The Rage Of The Raped

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

CHAPTER - 1

"Hello. I want to see Prabhavathi Mam. I have her appointment at 10 AM today".

"Your kind name, Sir?", the receptionist said in response to that young man.

"I am Seenu, a writer". The receptionist checked through the system for a while.

"Wait here for 10 minutes sir. Mam will see you then", the receptionist replied after confirming the appointment. Seenu, then moved along with his suitcase to the seat where guests sit. After making himself comfortable, he just gazed his sight around the place. All the people in the hall were women as it should be 'cause it is the organisation run by women, founded by Prabhavathi. It was the year 2033 and the dream of 'A-lady-can-go-fearlessly-even-at-12-in-the-night' had come true finally. It was because of constant efforts by this organisation so named as STRII, abbreviated from Struggle Towards Real Independent India. Kudos to Prabhavathi. It was the consistent work and striking strategy by this 36 year old unmarried lady who made the dream-come-true moment possible.

"Mam has called you, sir"

Seenu took the elevator to the 4th floor where Prabhavathi's cabin is sited. He's bit tensed as on how to start his words, the first question to be put forth and such. As the confusions runs in his mind, the elevator door to the 4th floor opened.

"Where is Prabhavathi Mam's cabin?"

"Right there at the last"

As he moved closer to the cabin's door, his 'bit-tensed' is now 'highly-tensed'. For a moment, he began to sweat. Then he slightly opened the door and peeked into the little gap he made with the door. Prabhavathi looked at it and welcomed him with a smile, "Come on in Seenu. Have a seat", she said.

"Hi. H-I Ma...Mam", he almost spelt out every word while wiping his sweat off.

"Oh my god. A great writer finding it difficult to pronounce and frame a sentence. Come on there young man, feel comfortable", she said that with a warm tone. Her voice is so sweet for her age; her beauty is in no way compatible with her age. She wore just a normal yellow saree but looks beautiful, not just the saree, but also herself.

Feeling quite comfortable after her soothing gesture, he said "Hello mam. I am Seenu, a writer, as you know"

"Yeah I know. An author who wins the Yuva Purashkar Award doesn't need introduction".

Pretty surprised by that mention, he leaned forward and said, "Oh, Mam. Have you read any of my stories before?"

"Any of your stories?",she tittered,"I read all of them. I am a reader by myself. My favorite is HHTF. Aadhil and Chaitna was my best duo couple of all time".

Even more surprised on mentioning the characters' names, he smiled. "It is a real honor to me that you have read my stories, Mam"

"Oh come on. I have been tired of hearing these things. 'Congratulations madam', 'Honored to see you',' You are our nation's prestige'. All those formal-to-the-core are just yuck. Even the old ones call me madam, as though I became old or do I look old?", asked Prabhavathi, still holding her smile as she was from the beginning of the conversation.

"No mam. You look so beautiful", said Seenu with a flow.

Prabhavathi broke into laughter. "Oh my God. Why did I say that?", he said in his mind.

"It's been years since someone told me like that. This is exactly why I like to talk to young people. They make me to go back to younger version of myself. Continue on this pace, Seenu. And don't call me Mam. Call me by my name"

"Alright, Mam. Oops. I mean Prabha", said Seenu.

She suddenly stopped her smile and blinked for a while.

Sensing her change of expression, Seenu said, "Is something wrong?"

She then resumed her smile and said, "It's nothing Seenu. Something struck my mind. We will resume our discussion"

"Alright, Prabha". She smiled a little wide. "In my career, I have written romantic based, thriller based but never a single work based on a true story. And I am here to write one, a story of a rape victim, her struggle against the unpleasant sights of the society, her criticisms after getting raped and her war against the all-time-evil, THE RAPE and all these 'hers' in my sentence goes with the name "PRABHAVATHI" ".

CHAPTER - 2:

I think it was 2019. No. It was 2020, a new beginning of a new decade. I was 22 years old Madurai girl, still a newbie to the real world. Yeah! my age people were following their passion - some had already achieved it, doing great things, making guinness, inventing light weight satellites and more on. But I was just a normal girl, brought up in home under my parents' constant radar. I never encountered the need to go out of my home or home town. My school was just a walking distance from my home. Though I got enough marks to secure seats in well-versed colleges out of home town, I opted, no, my parents made me to opt for the college that is in my locality itself. It's just a 30 minutes bus travel from my home. I was comfortable staying in my circle while my friends used to hang out all the time. I was just living a home-to-college-to-home kind of life. I never went out with my friends, not tried to see some outside world - a big mistake that I didn't know I was making. In fact I never needed to know since my parents showered happiness to my circle with their love and care. That's why instead of going out with my friends , I preferred reading thriller story books. That's why instead of going to the trips to enjoy, I enjoyed playing chess and carrom with my three sisters. I never went out of the circle and never felt the need to.

