A to Z Challenge: Punishment

Links to previous parts:

Hanged

Insomnia
Jaded

Keeper
Labour

Mystery
News
Ominous

Things came to a head one day when Sunita woke up from an evening nap to a scratching at her door. She had been trying to power nap before starting another shift at the village clinic. Ranjan was visiting one of the nearby villages and she was alone at home. She cautiously inched her way to the back door and opened it a crack. She knelt down and pulled the terrified Radha into her arms. The child wasn't crying or making a single sound. She was in shock and deeply traumatized by something she had seen. Sunita could hear a loud commotion in the distance. Some instinct made her want to hide Radha. Her gut was telling her Radha was not safe. She concealed the child in a closet covering her with a bunch of blankets. 

She stepped outside to see what was going on after securely locking her main and back doors. There seemed to be fighting and violence of some sort in the distance. Looking closely, she found that it was issuing from Tara's home. She quickened her steps to see a large crowd gathered there. There seemed to be two large mobs fighting outside the house. The village had gathered to watch the madness. Were these the warring families that Tara had told her about? She elbowed her way into the house and no one stopped her. She was not prepared for the sight that met her. Tara lay lifeless in her living room. She had been murdered. She inched back out and escaping the notice of the mobs, she slipped away. She did not know what to do. She should inform the police, find Dhruv. What was she to do? Ranjan wasn't around to help either.

Ranjan came home to find his wife huddled in a corner of the house. All the lights were switched off and Radha lay asleep in her arms. She had been crying. "Tara is dead. They killed her. I tried to find Dhruv.  They.. they.. the tree.. that tree.. behind the village lake.. They made it the hanging tree. They were trying to find Radha. I tried to hide her. We need to leave." It took him a long time to get a coherent story out of her. When he did, he acted quickly. There were three of them on the flight back to New York and that is when Radha became Rini.

A to Z Challenge: Ominous

Links to previous parts:

Hanged

Insomnia
Jaded

Keeper
Labour

Mystery
News

"Mom, I haven't spoken to anyone here yet. Don't worry. We just got here. But you can't leave me hanging like this, I need to know." Rini muttered as she paced up and down in the corridor of the village school which was their makeshift shelter for the night. She was trying to be as quiet as possible as Aryan slumbered at the end of it, chivalrously having given up the whole interior to her. " I really wish I didn't have to tell you this over the phone. But I guess, you will not listen to me until I explain my reasons. So you know you are adopted. But there is a story behind your adoption which your father and I had decided to protect you from. Now it is time to tell this story."

23 years ago, Ranjan and his wife Sunita had been volunteer doctors in Anjeer village. They had come down for a tour of service from America where they had met and gotten married. In this remote village, with minimum medical facilities, they were welcome with open arms by the community. They brought with them what seemed like salvation to this tiny village. They took shifts at the temporary clinic that they had set up and it was at this clinic that they met Dhruv and Tara. Dhruv was the school teacher in the small village school. He and Tara had brought their four year old Radha to Sunita. Sunita was thrilled to meet Tara and Radha. It was love at first sight for her with little Radha. Tara and Radha could be seen trailing behind Sunita on many of her innumerable house visits. They took long walks in the surrounding forests and hills and went exploring. The families spent a lot of time visiting each other and practically living in each other's houses.

On one of these visits, Sunita noticed that Tara always seemed on the verge of blurting out some sort of secret. Finally the day came when she finally spilled the beans. "Dhruv and I ran away from home to get married. There is a huge blood feud between our families. We met in college and wanted to marry each other. But our families wouldn't agree. So we eloped. We are still not sure that they aren't looking for us. It has been 6 years. The day they find us, they will try to kill us. That's the reason why we chose to live here. So nobody can find us. We are hiding right under their noses." Sunita shrugged off Tara's worries. It all sounded too Montague and Capulet to happen in real life. Surely, Tara was exaggerating.

A to Z Challenge: News

Links to previous parts:

Hanged

Insomnia
Jaded

Keeper
Labour

Mystery

Rini woke up to see Aryan bending over her with a concerned look on his face. She was on an unfamiliar rope hammock in a small mud hut. An old lady held out a glass of water. She struggled up manfully and tried to fight the intense sense of deja vu overpowering her. It could not be happening. The tree, the village behind it, the muddy mountain, she had never seen pictures of Anjeer village.  It was such a remote hamlet that not many documents of anthropology were created on it. Every detail from her dream seemed to have come to life.

