Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 51 : Freedom Comes at a Price

I decided to read through the entries, eager to know the truth behind Abhishek dada whom Koushik dada says is a monster under the guise of humans. Koushik dada got busy with his laptop.

My concentration was disturbed when Koushik dada suddenly called someone on the phone and said: "Uncle, everything is ready, can you give it a try please?"

It was probably dad who called up but I was least bothered to listen to their conversation.

"Perfect" replied Koushik dada and then he started to look up into the ceiling with a weird smile and his hands raised to the air and waving at something. Suddenly he receives another call and stops.

I decided to ignore him and continued my reading.

                                                        17th February 1994

As I woke up, I knew a great deal of t*****e was in store for me. To stop matters from escalating, I had to wear those stupid dresses and makeup and be a girl once again. Strangely Abhishek dada also didn't call me for the past 5 days. Things felt really strange. He was probably mad at me too.

Last night, I slept peacefully wearing Aamaya di's dungaree. For once it felt like I was Abhinu, the boy when I was wearing the dungaree. It was the closest thing I had, that resembled boys' attire. I opened my locker trying to decide what I should wear when Aamaya di entered my room and ordered me to remove her dress. As I was able to step into the washroom to change the dress, she shouted at me and ordered me to open it in front of her and then pick up anything from the locker and wear it. It was embarrassing since I was not wearing any inners but I refrained from replying back and decided to follow her orders. The moment I took off the dress, she looked at me angrily, picked up the dungaree, and angrily left the room.

I decided to put on the blue-colored salwar suit that Aunty got for me before I ran away from home. After the last few days of living my normal self, I was feeling awkward and embarrassed again dressing up as a girl. But I have no other choice. Aunty came to my room. She told me that she is really sorry about the incident 5 days ago and that she didn't expect that matters would escalate so much.

Things felt too odd to be true. I don't know whom I should trust. Monika is ashamed of me; Uncle is quiet on this matter. Mr. Jairus doesn't believe me. Aunty has proved to the cops that I am mentally unstable and now she is asking forgiveness from me. Abhishek dada is also not talking to me for the past few days. I don't know whom should I believe?

Finally, Aunty told me that I don't need to put on a girl's dress anymore. And that she was sorry about what she made me do and regretted it. She also told me that Harsh's parents had also taken away the complaint because she showed his parents a video that my sisters took on the night of the incident and if they don't take the complaint away, she would tell the cops about it.

She asked me to remove all of the jewelry and clothes and got me the dungaree dress back from Aamaya di and asked me to put it on. She said that she has asked uncle to get me new clothes to wear and Abhishek dada also has a surprise planned for me tomorrow.

Later in the evening when uncle came, and I went out to greet him. I was less excited to meet him and more excited about the clothes, uncle bought for me. Uncle looked at me, gave a smile, and asked me to stay in the hall for a while. He asked Rahat to take Aamaya di, Garima, and Darika out for a movie and not to bring them back for the next 5 hours.

I asked him about Abhishek dada and he replied that he is on the way from Mumbai and should be in Kolkata by sunrise. After that, he told me to sit with him and said that he had heard what happened on the night of Darika’s birthday and then what he said shocked me. 

He said that as a boy it is expected that I should be able to defend myself and protect my honor, but I failed miserably to even defend my own honor. I don’t deserve to call myself a man of the house considering the I was beaten by none other than my sisters and that too they are much younger than me.

He took out a bottle of rum from the shelf and placed it on the table and then placed 2 glasses on the table. He then poured the Rum into the 2 glasses and said that he wants to give me a chance to get my dignity back. He said that if I could drink the full bottle of Rum without throwing up or without a drop spilling on the floor, I can get my life back, if not, he will make sure that he will make my life difficult than it already was.

I didn’t know how this rum tastes, but the smell is yucky. I tried reasoning with him, but he picked up the glass and forcefully poured it down my throat. My throat burnt, tears began to roll down my eyes as I began to feel the liquid flow through the food pipe, but I had no choice but to continue drinking. 

With great difficulty, I drank the first glass. The moment I completed the first glass, he poured a second glass which I also drank it and then I started feeling dizzy, I was not even able to hold the glass properly in my hand. I started to feel as if someone was trying to grope me inappropriately and my subconscious mind was trying to resist the touch. Everything was a blur.