It was that time of my college time where I got real serious and of course it was the first time to do so. My father is a farmer and also owned a grocery shop. He had incurred a huge loss in fields as well as in shop. It was my final year of my college and it was the hot season of placements. As every one know, it was all just IT companies and they were open to every branches of engineering. Though I am from civil background, I started learning C language. While my friends were not interested in working at one IT firm and was dreaming of building many, I was attracted to the steady and decent pay they offer. The things like I had three sisters, their marriage, my marriage and the sense of bringing my family back on feet made me passionless and to work for whatever it takes to grab a job in placements. Yeah! I just went to the life's way and never had my own. But that wasn't bed of roses too. Speaking English in interviews by a tamil medium school girl is not always easy. Adding to these hurdles, studying computer related things by a civil student is definitely not a easy hurdle. Of course 'follow your passion', 'love what you do' seemed meaningless to me. Yet one quote worked for me is that 'The purpose is the best motivation'. The faces of my three sisters and my family's situation paved me to achieve two things. Atleast it seemed an achievement to me but definitely it's not. I cracked the interview in a well reputed company as a tamil medium school girl and passed the training period of two months as a civil branch student.

During my training, studying the contrast-to-my-college-studies is not only the hurdle I faced. Yet another one, the difficult one, came in the form of the thing known as 'Transition of the life style'. Oh my God! the changes were everest high and again atleast to me they were that high. Coming out of my home and my home town, staying in PG, coping up with new people from all over India, the traffic - Oh my! that traffic thing were all like a whole new threatening to the core package. But much to my surprise I survived; not only the training assessments but also the changes to which I'd got adapted. I was like 'Got to add this in my own record of guinnesses'. But without giving the gap to feel that sense of relief of finishing training, I got an another new package to unpack. I was deployed in a project in Pune.

The funny thing about life is that it will give bad things while we are expecting good things and will offer good things when we expect otherwise. Now it was the turn for me to get into the second option. There was frights all over my nerves but hell Yeah!.Multiple 'muchs' to my surprise, I find it easy to quickly adapt to that frightening to the death changes. Almost everyone took the best care of me. Literally everyone. It's not that people in Chennai, the training location of my job, was bad. To be honest, there is no one way to praise the helping tendency of the city. But Pune was different.There was one manager who is the most wanted by all employees. He goes by the name Chandimal Singh. The reason behind his most wanted manager thing is that every manager knows how you should get the job done from your employees but this guy knows how you should not get the job done from your employees. In ease, I got the manager. The next best thing that everybody expects is a good team mates and I got the best crew of all. The one girl from that crew of mine became the best friend. I would mention her as bestest if the word exists but sadly it doesn't. She was a localite of Pune, though she stays in a PG along with me since her home is far away from the office. We were behaving like the long time sisters yet we had known each other for just a month. I shared everything that happened in my life with her and also the things obviously. What belonged to her became mine and what is owned by me is now hers. It's like Mahabharata Krishna's quote - What is now yours will be others afterwards. At some point, we were beginning to forget whose that dress actually was, whether mine or Nisha's. Oh I forgot to mention her name. That girl's name is Nisha Begum.

Everything was not just fine but went great. All the situations in my family slowly got rectified with my support and me and my father even started depositing money in the bank for my marriage and my sisters'. My point of view of happiness totally got changed. The circle where I dwelled had been struck out for good. I enjoyed life both inside and outside the workplace. Work got interested and I used to go outings with Nisha and other friends often in week ends. There was one happiest incident that desreves a mention. It was my birth day on April 7th. Nobody wished for my birthday including Nisha. I was giving many signs so that she could understand my birthday. But she didn't, actually she acted like she didn't. After finishing my work in office, I was about to leave. Nisha told me that she had some work and she will arrive to PG late. But somehow all of my office mates including Nisha and even the manager himself went to my PG before I could. I was shocked to see the door open. When I opened it, there was a huge bunch of people shouting happy birthday. Initially got frightened and then surprised and finally tears fell out when I cut the b'day cake. I had got many gifts. Nisha gifted me a beautiful pink saree and manager gifted me a cup scripted with 'Cheers to my lovable daughter'. I really felt moving at his gift. Missing my dad in Madurai, these words opened tears like a faucet. This was my first b'day celebration of my life time. I enjoyed like anything. Seriously no words could explain that feel then. When the party was over, I and Nisha opened all the gifts. Of all the gifts, one gift surprised me and Nisha as well. It was a love proposing gift card. Unexpected and flattering too.

"Oh a real birthday gift", commented Nisha. She turned to me and said noticing my face,"Is this the cute little blushing?"

"Oh shut up Nisha. I am not". But I was. The first blushing in my life.

"Let's see that Romeo's name", said Nisha.

