she let go of the rope to grab the edge and the woman stepped forward and grabbed her arms, dragging her out.
"I-I'm sorry," she gasped out, her chest heaving as if she was the one who did all the pulling.
Nalini fell to the ground and closed her eyes. Dry land was like heaven to her as if that moment.
She couldn't believe that she was alive and let out a breathless laugh.
Oh my goodness, everything's okay!
When she opened her eyes and pushed herself to sit up, she made eye contact with the man and watched as he stepped back, his face scrunched up in disgust.
The expression on his face, though she didn't even know the man, still hurt her, but she didn't say anything. If only she wasn't so sensitive and afraid of foreigners, she could say something back instantly.
Her shoulders straightened up a little but it was hard because it was shivering due to the cold air that was hitting her damp body.
"Are you alright?" the woman asked, concerned. Her soft-spoken question reached Nalini, but it fell on deaf ears.
Her thoughts were somewhere else—like how she was still alive and well and now had to go back to grandpa's house all drenched.
With a jolt, she stood up. "Oh my gosh, I have to get back home!"
"Home?" The woman repeated with knitted brows. "You mean to say you live here, too?"
Nalini was taken aback by that. What did she mean by that—was the foreigner lady living in her neighbourhood? If so, how come she had never even seen her before?
When she turned her head to look around for the first time, she was met with an unfamiliar environment.
Her raised eyebrows slowly knitted into a frown as she studied the place. She could hear the creaking of carriages and the jangling of the reins, but also the distant echo of the rhythmic chugging beat of the trains.
The surroundings didn't look like India at all.
The wind was cool and refreshing but it nipped at her still-damp skin.
Kerala was hot and humid, not chilly. Her hands felt clammy and her heart began to beat wildly as if warning her of something unknown.
What was odd, was the smell—though it was pleasantly fresh, there was also a weird subtle odour; it was of the horses that drew the carriages, she guessed.
Looking around, however, she concluded that the place was most definitely not India or her neighbourhood.
Turning to the side, there was a lush lawn with statues and a big, black fountain right in the middle, spraying large amounts of water everywhere.
The people walking about were all well-dressed and wearing clothes that she'd never seen in her entire twenty-three years of existence.
It was similar to the clothes that the woman in front of her, who had cautiously walked up to her, was wearing. She donned a floral off-shoulder dress, showing off her glowing skin and the man was wearing odd clothing too; he had on a frock coat which ended at his calf and a big hat.
Nalini's eyes widened at this. Was this a costume party? It was a silly thought, though, since there were rarely any costume parties where she was from, and even if there was, she doubted that there would be more foreigners than Indians.
She wanted to ask them about it but didn't want to come off as silly for asking.
I mean, she couldn't have travelled to another place just by falling into a wishing well!
...Right?
Nalini wasn't so sure of the answer anymore, and all of a sudden, the feeling of dread pooled in her stomach.
Maybe it was the wish that she had so foolishly conjured up and uttered. She bit her lip as she thought. The wish she had said to the well whole-heartedly—maybe it really did come true.
Don't be silly; that's only a myth for children!
Nalini shook her head at her own foolishness. Something like this never happened in real life.
Her life wasn't a movie. This was all just a dream.
It had to be. That was the only rational explanation for all of this.
She swallowed and looked up at the woman who was patiently waiting, concern written across her features. The man didn't seem to care.
It was then that Nalini truly noticed the ginormous carriage behind both their figures; a young man holding the reins and sitting atop it, with two dark horses neighing and also waiting patiently.
The driver shot her a side glance in disinterest and then tore his eyes away soon after. Nalini could almost sense the tension in the air, just from that simple reaction to her.
"Are you feeling well? You look drained of energy!" the woman exclaimed, her voice cutting through her thoughts.
Nalini nodded her head softly, the movement causing pain to shoot up through her. She winced but managed a small smile. Thank goodness they were both there to save her, who knew if she would have still been in the well if they hadn't shown up.
"I'm okay now, but...how did you even hear me if you were in a carriage?" she asked, genuinely curious. The woman's eyes shone with realisation and she smiled kindly.
"It was merely out of pure luck, I'd say," she said with a relieved sigh, "One of the horses were not feeling well and whilst he was being tended to, I stepped out for a breath of fresh air. I do not mean to brag, but if I had not stepped out, surely you would not have been found. I know not many walk about here."
Nalini let out a deep breath of relief and tears sprung to her eyes. She thanked God for bringing this woman to her right at that very moment.
The thought of her not being alive if the woman had not been there...it brought shivers, and it wasn't because she was cold either.
Standing up on shaky legs, Nalini brought her palms together, her smile wobbly.
"Thank you so much," she said. The woman returned her smile with a bright one of her own.
"You need not thank me," she said softly, flicking her slender hand up in a dismissive wave. "I only did what any would have done."
"But still," Nalini began, trying not to laugh at the extremely weird situation she found herself in, "I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there."
She could feel all the tense muscles in her body, loosen, but her head still felt sore. Did she hit her head? She didn't even know...everything was a blur, but it would make sense considering she fell head-first.
But shouldn't the impact have killed her then?