I could barely sense aunty’s sudden presence and her attempts at pulling me away from uncle. She poured some lime juice down my throat which made me feel a little better. Still partially conscious and rocky on my feet, I couldn't muster enough strength to get back to my room, and taking the support of the pillar I sat on the floor.

I could hear Aunty and Uncle quarreling and aunty requesting Uncle not to force me to dress up as a girl. In my subconscious state, I heard a secret that shook me to the core in my fragile state. He revealed that I am worth 400 thousand US Dollars in the international human market and that the day I will turn 14 he will sell me off to a red light area in Romania. I am not sure what he meant by that. He also revealed that he bribed my doctor to implant TESTOPEL under the skin, during the surgeries from my accident. He also made me take female hormone-generating pills and all the while he made me believe that they are vitamin pills. Since then my body had been developing a lot of changes.

It has started to develop more feminine characteristics. My body has grown 2 very unpleasant bulges on my chest. Hearing Uncle's confession, I couldn't believe my ears but the real reason for all my torment and misfortune was dawning on me and I was encountering the true face of my culprit. If my dad was really alive, then I had to think of a way to save him. In my weak state, I felt a deep rage burning my soul. 

Uncle caught hold of aunty’s neck in a chokehold and then revealed himself that my dad is still alive and that he and his men had kept him in a safe place and that if Aunty doesn't comply with his demands, or if he sees me masquerading as a boy in the house he will kill my dad, aunty, Darika, and Garima. He did however concede that even though he will kill everyone in the family, he will not harm Aamaya di and Me. He also confessed to killing Aarohi and someone named Alena.

Aunty pleaded with uncle to shift over to Purulia to my place so that I would not feel lonely and being in my mother's home would help me get over my misery. He agreed to it but under a few conditions.

Firstly he will discuss with all the members of the family tomorrow and set a day when aunty could take the 4 of us to Purulia. Secondly, I should stay as a girl all the time. Rahat will be there with the family and if in any day he sees me wearing male attire, there will be repercussions, thirdly he thrust a piece of paper in her hand and told her that he had listed a set of rules which I should be made to follow for the rest of my life, fourth is she should prepare me for the next surgery which I will have to undertake after a month and, I shouldn't be saying no to it, this surgery is going to serve as a repercussion to remind me what would happen the next time I attempt to run away. Finally, he said that he will leave everything to Abhishek dada, if he wants to make my life easier, then all the earlier rules will be null and void. 

It was unto Aunty how she made that happen. Aunty wanted to know about the surgery from uncle, but he wouldn’t reveal anything about it. He only insisted that they will come to know about it at the right time.

After witnessing this deeply disturbing turn of events and Uncle's sinister self, I dragged myself weakly to the safety of my room. I was shocked and shattered by what I saw. Looking at the cruelty with which he treated aunty, my indignation evaporated, and I was filled with horror. Unexpectedly I could feel Aunty silently helping me step towards the room. Once we were within the confines of my room, she hugged me weeping inconsolably and apologized for breaking her promise, but she also promised me that if any harm would come to her, a chain of events would commence which would lead to uncle’s downfall. She also promised that she will try to get in touch with someone she knew and try to find out about the whereabouts of my dad and try to rescue him too.

She gave me the note uncle gave her and asked me to follow it, she made me promise that if my friends ever enquired about my misery, I should always blame her and not mention uncle's role in all of this. I made a solemn promise myself, that I am never going to forgive uncle for what he did to me.

Now I truly understood the meaning of the words "Freedom Comes at a Price" that was written in the book "Beloved" that I read the other day.

*** I don't believe it... Abhinu's dad was alive. I just hope he is still alive and one day the 2 of them is reunited again. Abhinu has suffered enough. 

I still couldn't believe it, It was uncle who was behind all this and I have been thinking it was aunty’s doing. Abhinu never told me anything about this too. I kept praying that good senses may develop in uncle’s brains to stop the family from screwing up Abhinu's mind in this manner. 

But after what I learned; it is difficult to imagine the enormity of the problem. Abhinu is living with a psychopath and a sadist. ***

                                                            TO BE CONTINUED....

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