"It's Ram", I said it without looking into the name card. God! why did I say that and that too to Nisha. My eyes immediately went to name card after I saw that card. Come on!, it's a natural instinct.

"Oh you said that without looking into the name card?. I thought it was Shakespeare's Romeo but it was 96 Ram and guess who's that Janu", said Nisha. You would understand this humor if you know this old best epic love story of my time. I reacted as though I was irritated but deep down I was little bit excited. Alright a little more excited. This is what the girls of my time would do. We won't ever express those deep feelings. Even if we love a guy, we won't express that sooner. We would make the guys to long for us and make them wait a long time. It's a kind of enjoyment to us. Today's girls are not like us. They are quick in committing and in the same speed they leave. But we won't be leaving our guys that soon. Wait a minute. I just got excited about this Ram guy and went on to love. I know something had occurred to me. After all those teasing and talking, Nisha went to sleep. But I didn't. I just went to bed and then went on to think about 'Who was Ram?', 'How he looked like?' 'Is he handsome?" and more. At that time I never thought about what is going to happen to me in my life in just three days.

CHAPTER - 3 :

Two days after.......

"I am sorry to say this dear beta. Tomorrow, I had to put you in the 2 pm to 11 pm shift. I know this late night shift is tough being new to Pune but bear this just for one day. After that, I can make sure that you will be put back to the normal shift. Are you okay with this?", said Chandimal Singh.

"No problem, sir", I said. and went back to my PG thinking that there would be no problem as I said. But there was.

I woke slightly late in the morning as I was asked to go to the office only in the noon. When the clock hits 2 pm, I came to office working in my new shift. As I was working, my mind slightly slids to Ram. Not only then but for the last two days since my birthday. Not knowing why. Not knowing how. Simply Ram is all about.

In break out area, while I and Nisha was having coffee, Nisha said something which I forget now. After sensing that I didn't pay attention to her words, she said , "Hey, are you in break out area or are you still in that love proposing greeting card?".

I suddenly came back to reality from dreaming about and said, "Yeah tell me".

"Actually I've already finished telling you a thing", said Nisha.

"What thing?"

"I guess we got to settle some other thing first", stared Nisha.

"Don't look at me like that. I am not thinking about Ram".

"I didn't mentioned him so far, actually", said Nisha and folded her hands, giving me an intense sight.

"Alright, I give up. I can never get my mind out of him. Not because that I love him but because of this excitement, that sense of feel, you know. Something like....How can i explain?", I said stumbling with words with my hands going round and round.

"I can understand, baby", she said patting my shoulders, "Relax. He will show up soon. Even I don't know him who he is, how is he like but I can be sure that he will show up".

"Will he?"

"He will" and he did, not that time but later that day

When the time was around 6, Nisha left as she's done for that day but mine was not. I had to be there till 11. It was the first time that I stayed in the office after 6. I wasn't used to the things after 9 in the office. After I finished my dinner at 8, I started my work again. At 10:45, a security of the ODC gate distributed tea and snacks to everyone working there. I heard that earlier it wasn't been like this. It was after Chandimal, these kind of great care is happening. God, he's a manager of everyone's dream. After 11, I got up to leave.

I went out, walking in the sidewalk to reach the main gate. As I was walking, I was booking a cab to my PG. I had to book a cab of my own since I had to wait a long time for the office cab. As I was doing the booking, I had a sense that I was being followed. I was constantly looking back, wishing my assumption was wrong. Adding to my panic, the cab wasn't getting booked. It was hard to book cabs in the night as the driver won't be driving that late. I began to sweat, panicking like never before. I was looking back and looking at my phone. Many times of Oh God in my mouth, I sweat and sweat. But suddenly, a car was riding straight to me. No it wasn't my cab. A guy came out from the car and approached me. All of a sudden, my panic was over but now struggling to recollect this face of him.

"Hi Prabha". I can't recollect him but I know for sure that he's Ram. Now my panic was resumed, only now this time a more-panicking. Also, to be honest, the panic was mixed with a sense of excitement. He smiled and continued, "I am Ram".

I was like 'Oh god' many times in my mind with no words in my mouth. He's actually handsome than I thought., more gentle and definitely a great catch. Having the crush for the first time is new to me but I tried not to show off, a thing in which my age girls are the best.

"Who are you?", I said softly.

"Oh come on Prabha. You know who I am. You might be dying to see me after all, right?", said Ram.

No, I can't loose. I am a 90's kid girl. I cannot show off my excitement to a guy I had crush with. "No, sir. I don't know you. I am sorry", I said even softer.

"Oh you serious?. I thought you know me. I am the one who gifted you a card in your birthday, remember?", said Ram after he bought my acting. That's 90's girl for you, my boy.

"Oh! I am really sorry. I didn't opened all my gifts yet. I planned to open it in this weekend. I am really sorry". Yeah I lied. If it wasn't for this lie, he wouldn't totally bought it.

