Zoya’s Breaking Point - II
1025 Words
V. The Shattering
After Aanya’s breathing steadied, the room fell into a frightening silence...........
Not at all peaceful,
But the deafening silence of splintered things.
Zoya wiped her cheeks angrily, furious that she’d cried, furious that she hadn’t cried sooner, furious at everything.
She stood abruptly.
“I need air,” she said sharply.
Sharda nodded. “Go.”
Zoya stepped onto the balcony. The air was cold, sharp, metallic. She gripped the railing as if it were the only thing keeping her upright.
Her chest heaved.
And then.....
finally......
she broke.
The sob tore through her like something ripping free from bone.
She covered her face, shaking silently......
Because crying loudly would alert Aanya,
and Aanya had broken enough for all three of them.
Behind her, she heard Sharda step out slowly.
“Zoya,” she said softly.
Zoya didn’t turn.
Sharda placed a hand on her shoulder.
Zoya flinched—not from the touch, but from the unbearable weight of holding too much.
“I can’t hear this,” Zoya whispered hoarsely.
“I can’t hear what he did.
I can’t.........
I can’t bear that she went through all that alone.”
Sharda’s voice trembled. “Neither can I.”
Zoya shook her head, wiping her face with her sleeve.
“I keep thinking..........what if we had met her earlier?
What if she wasn’t alone?
What if.......”
“Zoya,” Sharda said gently, “none of that is your fault.”
Zoya turned then.....eyes swollen, face streaked with grief.
“But it feels like it is,” she whispered.
“Why?” Sharda asked, but her voice was soft, coaxing.
Zoya swallowed hard.
Because she knew the answer.
Because she’d known it for years.
She had buried it under humor and work and noise.
“I had an uncle too,” she said quietly.
Sharda inhaled sharply.
Zoya’s jaw tightened.
“He wasn’t… like Aanya’s,” she said quickly. “Not that. But he........he used to touch my back. My waist. Too close. Too long.”
She looked away, ashamed.
“I told my mother once. She said, ‘He’s family. Don’t insult him.’”
Sharda closed her eyes.
Zoya’s voice broke.
“So no, it wasn’t the same.
It wasn’t… what happened to her.
But I remember the fear.
The shame.
The way your own body turns into a trap.”
She choked on a sob.
“And when Aanya said she was protecting herself, not him.........
I understood that more than I wanted to.”
Sharda stepped forward and pulled Zoya into a tight, fierce embrace.
Zoya didn’t resist.
She sobbed into Sharda’s shoulder, trembling violently.
Sharda held her, whispering softly,
“You’re allowed to hurt too.
You’re allowed.
You don’t have to be strong every minute.”
Zoya cried harder.
And Sharda, who had spent years patching other people’s wounds, held her friend like someone finally allowed to be human.
VI. The First Detail
Inside, Aanya sat with her knees pulled to her chest.
The room felt too loud, too bright, too exposed.
She heard Zoya crying on the balcony.
She heard the distant traffic.
The world continues as if nothing had happened.
She wanted to disappear.
Sharda and Zoya returned a few minutes later.
Both had wiped their faces.
Both looked fragile.
Like porcelain women pretending to be steel.
Aanya didn’t look at them.
Sharda sat beside her.
Zoya sat on the floor, cross-legged, hands clasped tightly together like she was praying.
“Aanya,” Sharda said softly, “There’s something we need to ask you. And you can say no. You can say stop. But we need to ask.”
Aanya swallowed.
“Did he…”
Sharda paused.
Her voice lowered.
“Did he hurt you physically? Or was it…”
Aanya’s breath halted.
The room stiffened.
Aanya whispered, “Both.”
Zoya covered her mouth.
Sharda’s hands began shaking.
Aanya stared at the floor, her voice barely audible.
“He used to grab my arm so tightly… I still have marks. Old ones. Faded but… they’re there.”
Sharda inhaled sharply, fury rising like heat under her skin.
“And he…” Aanya’s breathing grew fast again. “He said my silence meant I agreed. He said girls should be grateful to be… noticed.”
Zoya sobbed again.
“Aanya,” Sharda whispered, tears filling her eyes, “he r***d you.”
Aanya jerked violently.
“No,” she whispered.
“No. No. He.....
He didn’t...........
He never.............”
Her voice cracked.
“He didn’t call it that.”
Zoya’s throat burned. “It doesn’t matter what he called it.”
Aanya shook her head, shaking, mumbling,
“He said it was family.
He said it was love.
He said it was a lesson.
He said—
He said—”
She broke.
She curled into herself, sobbing for the first time with sound.
Low, agonizing, animal sounds.
Sharda held her.
Zoya held her from the other side.
Aanya sobbed until her body shook.
Until her breath fractured.
Until the room blurred.
And every word she whispered crushed the surrounding air:
“He said it wasn’t r**e if I didn’t fight back.”
Sharda’s entire body tensed......
A silent earthquake.
Zoya’s nails dug into her palms until they hurt.
Aanya cried harder.
“He said I should be grateful.
He said I was lucky.
He said I belonged to him.”
The room went silent.
Completely, devastatingly silent.
Sharda whispered, voice trembling with rage:
“He lied.”
---
VII. Footsteps Outside
Just as Aanya’s sobbing quieted into tremors....
........ Sharda stroked her hair gently....
Just as Zoya whispered, “You’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe”....................
........A sound echoed from outside.
A footstep.
On the landing.
Right outside the blue door.
A pause.
Then another footstep; VERY slow.
Deliberate AND Unmistakable.
Aanya went rigid.
Sharda stood immediately.
Zoya looked at the door, fury replacing fear.
The footsteps stopped.
Someone was there.
Listening.
Sharda’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Zoya............call Kabir.”
Zoya grabbed her phone instantly. Sharda stepped toward the door.
Aanya whispered, trembling violently:
“No.
No.
No.
He found me.”
- Writer
