Safe

She was writhing in pain. She wanted to scream but no sound came out of her mouth. He placed his hand over her mouth to prevent her from making any sound at all. He pushed and pushed and pushed. She gave up. The pain almost made her faint. But she was still conscious. He lay on her breathing heavily. He got up after a while, with his hunger satisfied, went to the bathroom, cleaned himself. He came out with his evil smile and looked at her as she lay there with her disheveled clothes, tired from the struggle, with tears rolling down her cheeks, staring blankly at the ceiling. He threw a towel on her and said “get your ass up and get cleaned, your mother would be coming any minute with tea or do you want her to be part of our fun too?” and he laughed. He laughed at her. He laughed at her wretched condition. He laughed at her frailty. He laughed because he won again. He laughed because he had her!

She dragged herself and went to the bathroom. Cleaned herself, scrubbing again and again trying to remove the dirty feeling that his touch left on her, trying to get away from his smell. She knew her mother would be coming any minute now, so she dressed and came out. Meanwhile he cleared the bed and placed all the books and notes there as if they have been studying the whole time. As she stepped out of the bathroom he caught hold of her kissed her lips forcefully and pushed her on the chair and he took the seat opposite to her.

There was a knock on the door. It was her mother with tea for him. She asked “ Beta, is she studying properly? I hope she is not troubling you. You can be hard on her if required. We just want her to score better in her exams”.

He grinned looking at her and said, “Don’t worry aunty, I know how to make her yield. She’s a good girl and this time she will get good marks in maths too.”

Her mother walked out satisfied at his comment. She was looking at the books all the while. As he closed the door after her mother, he said “See how much they trust me. You are mine now, all mine. I can do whatever I want with you. If you want to study maths and get good score you better keep me happy. Or I’ll tell your mother that you are being a bad girl” he laughed again. His laughs were so evil. It always sent a shiver down her spine.

“Now stop sitting like that and start solving the problem I gave you” he almost barked while he hitting her with a scale. She continued scribbling equations on the paper, with tears flowing down her cheeks. She was just waiting for the clock to strike nine, for this torture to be over. At Least for that day. Before leaving he gave some more problems to her to work on and then he groped her and pinched her breasts and left.

She dreaded these sessions. She was a brilliant student in all subjects but maths. Her parents asked ‘him’ to give her some tuition to help her improve. He was their neighbor. Both the families have been friends for some time. He just came back in the city after finishing his school in a boarding and was preparing for engineering entrance. Her parents asked him to help her with maths as they wanted her to become an engineer too. He readily agreed on one condition, that no one should disturb them during their sessions, which her parents were only happy to oblige for her future. He started taking tuition on alternate days for 2 hours.

She was really excited to get such a good looking tutor. She even told her friends at school and they all were always asking about him. The envy in their eyes made her feel so proud. She made her best attempt to impress him. She would dress nicely and work extra hard to solve all the problems. These sessions were something she looked forward to until a couple of months back. She had fallen prey to his charm. He would praise her incessantly and would just keep telling her how lucky he is to get some time alone with the most beautiful girl in the world. They used to sit in her room on the first floor of the house, and he would always lock the door from inside on the pretext of avoiding any disturbance in her studies. Eventually they moved from the study table to the bed which he thought would be more comfortable for her. He would crack a joke or two in between which would make her laugh and taking advantage of which he would caress her cheeks or her hands gently. This became a routine. He would say something nice and would touch her, her hands, her cheeks and then slowly her shoulders, her back. She was just so intoxicated with his sweet talks that she never saw any hidden intentions in his touch.

It was almost two month since her tuition started. One evening he said they won’t study that day but just sit and talk to refresh her. She readily agreed. They spoke about their dreams, their aspirations. They sat on the bed looking at her photo albums. He slowly asked “do you like me?”.

She blushed and looked away just smiling. He asked again coming close to her. He lifted her face and said, “I am crazy for you. I Love You Shraddha. You are my life. I can’t stop thinking about you. Please be mine. I’ll take care of you always.”