"It was good actually. Now that I can tell it by myself instead of doing this just by a card", Ram said.

My heart beat is now a drums. 'Beat it slow', I screamed in my mind and to the contrast of my expectation, he said something else.

"Oh! what am I thinking. It was about 11:30 and I am here just talking to you. Let me drop you off in your PG. Wait. Actually can I?", Ram said.

I had no choice but to nod. Yet my mind calculated many parameters in just two seconds. 11:30. No cab. No one there to help me. Can I trust him?. Of course I can 'cause he's from my office. Yes all the safety parameters are now ticked right. Such fast safety thinking can be done only by us. I nodded.

Then he opened the door for me. I went in. He started the car. He turned on the music, a romantic song - 'Mundhinam Parthanae(I've seen you yesterday)' , a song of craze at our times. The featured dialogue "Hi Malini ! , I am Krishnan. Nan idha solliyae aaganum, ni avlo azhagu. Inga evlo ivlo azhaga oru....ivlo azhaga pathuruka matanga and I am in love with you"("Hi Malini ! , I am Krishnan. I have to say this. Nobody here would have seen such a beauty and I am in love with you") came before the song. This is how the song used to be and I was mad about the song then, still I am. He glanced at me, smiled, saying that this was the thing I was about to say. His mouth didn't say it but his eyes did. I smiled like Malini in that song. At every lines of that song we did the same thing, smiled and smiled. He looked at me more than he looked at the road. Oh God!. The song was killing me. I got to say. You must be at least a 20's kid to feel this scene. He also tossed me a tin of coke and he drank the same. As I am narrating this, I am longing to go back then but what I did after that was a true stupidity.

The song was just half over and my eyes was beginning to open and close. I was stopping my smiles and before that song was over I fell asleep. Yeah, I fell asleep. I don't know whether it was the AC of the car or the tiresome day or something else. My boy of my dream was about to say his love but I slept. What a disgusting stupid I was. I know for sure that he's about to say his love and later, few days after making him longing, I would confess but all those flushed into the gutter. What a waste it had turned out to be.

The next morning I woke up late from my bed. I was in my bed somehow. He must had lifted me up and put onto my bed. I was up in the 8th floor of my apartment but he still lifted me and put safely onto my bed. Really! a romantic scene that I really missed. But something didn't seem right. I felt distressed. But I had some other thing to worry about. I was late for my office.

"Hey Prabhavathi!. Get up. Go get bath. Go go go"

I jumped out from bed, got ready for my office, went back to my normal shift and normal routine but after reaching the office I felt really bad not just because I did slept last night. It was something. Something else.

"Hey you. What happened last night?. What did he say?. Did he proposed?. Did he stand on one knee?. What what what. Tell me. Tell me", asked Nisha.

"How did you know that he met me last night?", I asked her with a surprise look.

"I saw him beautifully lifting you up and put you on bed. He lifted you like a delicate flower. I wish I too feel the same some day", said Nisha. I blushed. Oh my god!. What a life I was living. Just a circle decided my life back then but all of a sudden, the first proposal, the first crush, the first heart beat rise, the first blush and the the most important of all, the first love. Yeah I fall in love. "Blush afterwards, Prabhavathi. Tell me what happened. Fast fast fast", she said.

"Alright alright. Let me tell. I fell asleep", I said.

Nisha was paralysed for a moment. Then she goes, ' Whaaaaaaattttttttttt'. Her 'what' made some people to give a glare at her. Afterwards, they looked after their work. Then I shushed her. She then silently said, "What?".

"Yeah Nish. I don't know whether it was the tiresome day or the AC thing. I just .... just fell asleep". I shrugged. "And you know what?", I said leaning forward to continue a point.

"Now what?. You snored?", said Nisha.

"I think I am not you, Nish", I commented. Yeah she used to snore that half of my sleep were ruined.

"I don't snore", she looked fiercely at me.

"Yeah you do", I laughed. She glared at me like a hawk.

"Alrighty. Let me say you one thing. Yesterday, Chandimal came to my dream and closed my mouth tight"

" And you know what?. One or the other day you're gonna marry a man like Chandimal. You're never gonna get a man like Ram".

"And you are now cursing me?". Her curse somehow turned out to be true after. In fact first part of her curse hasn't happened and second part did happened. I neither married Chandimal nor Ram. Later that day, something out of her curse happened. I was waiting for Ram to show up. It was post lunch. It was post tea break and now with only half an hour to go to finish my day. I waited, waited and waited for one whole day. I didn't get what I was expecting but something unexpected. Really unexpected.

"Some guy named Ram was hit with the car accident", some colleague next to me discussed with the other. I didn't heard it quite clear. I tapped him and enquired him again.

"What did you just said?", I asked, hoping I heard it wrong.

"A guy named Ram met with the accident and died today", said that guy.

