Echoes Of Silence - An Arshi FF

🎇Sheetal's Breakdown🎇

Sheetal slammed the door behind her and staggered into her room, her mind spinning.

"Am I your daughter?"

She had asked the question, but she had not been prepared for the answer.

"Yes."

One simple word, yet it shattered everything she had ever believed.

Shalini was not her mother.

The woman who had raised her, who had always told her that Ratna was evil, who had warned her that Ratna wanted to take her away, was not her mother.

Then who was the real evil?

She stumbled back, gripping the edge of the dresser as images from the past flashed through her mind.

Ratna.

The woman who had always looked at her with warmth despite her cruelty. The woman she had insulted, belittled, taunted—all because Shalini had filled her ears with venom.

She clutched her head, her nails digging into her scalp as the memories flooded in.

"You're not my mother! Stop trying to act like one."

"You're just a servant in this house, not my mother!"

"You only want me because you're jealous of my mom. You want to take me away from her!"

"I hate you, Ratna! You will never be my mother!"

Each word echoed in her head like a cruel chant, over and over again.

The way Ratna's face had fallen, the way she had tried to hold back tears but failed, the way she had always responded with love despite the hatred thrown at her—it all came rushing back.

A strangled sob tore from her throat.

What had she done?

She had spent her whole life trying to prove her loyalty to Shalini, hurting the woman who had given birth to her just to satisfy another woman's insecurities. She had believed Shalini's words so blindly that she had never questioned why Ratna, despite all the insults and accusations, never once tried to take her away.

Ratna never fought back.

Ratna never defended herself.

Ratna never told her the truth.

Because Ratna had only ever loved her.

A scream ripped from Sheetal's mouth as she clutched her head, wishing she could silence the voices in her mind. The echoes of her own cruelty tormented her, suffocating her.

She collapsed to the floor, sliding down against the wall as tears streamed down her face.

"I was wrong... I was so wrong..." she choked, sobbing uncontrollably.

She had spent her whole life hating the wrong person.

And now, it was too late.

Sheetal sat frozen, her body shaking violently as the weight of reality crashed down on her. Her mind was a storm of voices—memories twisted by years of manipulation.

"Mumma... I hurt my Mumma..." she whispered, her lips trembling as tears blurred her vision.

Shalini had always told her—"Ratna is trying to snatch you away from me. She does things for you only to win you over. She wants to take you away from your real mother."