Nandini

End Game

After mumbling this without even wasting a second she went straight to her room.
She opened her cupboard, took out her favourite saree, draped it around her curves perfectly, tied her silver waist band perfectly and adorned herself with all the precious jewellery and her favourite anklet for obvious. She stood infront of that large water pot which was filled with water so clear that nandini was able to see her reflection clearly, her beautiful reflection into that water was giving her a glimpse of her beauty which was breath-taking.
Nandini realized her eyes were full of tears this time and she was unable to decide if they were the tears of guilt of what she has done in the past or tears of joy of what she was about to do next.
She didn’t want to waste any more time and wanted to get over with it as soon as possible as everything happening around her was suffocating her.
She put her first step out of the room and the palace was filled with the jingling sound of her anklet making it come alive. She took the lamp next to her door into her one hand and the bottle of oil in the other..
She looked above towards the sky, the sun has settled and the dusk has taken the charge of the day by turning it into a night. She looked at it calmly and then mesmerized by the spell, it took her a second to break herself from the beauty of the spell.
Nandini started moving towards the main door of the palace and was admiring the corners of the palace on her way towards the door.
She was finally there on the doorstep of her palace, she looked the world outside with a satisfying gaze and gave out a huge sigh. She kept the lamp and oil on a table next to the door and was about to close the door when she saw pralat coming and he looked at nandini with his gaze staring down at her soul. There was something deep in his look but nandini knew what she was about to do and what she was supposed to do.
Nandini looked at Pralat for a while, their eyes interlocked but then Nandini broke the connection when she smirked at him with a deadly look in her eyes with her gaze burning and pralat didn’t even got a chance to respond when nandini slammed the door shut at his face. Nandini locked the main door of the palace and without even wasting a second she threw the key into the fireplace for it to melt. Pralat was banging in the door from outside calling out nandini but that was the benefit of heavy doors of palace that it wasn’t easy to open them without the keys.
Pralat was shouting and screaming but nandini was unaffected and with every scream of pralat she was getting a feeling of satisfaction. His helplessness was serving as desert to her joy. Nandini the epitome of beauty, picked up the lamp and oil from the table which she kept on the table while closing the door.
She looked at the entire palace with satisfaction in her eyes and slowly she started pouring the oil over the curtains of the hall and later bringing them in contact with the fire of the lamp. Later moving from the main hall to all the corridor and rooms of the palace, slowly closing the doors of all the rooms, trapping her in laws inside their rooms by closing the doors and putting them on fire. She was enjoying everything and when she was sure about fire reaching to every little corner of the palace, she felt satisfied.
Nandini kept the lamp at one side and started moving across the corridors like she owns the fire, like she owns the destruction.
Her anklets were still jingling across the palace in between of all the chaos. Unaffected by the fact that the entire palace was burning she went inside her room, her room that belonged to nayantara infront of the painting of her mother and stood infront of it smiling at her with tears in her eyes.
Finally nandini spoke, “you were right mother, it should have been me burning in the fire instead of piyali I deserved it more than anyone and I know I betrayed everyone but may be you were right I am cursed, I’m cursed to be left alone, cursed to suffer alone, cursed to get betrayed in love but I needed to end this suffering, not just my suffering but the suffering of this palace, it has suffered enough because of me and it deserve to witness the punishment of its culprit and I’m also giving it an extra entertainment by burning my in laws un this fire. If I deserve to die, they deserve it even more and even after death they are going to suffer here for eternity. No matter whatever I deserve, they have brought death upon themselves by treating a princess like this, these filthy beings are gonna suffer for eternity and with this mother I’m gonna see you on the other side once I’m done here”.
While nandini was about to turn to leave she saw the painting if her mother was strangled into the flames.
Nandini smiled and turned and while she was about to exit the room, she stopped for a second and looked around her room and then thought to herself, “this entire palace belongs to me and in the last moment of peace I’m gonna inhale the essence of every corner of this palace while moving until I go down with it” and by saying that she stepped her feet into the corridors of the palace with her anklets jingling for one last time across the palace. While its beautiful princess got lost into the roaring flames of the fire….