♛ 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖉 𝕽𝖔𝖌𝖚𝖊 ♛

1

Anika always knew that she would never be truly part of the village, thanks to her overly sharp tongue and general disdain for what the others called ancient customs and what she called stupidity.

In her defense, they were stupid. Anyone with half a brain could see that. The rule about girls only being allowed to cook, clean, be eye candy and eventually become baby factories? Bullshit. The fact that because of aforementioned rule, no one thought it was necessary to teach their daughters anything else?

Also bullshit.

Anika, however, wasn't the kind of person to keep her opinions to herself. Oh, no. She was the kind of outspoken, 'unladylike' girl the village was the most unkind to. Of course, she did nothing to change everyone's opinion of her. She often said out loud that it was better to be scorned by an unfair society rather than become one of their obedient little puppets.

Elders despised her for her disdain of ancient holy customs; other girls around her age were all slightly scared of her sharp tongue; their parents were scornful of her opinions, but feared what would happen if their children too began thinking like her.

"She is an embodiment of Naraka!" Rakkammal, the village's resident madwoman had often shrieked to anyone who would listen. "She will bring darkness upon this village one day!"

That was the only thing about Rakkammal that everyone agreed was indeed quite sane.

Gunasekaran, the soft-spoken elderly village headman, upon the requests of several of the people, had reluctantly called the girl into his little hut on several occasions, and had given her the strictest talking-to his nature would allow him to, and every single time, Anika had responded the same way.

She would bow her head slightly, and then speak to him while looking him dead in the eye, something that no other girl her age would have mustered up the courage to do.

"Thalaivar, thank you for taking the time to tell me this, but behaving the way you expect me to is purely against my core values. You're the one who regularly lectures all the children about dharma, karma and obeying your parents. So why do you not see that I am doing the same thing?"

Gunasekaran would always rub his stubbled chin with the back of his palm and give her the same answer. "Kanna, you may be respecting the wishes of your parents, but are you considering the wishes of your elders?"

Again, Anika's answer always remained the same. "The wishes of my parents precede- and will always precede -the wishes of my elders, Thalaivar." She would then incline her head so subtly one could mistake it for a nod, spin around on her heel, and make her way out of the hut.

Gunasekaran would watch her go disinterestedly, long fingers already reaching for his vethalai-paakku and sunnambu. He was the kind of man who could easily forget about any trouble after a few chews of his beeda.

And the times after Anika's visit were no exception to this.

: :

"Why?" The simple question startled Anika out of her reverie. She lifted her head from where it rested on her knees and looked up to meet the bright grey eyes of Arul, the one nagging mosquito in her life she didn't quite know how to slap away yet.

"Why what?" A typical Anika answer. She stretched out her legs from where she had been hugging them to her chest and yawned widely.

"Why do you behave like that?"

"Like what?" She answered, the corner of her mouth quirking up slightly as she watched the boy's jawline tighten with annoyance.

Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

"Like...like...some sort of...I don't know how to explain it," he said, scooting closer to where Anika sat. She immediately scooted further away. Undaunted, he came closer again and cocked his head onto her shoulder, giving her his brightest grin. "But you know what I mean, right?"

Anika froze him off with her usual icy glare. "No. If you can't explain it properly, then don't bother asking in the first place."

"Don't be like what my paatti said," he whined, switching to a look of wide-eyed innocence. "She calls you naraka and...she's not wrong, from what I see."

"Oh?" Her eyebrow lifted up nearly into her hairline. "And what else does Rakkammal-paatti tell her little grandchildren about the terrible naraka girl?"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know, Anika-kutti," Arul drawled, the sudden switch from whiny child to faux-mystery shocking the girl more than she let on. "That information will be yours in exchange for one thing..."

Anika sighed, getting up and stretching laboriously. "What do you want?"

Arul's metallic eyes glinted from where he remained seated. "The maanga thokku you stole from our house yesterday."

"I- wha- hey, that wasn't me! Oh, wait, did your dear paatti tell you that too?"

"She did," Arul confirmed, hopping up. "And I demand that you let us search your house for said maanga thokku. I mean, if you're innocent, let's prove it!"

Anika's dark eyes narrowed at the boy's smirking figure. "No. I'm not letting any boys older than me into my house. I'd like to keep my reputation from going in that direction, thank you very much."

"We're only fifteen~ that doesn't matter, kutti."

"Actually, you're fifteen. I'm still fourteen-and-a-half," the girl spat out, before turning sharply on her heel and stalking off to her hut. "Leave me alone!"

: :

"Haaaa? Is it the asura-girl again?" Leered Vani, the toothless old vegetable vendor. "What fresh witchcraft are you going to lay on my poor tomatoes again?"

Her neighbor, Shailaja, shook her head expressively as she expertly skinned a fish and laid it out on the mat she sold her fish on. "Tch. Remember the last time she came to the market? All the bananas rotted as soon as she touched them." Sighing loudly, she turned to where Anika was rummaging through her small bag for something. "Oi, girl! Don't bring your hands anywhere near my fish this time!"

Gritting her teeth with the effort it took to swallow her snarky comeback, Anika continued stirring through the contents of her tiny purse with a single finger.

Cheh. There wasn't even enough to buy half a bag of daal. She sighed inwardly, buttoning up the purse and shoving it back inside her pocket.

What now? She couldn't exactly turn around and march away- that would give Vani and Shailaja way too much satisfaction and there would definitely be a story being whispered around the village about the two brave women who had saved the market from an evil spirit.

Figuring she might as well have fun while she was there, Anika took a deep breath and strode onward, doing her best to stay oblivious to all the hissed slurs and exclamations of anguish that generally followed her everywhere.

One step at a time, Anika. Don't you dare turn around. Don't run from this.

You may hate it, but this is your life.