Bridal Crises

Pauravi's Plight

Pauravi's return to consciousness was a slow, agonizing ascent from a pit of darkness. The pain in her head was sharp, like a knife twisting between her thoughts, slicing through any clarity she might have grasped. She lay still, the world around her an unfamiliar void, her senses dulled by the overwhelming ache that radiated from the back of her skull.

Her heartbeat echoed in her ears, loud and frantic, matching the growing sense of dread that coiled in her chest. The air was thick, oppressive, making it difficult to breathe. She could feel her pulse quicken as fragmented memories began to surface—frantic moments of fear, a flash of movement, and then the sudden, blinding pain. But it was the face—no, the shadow of a face—that lingered in her mind, half-forgotten, half-dreamt, and wholly terrifying.

Her attacker had been all too familiar. The memory was like a whisper in the back of her mind, barely audible but unmistakable. Panic surged through her veins, cold and relentless. Could it have been him? After all these years? The thought made her skin crawl, a cold sweat breaking out across her brow. But it didn't make sense—or maybe it did. She couldn't tell. Everything felt disjointed, her thoughts scattered like autumn leaves in the wind.

Pauravi's eyes flickered, adjusting to the darkness, a dim, shadowy place where the edges of things seemed to blur and twist, as if they were alive. She blinked, trying to bring the world into focus, but the throbbing in her head made it difficult to concentrate. Shapes loomed above her, their outlines indistinct, like figures in a nightmare.

"Is somebody there?!" She strained her vocals, begging for a reply, her mind was a scary place if she was left alone. 

"Somebody help!" 

Her words echoed back to her, endlessly bouncing around the walls, with no reply. 

"Bhanu! Dhara!" Desperation clung to her soul. 

"Anybody! Somebody please!" A sob broke past her lips. 

She cried and shrieked, till her throat could no longer produce words. Concern for her family was eating her alive. "God please let them be fine." She sobbed, tears trekking down her cheeks. She didn't know for how long she had been there. 

The monsters in her own mind were running rampant. 

Memories flashed in her mind, tugging her in the darkness that she was raised in, where the man who was supposed to protect her, had destroyed her, tore her down to pieces, till she was nothing but hollow; dead. 

He towered over her young form, his touch felt like acid on her skin, as she lay on the hard, cold floor, tears trekking down the corner of her eyes, helplessness shackled her bones. 

The all too familiar, sharp acidic smell was her constant companion, as she disassociated herself  from what was happening to her. 

She curled up mentally, pulling herself deep in her mind, where she curled in and sobbed, crying for a mother, she could hardly remember the face of. 

Agony flamed her body, it felt like someone was plunging a sharp dagger in her core, tearing and bleeding it. 

"Um...yes my whore... you feel so good." His occasional grunts would penetrate the darkness that she wrapped so tight around herself. 

Disgust coated her skin, like a slimy sludge, too dark, and impossible to get rid of. She wanted to die, her life meant nothing, but she had to wait because Bhanu needed her. 

The soft smile of her younger cousin filtered through her mind, though they were a few years apart, she felt like Bhanu was hers to protect. That little six year old was her life. The man above her grunted, jerking, shattering through her mind and tugging her back to reality.