Chapter 1
With every bruise on her body, her desire to elope was growing stronger. Arti put some crushed ice into a handkerchief and placed the pack on her black eye. She reminisced the days when a black eye only meant smudged kajal after she danced in the rain with her friends. A tear trickled down her cheek and mixed with the blood oozing out of her lip. She could not bear the fact that she was in an unhappy marriage. She looked at the blue finger marks on her wrist. That’s how harshly Ramesh had grabbed her arm and given her a tight slap. She broke down into a puddle of blood, tears and sobs.
After so much of beating, she could not even remember what exactly had gone wrong? Was it her fault that when her husband returned from work, she was found asleep? Ramesh always came home at odd times. Sometimes it would be midnight, at other times it would be early morning. She had tried her best to stay awake, but after all the household chores, her body had given away and she had fallen asleep.Nevertheless, it had not been the first time that Ramesh had beaten her so badly. Ever since her marriage, she had become used to becoming his toy- object for relieving his anger, lust and disgust.
Arti sighed and wiped her tears. Her cheek still hurt and showed signs of yesterday’s slap. She placed the ice-pack on all the blues-and-blacks. Remorsefully, she wished her father had supported her dreams. It would have been so nice if her family had allowed her to complete her B.A. instead of marrying her off to a complete stranger who did not seem quite happy about having her around him.
She must have been in deep thought because she was startled when the doorbell rang. Quickly placing everything away and covering her face in a veil, she went towards the door. Had he arrived so early?