She was so confused at what was happening. It seemed to make no sense.
There was silence before the woman broke it.
"May I be so intrusive as to ask...where you are from? You do not look or speak as if you are from around here," the woman asked, politely, the ringlets bouncing slightly as she tilted her head. Nalini gulped once again, not knowing how to respond or what to say.
"W-what is this place?" she said, answering her question with one of her own. She cringed at how rude it probably was, but stayed quiet, waiting for an answer instead.
The woman frowned; it looked unnatural on her pale, flawless face.
"Have you no memory of where you are?" When Nalini shook her head slowly, the woman replied, "This is England."
She almost seemed concerned for Nalini, though she was a complete stranger. But when her words registered, her heart stopped and she stopped breathing.
No.
She couldn't be in England. Of course, she was in a different place, but England? How was that even possible?
Her eyes went skyward and she stared up at the puffy, white clouds. I know you're up there God, please tell me what's going on?!
Looking back down at the woman, she faltered.
"How can this be England? I'm from...India."
The woman's eyes widened and she shot a quick glance at the man standing a fair bit away from them, his eyes narrowed as they met Nalini's. The woman turned back, her eyes now panicked, and analysed her.
"India?" she whispered. "That would explain your odd way of speaking," she mumbled to herself before her eyes snapped back up to Nalini's. "You must be a slave, then."
Her eyes widened, her mouth agape. "Wha—"
"Well, you mustn't mention from whence you have come to anyone! Many do not like coloureds and will either have you shipped away or used as illegal slaves."
The alarm in her voice, caused panic to arise in Nalini. "But can't they tell I'm coloured just by looking at me?"
The woman chewed on her bottom lip, nodding.
"That is true, but if you were to not mention it, then they have no proof, nor will they have any duty in accusing you. They will think you were born and bred here."
Nalini gulped. That sounded like an impossible task! She was clearly not white, and she wasn't the best liar either. The idea of being shipped back didn't seem that bad now, but the only problem was not knowing where she would be shipped off to.
And being someone's slave wasn't her idea of fun. If this was going to be her fate, she should have just married Mahesh.
How in the world was this happening? This dream was starting to get out of hand, and she didn't know how to wake herself up.
It was starting to scare her.
Nalini could feel someone's eyes on her, and turning, she met the man's piercing, hate-filled eyes, causing her own to widen.
She subtly stepped to the side, hiding his view of her with the woman in front of her. Now that he couldn't see her, she was relieved enough to breathe. Even though her skin prickled at the sense of his eyes on her, she tried to ignore it by thinking about her current situation.
It was obviously a dream she was having. She was probably unconscious and on the ground back in India.
But everything seemed so real.
"Anyhow," the woman's voice broke into her thoughts, "What in heavens were you doing in that wishing well?!" Her forest green eyes were wide with confusion.
Nalini let out an expulsion of breath through her mouth, finally feeling the exhaustion of the whole situation flooding through her.
"It's a very long story. I was helping a little girl who had fallen into the well and shortly after she had left, I lost something and instead of leaving I made a dumb decision and fell," she said, feeling stupid but not really caring as her body was both tired and sore.
She deliberately left out the part where that whole thing happened in India.
The woman would probably see her as mental.
A dainty hand came up to cover her mouth as she gasped. "I cannot imagine such a circumstance happening to me. Truly, you are a hero!"
Nalini shook her head frantically at that. "N-no, not at all! If you count trying to save a rope and a bucket as being a hero then I guess I am," she joked despite the dire situation.
The woman's lips stretched into a wide smile, though her eyes hardened slightly but it soon vanished when the man cleared his throat impatiently from behind them.
The woman bit her lip, her eyes darting from side to side.
Nalini opened her mouth to ask her if she was okay and why she looked so nervous but stopped when the woman straightened her back and turned around, addressing the man who was standing nearby, watching them.
"You may go now, Gabriel," she said, speaking gracefully. "I am more than grateful that you came to her aid."
The man hesitated as his eyes rested on me, studying my face.
"Lady Ainsworth, surely you know this woman is not from here? And she looks very shady. There is no explanation to why she was found in a well." Gabriel turned on his heels. "I shall fetch the guar-"
This Lady Ainsworth held up her hand, stopping him.
"You shall do no such thing!" she snapped at him. "You musn't question me, Gabriel, for I know that this woman is no threat to us at all."
It would have sounded menacing, if it weren't for the gentle smile adorning her face.
Gabriel clenched his jaw, his face turning red as a tomato in a matter of seconds. The whole debate was making Nalini feel guilty.
They were having an argument about her, but it also made her mad. What right did Gabriel have to call her 'shady'? There was nothing about her that was shady!
At least, she didn't think there was. All that had happened was that she fell into a well-what was so shady about that? She wondered if she should have spoken up about it, but remained quiet when Gabriel continued talking, angrily.
"She must be shipped off to whence she came..." He faltered when the woman shot him a look.
Just by looking at the two, Nalini could tell that Lady Ainsworth was someone who had great power, compared to the man, and even her name seemed formal and sophisticated.
She had a kind, oval face, and her mannerisms were formal and graceful-but her and this whole situation managed to send chills down her spine.
