Mending & Healing - Abhigya (Abhi-Pragya)

In Limbo

Note: 

Apologies for the delay. It is really hard being a consistent writer and working on one part diligently. It is my first time trying to do a story properly so it is taking some time. Also a big thank you for all of the comments and the votes. Means a lot. It was what encouraged me to to keep on track.

 Chapter 5 - In Limbo

Pragya Arora was not having a good day. Actually, make that a good year at this point.

She was barely hanging on by a thread and life was just refusing to give her a break. The past few months had been the most chaotic and trying months after the stagnant line that her life had become over the past decade. The stillness and monotony of life in the North had dulled her senses somewhat. Her mind and body alike had forgotten what it felt to be stimulated constantly from the chaos living in a metropolitan city entailed. Nainital was far less populated and the people were more simple in comparison to Delhi, where power and money ruled and there were all sorts of divides in the city and its society alike. It was completely different to living in Mumbai, London or Delhi, which is what she exactly what she wanted at the time. Pragya liked the simplicity and fresh air of the small city. Although It took a while to settle down, the small town accepted her with open arms and allowed her to build her life from the ground up again. For all it's worth, Prachi and her had a good life there even as a single mother and child. Their neighbours knew them well and were accommodating. Always helping out whenever she needed it. She never really had to worry about running late from the collage because she knew her adorable elderly neighbours would be there to watch over Prachi or Beeji would pick up Prachi along with Shahana. While it didn't heal the wounds she carried so deeply on her heart, living there didn't aggravate them either. Delhi though - it did no such thing.

For a city famous for being 'Dil wale' it had given her more heartbreak then she could bear. And to her luck it wasn't just moving back to a city she never wanted to see again that was the crux of her problems. Unfortunately it was her very presence and the trouble that invariably seemed to attract her within it's boundaries that had made it so difficult. From back to back problems with Prachi's school that had left her on edge, scared of the trouble she was attracting to the memories that just wouldn't quit haunting her, Pragya's senses were going haywire. Her entire system was beginning to revolt against her. One would think that after nearly half a year in this forsaken city she would have become somewhat accustomed to the painful memories it brought forth, but no. If anything, she only felt worse. Sure, the city had changed exponentially. It was barely anything like she remembered. There were a lot more building everywhere, newer roads, different people and different haunts that they preferred but places from her memories were still there. Even if though they had been renovated she could still see shadows of what she remembered in her memories and the feelings associated with them were also still there. Just the other day she ended up passing Kiara's old school, not even realising she was on that road until she was crossing it, and it left her feeling like her breathe had been knocked out of her lungs. She could practically see her little girl running through those gates and into her arms after the bell rang signalling the end of the day. It had taken everything in her to not break down in that taxi right and there but nothing could stop her from doing the same upon reaching home. She locked herself securely in the confines of her bathroom, the only place she could really get privacy from Prachi's keen gaze and ears, and just broke down. Although Pragya didn't want Prachi to know how she was struggling but she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hide it. Prachi was far too perceptive for her own good and she could only curse her own genetics for that. Her daughter had definitely inherited that particular trait from her. It was her job as a mother to protect her daughter from the worst of life. She didn't want Prachi to even know about the tragedies that have marred her life, especially right now. Her daughter may be mature but no child was mature enough to handle the kind of complexity her life entailed. It was bad enough that her daughter was growing up without a father and had to face the discrimination that came with being a child of a single mother. The maturity that came from having no one but her as family was already too much. Coming to Delhi was the first real thing her daughter had ever asked her for. Hence why Pragya couldn't deny her request. She didn't want to destroy her daughter's hopes and dreams because of her past and her pain. Prachi deserved better than that and as her mother, it was Pragya's responsibility to ensure she got that. That being said, Pragya was delusional in assuming that maybe she'd be able to give Prachi what she wanted without scraping open wounds that had barely healed; without running into her past again but she was proven wrong.