She felt her blood rush to her cheeks. He was close, she could feel his breath on her face. He placed his lips on hers and kissed her. She couldn’t realize what was happening. They kissed for a long time. She was feeling a strange feeling between her legs. All this was new to her but she was so much in love with the guy she let him do whatever he wanted. While kissing his hand explored her body. before she knew he took off his pants and freed her from hers. She was scared but he kept telling her how much he loved her and how happy they are going to be together. He kept promising a wonderful future together where she would be his princess. She bought it all. He was slowly making his way. She started feeling a bit of pain. She tried to push him away, he said he’ll make the pain go away and that its his love for her, he’s making her ‘his’.

He kept kissing her so that she can’t shout. She was in pain but his words worked again. She let him love her. When it was over she got scared seeing some blood on the bed and started weeping. He just told her that it was normal and went to clean himself. She was shocked on his cold behavior. He came out and said “you better get cleaned up before someone comes in”.

She had some trouble getting up, her thighs, waist and back were sore. He said it would be fine in a while. She looked at him expecting to see the same love he had in eyes a few moments ago. There was nothing. She got cleaned and dressed up. She sat close to him and said she loved him too. he just laughed and said it was time for him to leave. She never saw what he was doing, she just believed him.

In last few weeks his visits have turned sore. Initially he used to make some sweet talks and then make love to her but gradually it all went away. She kept wondering what has she done wrong. She would do whatever he would want. It was too late for her to realize that he was just using her for his pleasure and that the love was just as fake as his smile that he would put around her parents. When she tried to stop him he blackmailed her, threatening to tell on her to her parents. She was scared. She was ashamed. She was too weak to stop him.

He would come and savor her body and leave her feeling dirty about herself. He abused her body, her mind, her soul. She was afraid to go out, to meet her friends. She stopped laughing. She was always in her room. Her mother initially thought she was seriously studying for her exams, but gradually she noticed the change in her daughter.

That day after her tuition, her mother asked her if everything was okay? She couldn’t hold herself any longer. She burst into tears. She cried for almost an hour. It didn’t take long for a mother to realize what could be the reason. When she calmed down, her mother asked, “Did he do anything to you beta?”. She just looked at her mother and started crying again. Her answer was clear. Her mother held her for long and when she was calmer, her mother said, “don’t be scared beta. I am here with you. You don’t have anything to be scared of. But why didn’t you tell me anything? I always thought you would tell me if there was any problem”

“ I was ashamed Maa. I am ashamed. He said he loved me. Sorry Maa, I am so sorry”. She cried for long time holding onto her mother.

Her mother tried to calm her down. “There is nothing in the world that I love more than you beta. You don’t have worry about it. I’ll make it go away. You don’t have to be ashamed to tell this to me. You are a part of me and I love you no matter what, always remember that. Its okay now. I am here”

She felt safe with her mother. She was relieved of her burden. After a long time she slept peacefully with her mother.

The next day her parents had a long discussion. Her father was furious and wanted to slay the boy. But her mother stopped him. They had to make sure that their sensitive daughter doesn’t face any humiliation. It was a serious issue and if not handled properly it might scar her for life. She spoke to few of her friends, one of them was on investigative journalist Mr. Kumar. Kumar took it on himself to find out more about the guy as he was sure Shraddha was not the only victim. And he was right, after a few days of work itself he found out that the guys was involved with lots of girls and was blackmailing them too. He tipped off the local police and told his friend who was the DSP there to handle the case sensitively. A raid was made to his residence where photos, letter and other articles were found as proof of his crime. He was arrested and taken away.

Shraddha was still scared about what happened. her mother turned to be her biggest support. She told Shraddha that she was going through an age where attraction is normal, but she should never let anyone take advantage of her. And if anything wrong happens she should come to her mother. There was nothing to be ashamed of or to be scared of. Her mother told her that they trusted Shraddha more than anyone and would believe her always. She not only gained her confidence back but was also able to study properly for her exams.

This event however made the family bonds stronger. Her parents were determined to take all necessary steps to secure her future. And when she said she wanted to get into medicine and not engineering they supported her in her decision. Her parents however felt guilty for letting this happen to their daughter. But everything was fine now. They knew she was safe and she knew she doesn’t need to put up with any kind of abuse out of shame or fright. She has her family and their love and support was all she needed.

The memories would never leave her but she learned to live with them. She moved on. She knew now no other guy could ever take advantage of her. She was safe now.

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