"Which Ram?".

"Let me show you. His pic came in the whatsapp group", he said and gave me the pic.

It was Ram, my Ram, my love of my life. I stepped out of my chair, walked slowly, then moved fast and then ran to the wash room. Nisha saw me and asked the guy what he told. Then she ran after me to the wash room. When she opened the bath room door one by one and found me at the last one, she saw me crying and crying with my hands on my face, sitting on a toilet seat.

I can't understand the whole concept of the life. I struggled hard in my early life to get a life like that and when it was all falling in the right place, there I was, sitting on a toilet seat, just to hid my crying face.

He gave me the first excitement, first blush, first crush, first heart beat rise and all of a sudden he ripped my heart to give me the first grief.

CHAPTER - 4 :

"You got to come out of this Prabhavathi", Nisha said,"I know it is hard but you haven't came to our office for three days straight"

Yeah! I didn't go to the office for three days, just eating a little bit, not quite often, just to hold my breath and for what, to just think of him, my love and my disaster. I didn't respond to Nisha. I just stayed quiet to her worries about me. I don't remember what she exactly said after that but I didn't replied a word. I didn't even looked at her. Yeah, she had so much care on me which sadly I couldn't respond to, back then.

"These are my last words, Prabha",said Nisha. I looked at her for the first time. This is because she called me 'Prabha' which Ram used to call me.

"Get up and have breakfast", said Nisha. Without uttering a single word, I got up and ate. She was happy to see me back on my feet and a little surprised too.

"Just one day, Nisha. Let me stay for one day alone in the home. I am trying to get this thing away from me. Please Nisha, let me take just one day off. I think I might get back on my feet", I said looking at her eyes.

"Don't ask please, dear. I know what you are going through and it is hard. Take as much time as you want but please swear on me that you will be back on your feet". I nodded with a slight smile. She smiled back and went to office.

I just sat on the sofa for a while, then made a cup of coffee for myself. I went to the balcony to get some air but what I comprehended was the one night, just one night, something I expected never to happen but it did happened and was taken away just like that. What can I do. I had nothing but to move on. Just then I thought I could move on, my room's door bell rang. I didn't heard the first two rings but then came to the present mind and I opened the doors.

"Hello mam. I am inspector Harish Kalyan. I am here to talk about Ram", said the Police in disguised, wearing normal casual dress, accompanied by another police man who's also disguised to conceal his identity. I struck deep that I stood still for few seconds and then welcomed them. I made coffee for both of them, sat on the chair, while they sat on the couch.

"As I said, I am inspector Harish Kalyan. He's constable Jaganathan. You are Prabhavathi, right?". I nodded. He sensed my fear and confusion on what was going on and he comforted with some soothing words like 'Feel comforted', 'Don't be afraid' and so on. I don't remember what he said exactly but it did made me comfortable.

"This may be shocking to you. You might break down but be bold", said Mr.Harish. All of a sudden, his soothing words turned vain 'cause my fear increased exponentially. Heart beats was now beating like a DTS 5.1 sound speaker.

"There's a great chance that Ram might be murdered", said Mr.Harish.

That was all. I could feel my heart beat almost stopped for few moments, contrast to the speaker beats before. I almost started crying and I did cried, I guess. Mr.Harish suggested me to have some water and I drank it.

"It's pretty normal that someone could break down at situations like this but what you should focus is that you should find who actually did this and our police team is there to help you at any time", said Mr.Harish. I just took a few seconds to gather my mind back and convinced me to stay strong at that moment.

"What should I do, sir?", I said it quiet strong.

He smiled and continued, "That's good, Prabha". I think I was leading somewhere in my life and this word 'Prabha' was the pure indication and it just says 'Go on Prabha, You are going in the way that was destined to some purpose'. Ram's way of calling me 'Prabha', had lit the way I was going.

"Here's the thing, Prabha". I leaned showing high level of focus, opening my eyes and ears wide. "We had gone through the post mortem report and here's what we got. Injuries that might be due to a knife stab and some intense beatings that happened just before the car hit him was reported. These injuries were no way connected to the car hit. Yeah, the car might have hit him to death but we suspect that something prior to the car hit had occured to him. So far, in our investigations, we found out that he has travelled 22 minutes in car at 11 in the night to your room. The CCTV footages in your appartment confirmed it. And from your appartment he went somewhere, strictly not to his room because we found his car far away from his home and drowned in the lake. Having a car of his own, there's no need for him to walk on the road and got hit by a car. We checked his phone and found something and this is where you should pay attention". I narrowed my eyebrows. "He tried to call you but there's no tower it seems and thought of messaging you which he didn't send. He was hit with the car as he was typing the message. That message was saved in the draft and the message timing and the timing of his death according to the post mortem are exactly same", said Mr.Harish. I leaned backwards and said, "What was the message, sir?"