Without saying anything else, the man inclined his head and then walked off. The driver still sat there, as still as a statue and Nalini wondered if he ever moved.
Her distracted thoughts were broken into when Lady Ainsworth turned and walked back to her, her bell-shaped dress swaying and her forest green eyes displaying exasperation.
"I am sorry about Gabriel; you mustn't take it to heart," she began gently, her eyes softening, "for he is clueless about these things. He, and many others despise coloured people and if I let him have his way, he will have you hauled on a ship and have you shipped off to whence you came. I am more than sure you do not want that," she whispered. "So I urge you, you must leave and find shelter before you are found."
Nalini blinked slowly, trying to grasp what she was saying by listening closely. She didn't have any shelter, but she couldn't tell the woman that.
This woman was too kind, and Nalini was sure she'd offer help, but she didn't want that. She didn't like burdening people, at all.
Every day of her life with her grandpa, she couldn't stop feeling guilty because she knew she was a burden to him. It was one of the reasons why she couldn't stay mad at him; despite his abusive actions towards her, he still looked after her.
Of course, this dream was nothing like her reality. She wasn't being a burden right now, but she was strange. There was no doubt about it; she stuck out like a sore thumb, especially since she was still wearing her heavily wet churidar and she was Indian.
The thought made her chew on her lip in panic. The last thing she wanted, was to be judged by other people in a foreign land when she was already judged back home of something she didn't do.
But luckily, this was still a dream. Which meant whatever she did or said, didn't really matter.
Right?
She shook her head from her thoughts. Now wasn't the time to think about that because it had to be a dream! Nalini allowed her eyes to glance around, and it was then that she realised that everyone was white. She wondered how that was because even in the 21st century England, there were people of colour, especially Indians.
There were many Indians there, she knew. Her temples began pounding erratically as she thought hard. Reaching up, she rubbed it, not wanting to think about her strange dilemma too much.
Suddenly her vision became spotty and she swayed on her foot, only to be stabilised by the warm touch of the woman in front of her. Lady Ainsworth peered into her eyes, concerned.
"Oh my, you are burning up!"
Nalini shook her head. "No, I'm fine, Lady Ainsworth!" she rushed out, too quickly.
"No, no, please do not address me as such!" she exclaimed, horrified and Nalini cringed, smiling apologetically. "You must call me Chastity," she said, with a lovely smile.
Nalini felt awkward and strange-everything just seemed too unreal, but without questioning her dream, she went with the flow instead.
Lowering her voice, she said, "O-okay. I just need to lie down for a little while...Chastity."
Nalini tried to force a laugh through her parched lips and from the look on Chastity's face, she could tell that she didn't believe it at all.
"Well, it is settled!" Chastity exclaimed with a bright smile and her eyes widened. Settled? What was settled?
"You must come with me and you can rest as much you wish where I live," she urged with a small smile, gripping Nalini's hands tightly.
She wanted to giggle at how her guess of this woman being too kind and offering to help was right but refrained from doing so because she wasn't sure if it was appropriate. Nalini opened her mouth to decline her kind offer at the same time her eyes travelled over Chastity's shoulders.
The sight before her caused a small gasp to escape from her lips.
There was Gabriel, marching angrily towards them and behind him, marched a few guards, eyeing her. The air that escaped from Nalini's lips caused Chastity to turn around and let out a miniature gasp as well.
"Oh no," Chastity mumbled. She shot Nalini a frenzied look. "You must run! Who knows what Gabriel has told these men?!"
I don't know where to run! she wanted to say but stopped herself. Running aimlessly was the only thing she could do at this point, and it didn't seem like a bad idea either.
Nalini's head was spinning as Chastity hurriedly stepped forward to distract the men.
"Kindly move out of the way, Lady Ainsworth. What business did the negro have, lurking here!?" Gabriel bit out.
Nalini's eyes widened.
Negro?
There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but couldn't.
"She must have come illegally, and we will see to it that she be sent back immediately. Either that, or she can come live with us and clean up after us. She can gladly choose," one of the guards added.
As soon as she heard Chastity's voice in reply, she took advantage of their distraction and pumped her legs as fast as they could go.
When she took off, the men yelled at her to stop as their boot-clad feet pounded the pavement behind her. She weaved through people, like in those action-filled movies, except in this dream, it was anything but entertaining.
She ran through the unfamiliar town, with ancient buildings that had finials and hood mouldings surrounding her, not having the time to look up and admire, even in her dream.
Nalini's legs were telling her to stop, but her brain was telling her otherwise. It was like she couldn't stop, even if her muscles were screaming at her in pain.
Of course, she didn't stop; not even when she nearly crashed into a moving carriage. Clearly not in her senses, she apologised to the horse instead of the driver, but let out a sheepish smile when the driver cracked an amused grin.
She wasn't in her right mind, that was for sure!
The only thing she could think about while she was running away like a crazy person, was why she was having this dream and whether or not the girl was safe. She didn't have time to think about anything else because of the men tailing her.
All she wanted to do was rest and wake up again. If this was a dream, it was a strange dream that she never wanted to see again.