She sat on the train, picturing her smile.
It was radiant and beautiful.
Everything about her was beautiful.
The word 'corrective rape' buzzed in her brain even as the memories drifted in and out of her consciousness.
Maya knew her since childhood.
They were inseparable as kids.
They would play at the swing together; eat lunch with each-other at school; and talk non-stop in the classroom until the teacher asked them to shut up.
They shared everything.
Their clothes; their secrets; their lives.
And that first kiss.
Geetika was being constantly bullied and tormented by a group of girls in their class.
When Maya came to know about it, she stood up to the bullies and supported Geetika.
As they sat in an empty classroom afterwards, Maya began to wipe away Geetika's tears.
It was then that their hesitant, suppressed and somewhat confusing feelings for each-other came to the surface and culminated in that tender kiss.
What followed was a loving and passionate relationship between the two girls.
It was a great feeling to share one's life with a person who knew you inside-out.
Who understood you and cared for you better than anybody else did.
It felt natural and it felt right.
However their parents did not share their viewpoint.
Geetika was being pressurised by her parents to marry a distant cousin while they were still in college.
She had steadfastly refused.
Finally she had confessed to her parents that she loved Maya and that the two were in a relationship.
Maya had come to know that Geetika's parents were enraged.
They had informed Maya's parents as well.
The last few months had been hell.
However, Geetika informed Maya out of the blue one day that her parents have consented to their relationship. She sounded really very happy.
Maya had been naturally elated.
That was before Geetika was taken to her native village on the pretext of attending a wedding.
It was a ploy by her parents to "cure" her of her homosexuality through "corrective rape".
Geetika was repeatedly raped by the distant cousin she was supposed to marry, with the express consent of her parents.
Maya had received the gut-wrenching message from Geetika before the latter's cellphone was apparently taken away.
Maya had informed the police but they proved to be of little help.
When they learned that the two were in a homosexual relationship, the police even turned hostile.
Geetika's body was found on the railway tracks a few miles away from her relative's house a few days later.
Whether she committed suicide or was bumped off because she was proving to be too much of a problem for her family, Maya could never know.
What she did know was that all her dreams and happiness vapourised in an instant.
She cried herself to sleep every single night after the incident.
However, she was determined to avoid a similar fate.
She decided to run away from her house.
Now she sat on the train remembering Geetika even as she headed to an unknown future; a future bereft of her love, bereft of her best friend.