"Don't be", said Mr.Harish. My eyebrows was even narrowed. "Do you have any idea or guess of what he had tried to send?. This could really help the case to move forward", said Mr.Harish.

I thought for a while and said, "I don't know sir but what happened that night is that he dropped me and while driving he proposed to me but I fell asleep". "Asleep?. Then, how can you say that he proposed?", asked Jaganathan. Then I went into my room, took the greeting card that was given by Ram and gave it to them. "He gave this on my birthday and I knew that he is about to propose me that night but I don't know what he's trying to message me, sir".

Mr.Harish saw closely the card and suddenly said, "Can I take this?", said Mr.Harish. I gave him the sighed look and he understood what I was feeling. This is the only thing I had in memory of him. He said that he would take a photo and immediately left, promising me to find what had happened to Ram.

I went to office, the next day, trying to face myself to the normal routine. However, I won't stop thinking about Ram, not worrying but to find who did this to him. Nisha backed me well. We tried going to his home but found nothing. Even we went to the lake to find something related to Ram and ended in nothing. We were almost in a no-way-to-go situation. We returned to office.

"Nisha, help me with one thing. We got to remove things from Ram's cabin. There might be some files still in his cabin. Could you please take things out and hand it over to me?. I should make a report of it. I can't ask Prabhavathi to do it. You know....", said Chandimal to Nisha.

"Yeah sir. I can understand. I'll do it", said Nisha.

She searched his drawers and found some papers, something important to project. In the last drawer, beneath some papers, there was some small empty bottles labelled as roofies. She handed the files to Chandimal and took those bottles to me. We surfed and found the thing that frightens me to the very soul. Nisha hit her head and I suddenly started crying.

"Don't decide for yourself, Prabhavathi. We have some tests for this. We can do that, Prabhavathi", said Nisha. I continued to sob, almost fell on the ground. Nisha hold me when I was about to fall. She too started to cry. I was devastated. After hours of crying, she convinced me and took me to the hospital. The tests seemed to be showing no signs of sperm but found some traces of male Y chromosomes.

Yeah I was raped. Raped brutally and unconsciously. Having named Ram, he acted like a brutal Ravanan.

CHAPTER - 5

"Do you know?. Ram had raped Prabhavathi. The total talk of the office", an employee said to his gang in the cafeteria, eating the mouthful of chapathi.

"Yeah I too heard but what is amusing me beneath her saddening state is that why did she went with someone she knows just that night. I think something is wrong with her", said an employee.

"Stop it. She's right behind us", said some guy from the group.

Nisha came rushing to that table and slapped two of the guys. I went crying into the wash room as I would always do for the past two weeks. Nisha saw me going and turned to those guys. "Now happy?. Do you think Ram raped her?. No. No. You, your words did". She literally started crying. "Pity. She is so pity. Coming from Tamil Nadu with lots of fears and responsibilities on her shoulders, she doesn't know whom to have trust on. Just because our office welcomed her gracefully, she began to trust everyone in our office. If it wasn't for our office guy, she wouldn't have gone that night. Pity, she is. If this was known to her parents, her parents would hung themselves.",she cried even more. "Her wings had already been removed and your words had already removed lots of feathers from her", she pleaded with her palms pressing each other, "Please, Please. Let her have some feathers. Let her have some non-crying days. Approve her some non-shameful days. Please, please and please".

Yeah, my story was known to almost everyone in the office. Even, Chandimal knew it. He would sometimes call me and gave some golden words of support - a rain in my desert. Even that wasn't enough. Even I couldn't take leave as my earned leaves was over. Nisha had been with me throughout. She was the only supporting stick for my broken heart, my broken soul. With her, moving on seems quite easy but society thought otherwise. Everywhere I went, I went with criticisms, I went with humiliations, with cries, with tears, stabbing with words - 'Why did she went with Ram?', 'Can't a girl think twice before going with a guy at night?', 'What type of girl she is?'. Nisha would slap and yell at them every time but nothing changes. My humiliations, My cries was like written strong on the rock.

"I know it's been tough in Pune. Just being here, just kills you. I can feel it, beti. For that only, I am transferring you to Chennai. In prior, you can go your hometown for a week and spend some days with your family. I am doing this because even if I can't see the old Prabhavathi, she should be fine, not totally though, but somewhat fine. I miss you, beti', said Chandimal.

That day was unforgettable. The day I missed Nisha, the only good thing happened in Pune. I was about to take flight but I opted for train to slow things, to slowly forget what happened in Pune, what injuries it made, what impact it made, slowly and everything. When I was boarding, Nisha hugged me tight and cried and cried and I did too. It was like both saying 'Don't leave me' and we almost did but didn't because we both knew I could not stay in Pune amid criticisms and humiliations. Peace seemed meaningless in Pune. With cries from Nisha and hope of getting peace from my hometown, my family and hearing my language, I entrained. The same fears I entered Pune, with the same fears I departed Pune.

