The best arrangement: Between us...

Chapter 21 - A dream, or a trauma?

(CAUTION: Violence and sexual assault content ahead. Skip if you want to. The end of this type of content will be marked by _____________________ such a line. This content does not endorse or glorify sexual assault and condemns rape to be the worst harm done to a person)

" No.......Please.... don't touch me...... It hurts....    Help....." He was whining weakly. His eyes were blindfolded, his hands tied back. He wanted to scream and kick his way out, but somehow, he felt very tired.... Despite his frantic efforts, his body would not move an inch, and he could only whine. He could feel that he was now sprawled over something, probably a bed. 

He could feel a pair of hands stroke his hair and his chest. Quite disgusting. Suddenly, a hand slipped inside his shirt. He immediately squirmed and tried to struggle against his captor. But he could not get away. Hot angry tears splashed down his eyes, when he felt his shirt being ripped open and his chest groped all over. The feeling was sickening. He felt an urge to puke. He wanted it to all go away, like a bad dream. But those hands were crawling all over him.

" Please...... leave ..... me ... alone......" He whined again. " Don't worry little boy........ Pleasure me for a while, you won't remember any of this later....." A female voice hissed in his ear. He shuddered and passed out, not before he felt his legs forced apart.....

                   ___________________________________________________________

( in short, it was a sequence where a woman was forcing herself upon a young boy. Do not be surprised, this kind of rape happens as well, only less frequent than other types)

"Ma!!!" 

Siddharth woke up with a start. He had broken into a cold sweat. His heart was racing and he was shivering. The horrible dream had repeated itself again. This was not the second or third time either. He sat cross legged on the bed and focused on his breathing. He then began to count, backwards from 100. It took a few minutes, but slowly he felt his heartbeat grow steady. After calming himself, he pondered about a problem. He was a soon-to-be psychiatrist, and he knew that this kind of dreams resulted from unresolved trauma. The sub- conscious mind would project the painful memories into a person's dreams, sometimes. but, that made it all the more bizarre. He had had no traumatizing experiences in his life, save being hit by his mother on the face, some years before. Maybe he was being empathetic towards one of the many patients, whose stories he had read up on as case studies. He felt bad for the boy in the dream. How terrible would the whole ordeal have been for him! Even if word goes out, people won't believe him to be the victim.

The society was structured to always think of men as perpetrators, and male victims were considered to be weak or 'lacking' masculinity. He sighed. 

That evening, he had got Abhishek discharged. Mekhla drove them back home. Albeit wanting to divert his mind, there was nothing he could do. It was late night. He thought about talking to his father. But, his father was resting after the trip, and he didn't want him to worry.

Shall I call up Abhi? No, he will be resting as well. Or maybe not, being the fool he is, he might have messed with his leg and might be in pain now........... Maybe I can comfort him? I'll just try once. He dialed Abhishek's number. Soon, it was picked up

" Hello sweetheart, missing me already....?" Abhishek's voice was unusually sweet. Siddharth internally facepalmed, thinking out aloud ' why did I have to get myself such a tease for a boyfriend???

" Of course not, I just called up to ask if you were doing fine. It seems like you are doing too well!" Siddharth lied. Honestly, he didn't want to be comforted. he just wanted to be distracted.