Paula
She stood there completely lost, her mind empty as an empty basket. She was not able to think anything, seemed the moment froze for her. Her mind was like a dark hole with nothingness in it, just blank. Not knowing or remembering why she came there and what she was suppose to do, she kept standing, looking around all confused, clueless, trying hard to remember and feeling inattentive, for nearly five minutes with her mind that went blank and unable to think further.
In a little while, she came back to her senses and realized she was standing on the corridor in between her kitchen and drawing room. What was she doing there? Why did she come there? And what was she doing prior coming to the passage? Just then like a flash it came back and she remembered, she had put up a dish on the stove that she should be attending to.
She quickly ran to the kitchen, removed the dish cover and saw the water had dried up and the chicken curry was in the process of getting burnt. She hastily put off the stove and stirred the curry so it did not get burnt. She took a long sigh of relief but in the meantime also feeling bewildered of what just had happened.
Lately she has started having difficulties finding words for stuff; she failed to solve problems that she was so good at. She had difficulty in remembering names of people she knows. At times she could not think properly and went blank for some time. She is experiencing this since a few months now but did not tell her family as she knew it would be of no use. They would only mock her, instead of trying to understand her or figure out why she is having such problem.
Her name is Paula. She is a simple woman with a pretty face. She has kind and forgiving heart, because of which often people take her for granted. She is loyal, honest and understanding. She is married to George and has two children, daughter Mia and son Ron. It was a love marriage. Her parents were against this marriage but she married him anyways that her parents had to accept compellingly.
Actually she was supposed to marry the son of her father’s friend who was their neighbors as well. This friend’s son had a crush on her from very young age, but she never had that kind of feelings for him. Though, they were good friends. She loved George and thought he loved her too. So no matter how much, her parents tried to persuade her, she married him.
Now at times she wonders what if she had married the man her father had chosen for her! How would her life be? Maybe different than what she has now. Like she wanted? Most probably it would be better knowing the man, as she knew him since childhood and they were good friend. This thought would give her a shudder and she would shake her head in annoyance then let it pass as if a bad dream.
Her marriage life in the beginning was good and George seemed to love her the way he used to when they were dating. But that did not last even a year. About eight months of their marriage, George completely changed. He stopped caring about her anymore neither helped her financially. He started finding faults in everything she did. He shouted at her all the time, for even a tiny thing and time and again, he raised hands on her. When they had kids, he never helped her raise them. She had to do everything alone. She could not ask her parents as they were not in good terms after she got married against their will. In fact she did not have guts to face them and tell them the truth. After marriage she hardly visited them. She did two three times but the way they behaved that showed she and especially her husband were not welcome there.
Prior to the marriage she was already working in a reputed company that she still continued after marriage. Thank God, she did not leave the job or else she would be in a difficult situation. She earned quite well so she did not have to rely on George for money, which he never brought home.
George worked at a pharmacy and earned quite well but did not give a single penny to Paula, instead at the end of the month he came to her asking for money. If she refused to give, he would beat her up. Every night he came home very late, all drunk and would ask her do things she hated to do, he would want to have his way and when she refused, he would beat her up black and blue, and sometimes in front of the children. Most of the times, he had his way forcefully, making her sore physically and mentally.
Many a times, she tried to leave him and go away but thinking children needed both the mother and father, she stayed back. Also she did not have any place to go. She of course, could not go back to her parents. Maybe they would have forgiven and accepted her but she did not have courage.
She raised her kids alone and put them to good private schools and then colleges. She provided everything to them and fulfilled their wishes. Now both of them have finished their education and have started working. Both adore their mother for her sacrifice, what she had to go through and realizing how she brought them up fulfilling all their needs, all by herself.
No matter how the relationship was now with her husband, the love and care she got from her children gave her strength and courage to keep going. She did not care anymore what George did and where he went in the nights. She only wished he did not come back home and abused her. But no matter how badly he treated her she just could not hate him. She kept forgiving him every time he did some nasty thing to her, with a hope one day he will come back to senses and be the same George she married.
Amazingly, as soon as both Mia and Ron started working George suddenly stopped going out after work and came home straight. He started being with kids, caring them and getting them stuff and brain washing them against their mother.
Life had more in the plate for Paula that she did not know yet. For her this life had become normal which would definitely not be normal for any other woman.
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