Nobody's daughter ~ Yrkkh Musings

7.2 Abhi mujhme kahin~ SS

This was supposed to be an OS but then all your comments made me want to write more. There would be one more part to this. Feel free to drop your comments and recommendations.
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Trigger warning: Mentions of self-harm, cuts and blood. However there is absolutely nothing graphic and descriptive. Nonetheless adding a warning for precaution.

Manisha sat beside a sleeping Abhira, softly tracing her fingers over marks the feverish skin of Abhira's forearm. Some of them a darker shade of read, some lighter in tone and others fading white. She wasn't a fool to not understand what these marks meant, the only question that plagued her was how long has this been happening under their roof and how long have they been blind to something they should have caught at first glance. This wasn't normal. This wasn't the kind of life her dying mother would have wanted for her only child, a child so full of love and light.

And Manisha's mind spiralled back to all those where she could have caught up on Abhira's lies, all the signs that were right there, silently screaming for help. Her constant pulling of her kurta sleeves every time Manisha tried to talk to her, the spots of blood on them that she had discarded as stains from some weird strawberry jelly, the evidently growing eye bags, her gradual loss of weight when she had returned from the hostel. She had made it a point to keep her pain masked so nobody notices and they let her be, pressurising her with their expectations and never really asking her about what she wants. Manisha realised how her willingness to make Abhira stay and Madhav's stubborn desire to keep her tied to Armaan were all coming from a place of selfishness which made them obtuse to how admist this hurricane of their needs and expectations, Abhira was bearing a weight that never was her's to carry. They needed her, she was the voice for all their dreams for all the fairness they longed for, but at the end of the day she was just a young orphaned girl being subjected to constant emotional abuse and a trauma that was threatening to drown her and there wasn't a single person who would stand up for her, give her a hug and an assurance that everything would be fine.

Loneliness, when you turn up the volume of all the wrong voices, is catastrophic, it's deadly. And a loneliness that is an aftermath of a loss that kills the child within you, leaves you with demons of haunting memories to fight with...all alone. All Abhira needed was a little life and she would survive but Manisha knew this family and their tendency of choking you to the point there's nothing left of you, within you. And she couldn't let that happen to Abhira. She had made her sign the divorce papers, it wouldn't be a task to get Armaan to sign them either. She had also talked to Madhav and had arrangements made at the hostel.

Manisha got up from Abhira's bed, and ever so softly covered her with a duvet, making sure her movement doesn't wake her up.
"I am sorry Abhira...I wish I could have done more to save you but this stops here...the abuse, the insults...stops here. I promise you I won't let this family hurt you anymore. You deserved...you deserve so much better than this. I don't know how many more hurdles your future holds, but this chapter closes today, none of the Poddars will hurt you anymore, that's my promise", Manisha spoke, while she softly caressed Abhira's hair, her voice barely above a whisper. She left a tender kiss on her forehead and walked out of the room, with a determination she doesn't remember ever possessing.

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Manisha was about to knock Armaan's room when she heard Ruhi insisting Armaan on going ahead with the divorce as soon as possible. Perhaps, this relationship, this marriage was always doomed. What pissed Manisha was Armaan's lack of spine to take shun Ruhi and remind her that this was his and Abhira's decision to make.

Annoyed by the constant rant, Manisha barged in, her breaths heavy with an anger she has never allowed her face to wear before.

"Chahi sa aap..." Armaan began to speak.