My Ruination

Chapter 1.

~Maahira~

"Change. Monumental change. That's what I can feel approaching in your future without any speed limits. You are possibly going to find it right here, in this place." The woman moved her hands animatedly and stared into the space behind me as her beady bracelet jangled and clanked, breaking the eerie silence in this tent where the only source of light was from a crystal ball.

I had one of my palms spread wide open for her observations and the other one rested against my chin as I stifled the urge to yawn on her face. My stepsister was fascinated by this woman as she stared at her movements wide-eyed and coaxed her to continue with her bullshit.

"I see a man." She flexed her skinny fingers over my palm in a circular motion and closed her eyes. "But this man is no ordinary man. He lures the darkness with his shadows, he thrives in aphotic corners and worships no God. I sense a struggle of power, of dominance and of intense raw emotions."

"What does she have to do to avoid any encounters with such a man?" Antara leaned closer to us, almost positioning herself to smack me in my head incase I chose this moment to call out her con artist of a palm-reader. She was dressed like a hobo on Halloween and set up her stall at a freaking children's fair and I could swear she had picked these lines from a third-grade horror movie.

"Oh dear, There is nothing anyone can do to change the fate. And this man? He has embedded his name on her stars and on her soul. There is no escaping him." She exchanged her vision onto me, giving me a psychotic smile and said,
"But I also see fertility. I sense fulfillment of what your life was always lacking."

I fought the crippling need of wrenching my hand out of her hold and balling them up. Marriage was in every woman's fate in our society, infact, marriage was the only thing they had since the age of 22. And fertility? Yeah, definitely not in my cards either. They were not going to fulfil me.

"Do you see any money? Financial stability, power, growth? Anything about my personal life?" I questioned, trying to dilute the venom in my voice. I believed in astrology and all it's mediums but if they have no revelations about things I really desire, I was wasting the time I could spend with my niece, Heer on the ferris wheel.

"I recognize your sorcery with numbers, my child. I recognize the indulgements you would rather lean on. But they are fleeting, momentary and destructive." She smiled, feigning innocence and goodwill.

"You shouldn't have paid her a dime. Then I could have said that money is fleeting, momentary and destructive for the little scam shop that woman is running." I viciously spewed at Antara as we walked out of her tent towards the cart of candied apples Heer has been requesting for an hour.

"Hit that bitch! Hit that bitch!" Heer squealed and jumped in my arms, clapping her hands and her eyes twinkling with aggressive enthusiasm. I chuckled inaudibly but Antara gasped, playfully smacking my shoulder. I don't support violence but the group of teenagers holding a mallet and trying to hit the toy rabbit popping out of the holes were very vocal about it.

"Look, I know you hated whatever observations the palm-reader but I assure you that she is not a fraud. She made some pretty accurate theories on my life and..." There were a million different sounds that could have interrupted Antara but the sound of a gunshot was something I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams.

Before I could process the sound and the imminent threat, the shrill screams and the wild, rampant crowd rushing in different directions knocked us off our feets . I, somehow, found my balance before I could fall on my face but my sister wasn't so lucky. She landed on her ass and the terrified group of parents with their children kept running over her.

I pressed Heer tightly against my body and grabbed ahold of my sister's wrist, basically dragging her and pulling her out of the way. She scrambled to her feet as we ran and hide behind an abandoned stall of game and watched the misery unfold.

10 to 15 dudes dressed in biker jackets strode into the fair, upturning the carts and flashing their guns, forcing the stall owners on their knees and tormenting them for Lord knows what. They weren't particularly after kids but since they open fired at a crowd full of them, they didn't care about injuring and traumatizing them either.

"Who are these people? And what are they doing at a children's fair?" Antara whispered from beside me, her face blotched with tears and her hands trembling as she tried dialing her husband, Arjun. But by the time Arjun comes to their rescue, it might be too late. I jerked her hand away from the phone to get her attention on me.

"Maahi, what are we...how will... I am so scared for us." She wailed as Heer picked up on her mother's duress and sobbed harder. "Listen to me. Nothing is going to happen to you and Heer. Just trust me, okay. We will have to run towards the parking lot." I promised.

"We can't go through the main exit, Maahi. These people have probably barricaded those gates." Antara pointed out and I bit my lower lip in dilemma. It was only a matter of getting them to the parking lot because our father's driver, Lennox was efficient at his job of protecting them and driving them back home safely.

"We won't take the main gate then. We will go through the bushes and take the exit behind the House of Horrors." I pointed out to her as she aggressively nodded her head in agreement. We got up on our feets and ran through the bushes in almost a semicircle, trampeding over the long grass as the men started lighting the shops on fire.

I don't care if I get hurt but I cannot let these men touch my sister or my niece. I loved them too much to make them go through the pain and the suffering and they had people waiting for them to return, safe and sound. And this was the only thought that propelled my legs further as we ducked behind the House of Horrors and spotted an exit.

It went smoothly after that as we found Lennox waiting just beside the exit, our car being parked at only a two-minute walk from that place. Lennox helped my shivering sister through one side as I opened the other side and helped Heer into her booster seat. I was going to get in. I had only one motive right now and that was protecting them.

Until I noticed a little boy hiding behind the upturned candied apple cart, clutching his ears shut and crying his eyes out. I hoped for someone, any guardian or any responsible adult to find him but no one did. It was the gunshot, the screams, the fire raging and the malicious laughter from those mobsters.

"Maahi, get in. What are you looking at?" Antara prompted from within the car and the terror in her panic-striken face rose. I shut the door as Antara seemed to have completely lost it this time.

"Lennox, take them home and make sure they are safe and unharmed." I instructed Lennox who looked like he was ready to put up an argument but wisely chose to follow along. Their lives are way more precious than mine and protecting them should be his first priority always.

"Maahi, where are you going?" Antara's voice rose a bar but I went to the other side and sandwiched her palms between mine. "I just need to do something first but I promise I will be back before the family realizes I am missing." This was supposed to sound reassuring but all it did was sound omnious. The family wouldn't realise I was missing until I was delivered to the doorstep in a body bag.

"I will be waiting for you. You need come back for me, for Heer." She ordered as I quickly kissed her cheek and sprinted off.