Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 28 : The Lottery

After what I had read in the journal, things slowly started to become clear to me. But deep down I just wanted to pray that whatever I am thinking, and the truth should be different. My 6th Sense kept telling me that Abhinu and Sophia is the same person. Even if a part of it is slightly true, I wonder how Abhinu might have felt. Forget about Abhinu, I wonder how our Monika might have reacted to it.

Was that the reason why Monika didn't want me to get the Rakhi tied by Sophia that day. The moves that Sophia performed that day was actually a classic Abhinu Banerjee move.

I decided to continue reading to find out the truth.

                                                             5th January 1994

I am feeling hopeless and the only thing I want to do is to kill myself. I am ashamed of myself. I am writing this journal without a single cloth on my body. As usual Abhishek Dada called me today morning and began to ask me about myself and my feeling. He was being nice to me for about 15 minutes and then he showed his true colors, He threatened me not to test his patience. He reminded me that my 72 hours will be over in another 10 minutes and after that he will not be this patient any more. If I accept his proposal in the next 10 minutes, he will make sure I get to live like a princess, and also get to go to school, and play basketball too, but if I am still stubborn and my answer is still no, then destiny will decide my fate. I decided to ignore him again.

As I came out of the room, I saw uncle leaving for his tour early. Aunty came to me and told me that it’s been 2 weeks since the incident. I have been a good boy, so she asked me if I wanted to go and meet Monika. She told me that the school is closed today for some event so Monika should be at home. She even told me that Monika will be leaving for Kerala for 2 months. She has been selected in a martial arts school to learn the martial arts Kalaripayatu. 

I responded positively and she allowed me to go and meet Monika, but warned me that I should be back in 3 hours., I got changed and left for Monika's house. I was happy for Monika. As I reached Monika's house, I learned from her that Monika and a few of the seniors had actually talked to the school principal to request him about letting me get back to school, and principal sir responded that he would be highly honored to have me back at school. He also said that he found out what Harsh said that day and that he was sorry that he didn't believe me.

I was excited to hear the good news and didn't wait much at Monika's place and decided to come back home to give the good news. Beside, I did not want to make aunty angry again so I had to ensure that I return back on time. As I entered my room, I saw Aunty was sitting on my bed. She called me and said that she is sorry for what she had done to me for the past 2 weeks. She caught hold of my head with both her hands and kissed me on the forehead. I hugged her back and requested her to please forgive me for what I had done.

She replied that she forgives me for what I had done and before I could give the good news, she told me the good news that I could get back to school, but only on the next session. I will have to forfeit this session. i happily agreed and then she playfully tells me that I am stinking really bad and I should go and take a shower. She told me to leave all my clothes including my inners on the bed, she will put it out for washing. I put on a towel, left my clothes on the bed, and went to take a shower.

As I came out of the shower, I found my clothes were gone, and in its place, there were some new clothes. It was a blue frock laid neatly on my bed and right next it was a sky-blue leather ankle strapped heeled wedges. I thought maybe my sisters might have left it in the room, by mistake.

I opened my almirah to find that it was empty, all my clothes were gone. I came out and asked aunty if she had seen my clothes and she replied that the clothes, I need to wear, are kept on the bed. I told her that there must be some mistake, as these are all girl's clothing. But she added that she knows about it and wants me to put them on.

I tried to reason with her that whatever she is trying to do with me is wrong but she wouldn’t listen. As I kept resisting and tried to throw a tantrum, she calmly asked me to come to our backyard. I saw a bonfire and as I approached near it, I found fragments of clothes burning there. In a closer look I found that my favorite denim pants are burning. My school uniform was also burnt, all that remained was the white-collar which refused to decimate.

I was frozen at the sudden change in Aunty’s attitude. Suddenly, I felt like someone caught hold of me from the back tightly. It was Rahat our gardener. I tried to relieve myself from his clutch, but he was very strong. As my struggle continued, aunty was busy in shifting more things out of the house. I could see that not only my clothes but she was throwing all of my shoes into the pyre too. Finally, I saw her bringing the pair I wore earlier today when I went to Monika's house and threw them in the pyre too. At that moment I saw that Abhishek Dada was standing next to me and enjoying the moment.

I could do nothing except continue my effort to be free from Rahat’s grasp and watch helplessly as my clothes burn. After some-time Rahat dragged me to my room, took off my towel and stripped me n***d. He left me alone and locked the door from outside. I kept beating the door repeatedly but the only response from aunty was an order to follow her instruction. 

A few minutes later, I saw Abhishek Dada and Aunty entered the room. I tried to hide behind the almirah ensuring that they could only see my head. Aunty said that the family had decided to let my fate decide my future so they did a lottery where the family members would decide if I should be a boy or girl. Other than Aamaya di, everyone wants me to life at home dressed up as a girl. Abishek dada had a tray with him, where there are folded pieces of paper and he said that one of the paper had the word boy written in it, while the rest has girls. If I am able to pick the right piece of paper, they will let me get back to my old life or else I will have to accept my fate. I begged then not to do that, but Aunty insisted that if I don't she will. I had no other choice but to listen to her and while still hiding behind the Almirah, I extended my hand to pick up the parchment of paper. I kept praying that I picked up the paper which said the word 'BOY' but as my luck was out on a vacation, I picked up a piece of paper which said 'GIRL' 

Aunty asked me to get ready by wearing the dress, and come out to have lunch with them. she further added that I don't get anything to eat if I stay n***d and left the room. Abhishek Dada left the bag with the parchments on the bed and locked the room from outside. He picked up the remote to the AC and turned reduced the temperature to the minimum so that the room gets cold and then took away the remote. The switch for AC is located outside the room, so even if I had to turn off the AC I will have to come out.

The moment they left the room, I came out and sat on the bed next to the dress. I was almost ready to give up, when my eyes fell on the bag, I began to open the pieces of paper one by one and to my surprise, all of them had the word 'GIRL' written on it. Not a single paper had the word 'BOY' written on it. It slowly became clear that Abhishek Dada has had his way. 

I finally decided not to bow down to their whims and decided to go on a hunger strike. The room was slowly getting cold by the minute, If I die of hunger or cold, I will not have to bear the embarrassment of being a girl and be abused by everyone in the family. How will I present myself in front of Monika or for that matter any of my friends if they ever come to visit me. No matter what happens I am not going to dress like a girl. I stayed in the room by the door, stark n***d, looking at the dress in my bed. All I could do was cry.

***I don't believe it. Does she really mean it? What the hell is wrong with this Abhishek Banerjee... He is a sick p*****t. Wait a minute, is that why uncle avoided answering me when I asked about Abhinu. I had to continue reading the journal further to figure out the answer to the question***

                                                          TO BE CONTINUED...

                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~