…. a beautiful sunshine, the splendid odour of neat sheets and the sounds which a happy family would make…. all this disappeared in a flash, as she woke up weak, laying bare amidst her rich teenage clients whose young fetish and greed had ravaged her body, whose wild bites surrounded her neck with alcohol spilled all over. There also lay these ghastly marks of pleasure which scarred her body, which would’ve easily stricken grief to any normal, but in a moment seemed nothing as she looked away smirking, making destiny’s attempts to break her soul seem futile. As she searched for her clothes and looked out for the money bag, which she hid carefully, the deep thoughts of choosing vegetables for the next morning’s breakfast concerned her. Looking at her purse, covering herself with her clothes, moved through the door a strong soul, whom the world called a sex worker. Waiting for the cab, taking random selfies and exploring the social world through her phone, the earth rotated through some degrees making few minutes of her life pass. As her journey home began, the street lights flashed on her face through the cab’s window and she kept switching between various tracks in her ever-updating playlist. Then she played this song which resonated with her at a deeper level, which brought out her good memories, showing her the possibilities she had before her abduction, depicting her life in the most painful way. This feeling grew on her as she paid the driver and moved through the silent street. As she exited the lift and moved towards her apartment, all pain faded away when she looked at the newly delivered package containing her new shoes. She carefully placed her daily savings in a little box. Placing the package inside, her glance shifted to notice a set of scarlet red eyes staring at her.
There was another woman in the apartment, a woman with long wavy hair and dressed in white gown stretching from her neck to her legs. With an angry expression which could cause shivers, she sat on a bed motionless. There wasn’t any visible part of her body where the skin didn’t turn grey and her muscles didn’t seem to have life in them. Looking at this ghost like figure, the human-looking woman who worked all night changed her clothes to comfortable cottons, she rushed towards the ghostly one, hugged her and as she kissed her, the angry eyes turned normal. Both the ladies lay on their backs with the former telling the latter, “Good Night Sis”. As the light of sense faded away and the tired one transcended into her imaginarium, her dream began with a blurry vision rushing deep into the dark woods. As the mind made the obvious conclusion it being her, she found herself surrounded by wolves, each as huge as a giant wolf could be. As the wolves moved forward, another wolf, equally huge, jumped on her from the back. The creature’s claws tried to make way into her flesh only before she found herself stabbing it with a spear. As the prey killed its hunter, she began running with a shivering spine. She reached a mountain, to find no other way but climbing all the way up to the night sky. As she began climbing, so did the wolves which were much faster with their four limbs. And as all surprises come, she observed a rainfall of stones forming a protective wall around her. Looking through the gap between the stones, making an effort to conclude the death of wolves, a giant shadow cast over her. As she moved her eyes above, it appeared to be a pair of blood thirsty eyes and knives like teeth. As she prayed her god to live for ……… a beautiful sunshine, the splendid odour of neat sheets and the sounds which a happy family would make…… and as her mind began to figure out what sheets were, she could hear rap-music.
She found herself awake in a messy apartment and yelling at her sister to reduce the volume. Moving the bristles along her teeth, she sat beside her favourite window, from which the morning sun stopped shining after the huge neighbouring apartments were built. She drenched some cornflakes in milk and then there was it, the boring breakfast but in fact which was a way out for her every day after she ditched away her plans of a nice breakfast. Day passed as she spent her time with her sister watching TV, feeding her and feeding herself. As the non-retarded injected the other with the daily dose of medicine, the queen of passionate nights wore her protection from reproduction, tucked herself in a shiny glimmering dress and there she was standing like a warrior who fought a different battle every night waiting for the cab. She entered the pub which was her current workplace. Sitting by the bar counter and sipping in some water, she observed her colleagues being dragged, touched and forced by the drunk excited crowd. The only time she feared was when the lights of the pub were down and her colleagues ran together into a corner as she wondered how absence of light could lit the dark corners of human mind. Meanwhile as time passed and she wasn’t getting any clients, a sigh of relief followed by apprehension struck her mind. Then there came a big man, whom the racist world called black. This rich man quoted a much higher price which she couldn’t refuse. As she gave a careful smile of approval, and at that instant a human body was sold to another. As the hours passed and the man with African ancestors got satisfied, she was laying to rest. As she thought it all went well, the man returned with some ropes. Before she could comprehend the situation, she figured out that she was injected with a sedative in the past overwhelming minutes. The sedative showed its effect and she slipped into a deep sleep. As she woke up, she found herself tied to the bed.
She was amused to see the man take pictures and as she was about to shout, the man showed her the pictures. She was amused by the beauty of them but hid her anger with a smile as she feared he would never set her free. Consequently, the man loosened the bonds and there landed a deep kick in his balls. His strong arms tried to stop her, but as the lady shattered a bottle of alcohol on his head, he fell unconscious immediately. She immediately tucked herself into her glittery clothes, not knowing how to delete the pictures took the camera and ran away. She stopped after a mile, and tears were visible from the eyes of this strong woman. Smashing the camera into two halves and worrying what would happen next, she thought if the excited teenagers were better or this man who crushed all boundaries of her self-respect. Well she returned home in a cab and prepared herself to face the consequences. Turning to her bed beside her favourite companion she slipped into her dreams, and her unconscious mind showed her this black dragon showering flames of fire on her.
The black dragon immediately vanished with her sister waking her up and disturbing her dream. Silencing her sister, she re-entered her world of imagination to see a warrior walking to fight an army, alone, unaccompanied, unadorned and unfeared. The army seemed to tremble in fear as he moved forward. Countless soldiers dropped their spears and began running away while only the brave ones stayed to fight. As the army cowardly fired arrows on this lone warrior, he deflected all of them by spinning his sword. A spear from far away raced towards him, but only managed to pierce his shield. The quick warrior rushed towards a tree, which acted like a huge shield avoiding arrows. The army then stopped showering of arrows to let its soldiers march forward. The brave warrior thought if he could ever again know …… a beautiful sunshine, the splendid odour of neat sheets and the sounds which a happy family would make…... And she woke up suddenly to a big sound. She couldn’t see her sister and even before she could shout her sister’s name, the ruthless photographer covered in blood raised his arm with a gun pointing at her and smiling at the helpless woman. “WAKE UP!!, WAKE UP!!” were the sounds she next heard, to which she woke up on a bed in a medical facility.
As she woke up she rolled her eyes in a daze, she found herself tied to a bed in closed room with some light bulbs dangling from the ceiling. Through a rectangular void like window on the wall, she could see her sister who was tied to a bed and was in an identical room. She saw her sister looking at her with anxiety and as she smiled, surprisingly the image smiled. Turning curious she winked and the image winked. Frightened she stretched her hand to the frame to which the image reciprocated the action. Before she could comprehend that the window was an actual mirror, an African American nurse entered through the door. She then gave her some food and after the tasteless meal ended, she took out an injection. As the nurse’s injection left her unconscious, she ticked on the calendar on the wall. The nurse wiped her badge which said, “The Healthy Asylum” and dusted the board laying by the bed which had the words written “A highly imaginative individual with a disturbed mental state caused by harsh sexual and emotional experiences”. As the impatient nurse couldn’t wait to be rid her duties for the day, she accidently found a note lying beside her pillow, which lay there for the last many years, saying “…… a beautiful sunshine, the splendid odour of neat sheets and the sounds which a happy family would make…...” to which she gave a cold laugh and dumped it in the bin.
~Adithya Tanam