29 hours 30 minutes, it took to forget something, yet not everything and reached Madurai. The moment the train entered Madurai, I smelled relief, something that I longed for. When I saw my dad and when he touched around my shoulders, I smiled. That smile was priceless. Then a little surprise. When I reached my village and my home, my whole family was there. I jumped in joy. Right from my aunt and uncle to my baby cousin, everyone was there. It was like my reformation phase was started. I almost forget what happened in Pune and just enjoyed one week of happiness, love, care, relief and most importantly peace, the most in-demand product then. When you hold a baby and that baby holds your one finger with all it's little tiny fingers, I bet on, every disasters would flew off. There was my little cousin, annoying to everyone, but funniest to watch, became the source of my laughs. He disturbed everyone including me tying a ballon scripting 'If you pin my tail, I'll fart like a bomb'. I didn't realize until everyone laughed at me. Soon after I realized, I took off the ballon and chased that little rat. He ran fast and hid in the back of the door of my room. When I opened the door and went inside, he ran behind me, out of the room. He was a wit at his age, outsmarted me every time he did this. When he ran from my room, I didn't chase him again. I saw a mirror, went near and saw my smile getting reflected. "Everything is fine now", I said.

After one week, I went back to Chennai, one year after my training. One month went. I was still fine. No criticisms. No humiliations. Just peace and smiles. It was because no one knew. I was working great, finishing work on time with great optimizations in code. I was beginning to get appreciations from my then manager, a strict manager. "He would praise no one but you". This was the thing everyone told me when he praised me for the first time. I learned things and applied it efficiently. I saw growth in my career. I even got promoted to next grade of my salary. Everything was fine until one mail hit my mailbox.

Dear Prabhavathi,

Greetings from Menon.

We have now got 8 freshers on react in Pune. We need you here in Pune for giving them a training session on styled components, hooks and redux. The number of days you need for that session will be according to your will. If you can do this, please raise a travel and transit house request. We will make things work as soon as possible.

Thanks and Regards.

Gowtham Menon.

I got to go to Pune. There was a lot of formalities to be done if I didn't opt for it and with this strict manager, it was better to go to Pune. After all, it was my wish on how long I should stay. I could finish things off quite fast and would flew off from Pune and I was excited to meet Nisha.

When I landed, Nisha came running and hugged me tight. She took every bags and carried till we reached the cab. It was really nice to see her again. It was a sisters' reunion.

"How are you, Prabhavathi? ".

"I've been better but now I feel like I found out something I lost a months ago. How are you, Nish?".

"I was fine but now even finer".

When I was travelling around Pune in the cab, some old fright haunted me but with Nisha, I think I was okay then. She left me in the transit house and then I got refreshed after finishing the registration formalities. I got coffee and some dinner after that. When I went to bed, I kept on reminding myself. 'Only five to six days. Finish your session. Then off. Off from Pune'. I slept.

When I went to the office, everyone stared at me strangely. I ignored, headed straight to the conference hall where 8 freshers were there.

"Hello guys. I am Prabhavathi from Chennai, your trainer on styled components, hooks and redux. Let's have quick introduction on each one of us".

Everyone introduced their names, which I forgot but one left my heart beat still for a second.

"Hi Prabha mam. I am Ramalila", she said. I changed my expression, sighed and then smiled. After the introduction was over, I straight away started the session. Poor children. They really didn't liked to start the session on the very first day. I could feel only sorry for them but couldn't stop the session. I had to go out of here. The session was for two hours, from 3 pm to 5 pm. I wasn't going fast just because I had to go fast. I went slow on the session, making sure that they understood completely. After 5 pm, I went to the break out area where I and Nisha would meet.

"It's been so long. I am so happy that you are back to me, back on track".

"Me too, Nish. Ever since I left, it's like a weight in my heart. I really missed you, Nisha".

"Today, no matter what. You should come to my room".

"Your room?. It's my room too. I need no approvals".

"Alright roomie". We laughed and suddenly stopped just to realize that our laugh was so long back. We stood away from our chairs and hugged tight and cried, saying 'I missed you' to each other.

"There's 144 rule in Pune due to the protest here. No buses will run today", a lady on the news channel said.

"Seems we got to book cab to our room", I said. We booked cab and went to the car as soon as it came.

"Don't believe. I say don't believe government. A normal people can never lead a happy life in this damn stupid country", said the cab driver on the reflection of the protest going on Pune.

I was struck deep when I heard the man's words. I was stunned for a while. Somethings from past kept rolling in my mind but I kept quite. When I got down, I was now even terrified. When I got out of the car to go to my old room, I was shocked to see one thing from my phone. The app of the cab showed '22 minutes' as the duration of the travel. I just took the screenshot and kept quiet. We had an amazing night that night, a fun filled talks in which almost tears rolled up and stomach pained. Yeah I was okay. Even in Pune, I was okay. Even in office I was okay. Even if I were in hell, I would be okay.