Sensitive to her feelings, Aryan did not press her for details. But she did not want him to think of her as a wilting daisy, so she explained that night by the side of their campfire. He asked her if she had been to Anjeer village before. She vaguely knew in the back of her mind that she had left India with her parents when she was 3 or 4 when they had adopted her. She didn't know if she had been to this village. She decided to stay up that night to call her mother and talk to her.

" Mom," she said when all the endearments and the small talk was out of the way. " Do you know if I have ever been to Anjeer village? It' s a new addition to our itinerary and for some reason it looks very very familiar." The line went silent at the other end, so silent that she repeated her question wondering if her mother had heard. After an ominous pause, her mother replied. " I didn't think you would remember, but now that you are there I need to tell ypu some things. But first things first, your life will be in danger if you reveal too much about yourself. I think you should get out of there as soon as possible."

A to Z Challenge: Mystery

Links to previous parts:

Hanged

Insomnia
Jaded

Keeper
Labour

Rini woke up again in the early hours of the morning. This was a definite sign that she had had the nightmare again. Now she was getting a sense of foreboding more than anything else when she recollected the dream on waking up. She was surprised and startled to find Aryan sitting in a chair by her bed. He was clasping her hand in both of his and appeared to have fallen asleep trying to comfort her. She sat up urgently startling him awake in the process. " Oh Rini, you are awake, you seemed to be having a bad nightmare last night. I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't. I didn't want to leave you by yourself. So I stayed. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not!" She said more snappishly than she meant, secretly flattered that he cared so much about her. " I would like to thank you for staying but I am sure it was not necessary." Aryan narrowed his eyes at her and said, " Something is troubling you and you are going to tell me about it. I will make you. See you in sometime." It wasn't until they had packed and loaded up the jeep to head to Anjeer village that he took up the line of questioning again. They were swigging tea from a flask when he repeated, " You are my friend and my responsibility for the next few weeks. Please tell me what's troubling you."

Rini reluctantly confided the details of her dream between sips of fortifying tea. He asked her to describe the surroundings that she observed in her dream and agreed that it had to be set in India. Then to take her mind off these unpleasant things, he treated her to a meal at a roadside dhaba. The warm butter on the paranthas and the hot chole revived her and made her more like her usual cheerful self. It was late evening when they reached the outskirts of Anjeer village. Rini was in the middle of a sentence when she made a choking noise. Aryan turned around to find her open her mouth in a soundless scream and faint dead away.

A to Z Challenge: Labour

Links to previous parts:

Hanged

Insomnia
Jaded

Keeper

The red sand blew into his eyes as he squinted into the camera. Rini stood at a distance, discussing seriously with one of the village women about how best to run the anti female foeticide campaign. She sure took her work seriously. In the two weeks that they had spent here, Rini had recruited him to build bathrooms for 4 houses, refurbish 3 village schools and coach innumerable number of soccer teams. This was in addition to his day long shooting videos and photographs and recording interviews. He didn't really mind. After a long time, he was finally feeling like he was making a difference.

"Aryan, watch out for your camera. The red sand can scratch and ruin the lens." she screamed across the plain. For such a small person, she sure had an imposing voice, Aryan thought to himself as he broke out of his reverie. She could be such a nag to. But it had to be acknowledged that she was always looking out for everybody else. She was willing to sacrifice anything, give up anything just so others could have a share of the happiness that always seemed to be her portion. No matter what hardship she faced, the challenges that were thrown at her, she faced life with a smile and struggled on. He was finding himself more and more attached to her. She inspired him, challenged him and made him crazy about her all at the same time. He knew now why she had won such loyalty and heroine worship among the village women wherever she went. She was the perfect subject for his documentary.

After a long day at work, Aryan twisted and turned on his narrow makeshift bed. Sleep wasn't coming easy to him this night. The wind whipped at his tent and howled through the gaps and crannies making horrific noises. Through all that he heard a high shrill scream rent the air. There was only Rini's tent next to him. They were at an isolated campsite and there was definitely no one else around. He scrambled out of bed and braving the wind dashed into her tent. Rini was convulsing in the throes of a nightmare. He patted her gently trying to awaken her but she did not cease, nor did she waken. He stroked her forehead and rubbed her hands. Finally she seemed to go back to peaceful sleep.