Making You Mine

twenty two - struck with lightening

Akshara was woken up the loud rumbling of the thunder and an even sharper flash of lightening with strong gusts of wind pushing the rain against the window making it pour. She picked herself up from where she had fallen asleep on the cold, hard, marble floor and managed to stand up straight.

She wiped her hand across her face and checked the clock on the wall to see it was about 3am. Just then, she heard the clunk of a glass hitting the ground just as the lightening struck. Dazed and worried, Akshara decided to follow the path of the noise only to be lead out of her room and slowly towards another room —Abhimanyu's office.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry because no matter how hard she tried —how hard she wanted to distance herself from that shrewd man, all her paths lead to him. As if it were destiny. Fate.

She opened the door to Abhimanyu's office, a part of her hating that she cared so much about him as she tried to locate the source of the clattering glass.

As she peeked inside, she came across Abhimanyu laying on the sofa chair in his office wearing his navy sweatpants and a matching crew neck laying on his front with his arm flailing out, hitting the coffee table beside him. Her eyes roamed all across Abhimanyu's body before they darted down towards the broken shards of glass on the ground along with a broken bottle of whisky with its contents spilled across the ground around the sofa chair and coffee table.

As the storm outside strengthened, and the loud rumbling of thunder was heard again; the sounds of teeth chattering together a little muffled cries filled her ears. And as the lightening struck again, those muffled cries became louder, mixing in perfectly with the music from the storm.

She searched for the source of those muffled cries to see they were coming from Abhimanyu. His entire body was shaking as his teeth chattered together seeking warmth, comfort.

"Pl...please...no...don't...Maa...no...don't...," he mumbled in his sleep.

Was he having a nightmare? Akshara wondered, as she closed in on Abhimanyu.

Abhimanyu had turned into his side and was now sweating profusely whilst being curled up on the sofa chair like a small, vulnerable baby.

"Noo, d...don't...hhhurt her...," Abhimanyu was talking in his sleep.

~*~

Just as the lightening struck, the cable connection went haywire, before a complete blackout occurred on his television screen. And the voices in the room next to him got louder. And louder. And louder.

12 year old Abhimanyu closed his eyes and prayed to God to restore his television connection because at least the sound of cartoons having fun silenced the war-of-the-words taking place in the bedroom.

"You bitch!" His father's voice was getting even louder than the rumbling of the thunder outside. And even sharper than the sound of lightening.

Slap!

Abhimanyu closed his eyes tightly and held his hands to his ears trying to silence out the sounds of his father hitting his mother.

"Happy place. Happy place. Happy place." He chanted, rocking himself back and forth.

"You're cheating on me? You slept with him? You fucking whore!"