डरावना भारत

Derangment or romance ?!

One summer, a girl moved into the house next door. She lived with her parents and they were not as wealthy as we were.  Her father had abandoned the family even before the birth of the girl.  She was relatively new in town and found it a tad tough to adjust.  Though we both came from different backgrounds, she and I got to be friends.  We were not really close as friends, but I often visited her house and we would talk.

The moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew that she was the perfect girl for me. It was a kind of a love at first sight for me.  Unfortunately, for me she didn't feel the same way. She was attracted to boys who were handsome and confident. It was clear that I wasn't her type, so decided to wait. 

She didn't have any friends of her own to talk to, so she often confided in me.  She would, mostly, complain about her life, telling me how her mother and her step father hit her, how the girls in her class were so very mean to her and how she was excluded. She also told me about a boy she had a crush on. He was the most popular boy in school and all the girls crushed on him. 

As she talked about all her problems and pains and pangs in life , I just sat there and listened to her.

One day, the girl stopped coming to school. As it turned out. It was because she was being bullied. She told me that one of the most popular girls in college had found out that she had a crush on her boyfriend. The popular girl and her friends would bully her every time they saw her. She also told me that they spread vile rumours about her to the other classmates and that they were making her life a miserable living hell.

I just kept quiet and listened to her as she vented out all her problems.

Her behaviour began to change after she entered college.  She started staying out late into the nights and also had began to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.  I heard rumours that she was doing drugs too.  She fell in with a horribly bad crowd   She was also once arrested by the police.

Her home life grew even worse and she would frequently  quarrel with her parents over petty issues. All of the girls in her college hated her. The girls called her horrible names and said horrific things about her. Somebody even killed her pet dog and stuffed it in her mailbox. 

Eventually, the girl dropped out of college. She became withdrawn and locked herself in her bedroom.  She stopped talking to her parents and went for days without leaving her room.  She rarely came out to eat.  She looked pale, sick and painfully thin.  Her mother took to leaving food outside her door.  She would only come out if she wished to drink water or in the middle of the night when her parents were asleep.  It was a miserable life that she was living. 

I went to see her for the first time in a really long time. She refused to come out to even see me and even after yelling through the keyhole, she refused to answer. Her mother gave me some food to give it to her. I caught a glimpse of her when she opened the door to take it. She was pale, haggard and emaciated.  She looked like a wet rag that had been wrung out. 

I went to see her everyday.  After a while, the girl began talking to me to me through the door. She told me how she was constantly fighting with her mother and how all of her old friends had forgotten about her. She told me how she had gotten herself into such a bad crowd and went out with them all night. She went out sometimes for nights at a stretch.  She started stealing, doing drugs and getting into trouble.  She told me that she was once caught by the police when the local supermarket manager accused her of shoplifting. She had a criminal record.

She told me how her mother had tried to help her at first, but when she wouldn't listen, her mother flew into a rage and beat her up. Her life had become an unbearable mess. She wanted to die and she told me that she had tried to commit suicide many times by trying to slit her wrists.

Just like the old days, she continued to talk on and on  and I just listened to her. Whenever she asked for my opinions, I just shrugged or made some innocuous remarks.

As the time flew by, the girl's mood gradually began to brighten up. She even decided to come out of her room. It seemed as if things were getting better for her and the future looked bright for her. Her mother broke down in tears and thanked me profusely. 

One day, the girl went up to the roof of an apartment building in the neighbourhood and jumped off. The building wasn't very high and she landed in the shrubbery. This was probably what had saved her life. However her spinal cord was severely damaged due to the fall and she was paralysed from the neck down. The doctors said that she would have to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

When she got out of the hospital, I went to see her.  She was lying in her bed. She was unable to move. She apologised to me over and over again and she couldn't stop crying. She said that she wished that she didn't survive that fall and told me that she was sorry for all the troubles she had caused me and her parents (mother).

I tried to soothe her and stop her from crying , but it is really difficult to comfort someone when they are lying down. I embraced her rather awkwardly.  She was weeping so much that her whole body was shaking.  She couldn't even wipe away her own tears. 

As I held her in my arms, I asked her to marry me.

She was like,  " Really? Are you serious? Me? Really?"

She couldn't believe that anyone would want to marry her. I had to propose to her several times before she would believe I really meant it.  She cried so hard, her tears ran dry. I tried to reassure her and told her I wanted to marry her because I had always loved her. 

She was the perfect girl for me. She has always been.  Even when she ignored me and didn't return my feelings. Even when she was hanging with the wrong crowd. Even when I listened to all her stupid and trivial problems.  Even when she became so thin and was hiding in her room. Even when I told the most popular girl in her college that she fancied her boyfriend.  Even when I was spreading vile rumours about her to her college mates, classmates and even relatives.  Even when I sprayed graffiti on her house, insulting her and her choices. Even when I killed her dog and put him in her house's gate latch. Even now when she is lying there in her bed, small, weakened, unable to move.  Even now I still love her.  You see, she is the perfect girl for me. 

Soon, we will be married.