Two days went. It was Ramalila's birthday. Chandimal planned her birthday the same way he did to me only thing since she had no roommates, he had no keys to get from He had to break open the door and set things up. Ramalila was really happy when everyone shouted her happy birthday. I gifted her a saree. She liked it so much.

"Thank you Prabha mam", she said. 'Okay, there are some unfinished business here', I thought to myself.

"Folks everyone, today on account of Ramalila's birthday, I am gonna take everyone to my house for the lunch", said Chandimal. Everyone whoo whooed. "Only If you could bear my wife's cooking". Everyone laughed. There was only 10 members in the party so that his wife could cook. We went there and had a lot of fun but one guy's face struck my heart deep. Deep as hell. He was a maid in Chandimal's house. He was looking at me strangely. I kept on rubbing my mind just to remember his face and once I did, It hit my soul strong, frightened to the very bottom of my heart. As soon as the lunch was over, I rushed to Nisha's PG along with Nisha.

"What is happening Prabhavathi?. You seem so disturbed", said Nisha.

"Yeah I am disturbed, Nisha. Disturbed deep".

"On what?. Disturbed on what?", said Nisha.

"I'll tell you. Can you drive fast?", I said turning to the cab driver.

I went straight to the maintenance room, not even to Nisha's room, requested some CCTV clips to play on. I just watched one single clip for 10 minutes and found out a thing. I copied that clip to my phone and went to Nisha. I dragged her to the room and closed the door. She was completely confused on why I was acting so weird.

"It was Chandimal, Nisha. It was Chandimal ", I said.

"What was Chandimal? ", she said.

"The dream I dreamt was not a dream. It was real", I said.

"What dream?. What are you even talking?".

"It wasn't don't be. The be in the sentence wasn't completed. It's 'Don't Believe'. He was about to type, 'don't believe'. Before he could type this, he met with an accident".

"What....". Before she could finish her question, she started to realize what I was trying to say.

"Yeah , Nisha. See the duration of the travel from our office to our room here. It was 22 minutes", I passed the screenshot I had taken before. "That day in our cab was the day our Government laid 144 rule. So it means no traffic. So the driver brought me in 22 minutes. The time I traveled with Ram was night. It means no traffic too. Harish Kalyan told me that our travel lasted for 22 minutes. If the travel time was same, it means he didn't stopped the car to rape me because the driver didn't stopped too. He could not rape me while driving and I am damn sure there's no one except us. So no one raped me and that includes Ram too".

"But, the reports from the doctor....."

"Yeah, Nish. I will get there. But listen as of now". she nodded. I continued.

"Once Ram left me in our room, then two people came to our room".

"Two?".

"Wait, Nish till all make sense to you", I said.

"Okay okay. Go on".

"Two people entered our room. They made something to put you unconscious on sleep for a while and kidnapped me. As I was on roofies, this part of work was easy for them. They took me to some place and raped me. After that they were about to put me in our room. They put me in their car and drove. Then, I guess the dosage of roofies was low that I got up after dosage was over. When I woke up, I was bit surprised to see Chandimal and some other guy there. He then stuffed me with the same roofies. After that, they put me back to our room. When I woke up, I thought it was a dream but it wasn't. It was there in my conscious mind, never in my sub conscious mind. I just confused it. That's all. It wasn't a dream, it was real".

Nisha's eyes got widened. "Who was the two guys?".

"It was Chandimal and the servant guy from his house. I've seen him in my dream. To be precise, I've seen him that day. He too must have raped me".

"If they had entered in our apartment, they should have caught in our CCTV footages, right?"

I showed her the clip from my phone which I had just copied.

"See this part of the clip. The cat here is running from this dustbin to that door and see this part of the clip. The same cat is again running from the same dustbin to the same door. There's no way for the cat to reach the dustbin. It has to go back from the door to the dustbin but it didn't. Then how it is coming from the same dustbin to the same door. See the same cat again, it passes from the same bin to the same door. It was the same cat again and again throughout the video"

"So?", the confused Nisha said.

"The video was looped and played throughout that night. Nothing was recorded. Remember, the next day, the CCTV maintenance was done?".

"Yeah I now remebered". It all made sense to Nisha, then.

"Yeah Nisha. You know how did they came to know about the CCTV maintainance and all?. They used my birthday. We all thought that Chandimal got the keys from you to surprise me. No, it was for finding the maintainance room and the location of all CCTV cameras"

"Now it make sense to me", she said."But one thing, how did Chandimal put roofies into your body?", asked Nisha.

"It was in the night shift's coffee, Nisha"

"But how are you so sure that the roofies wasn't in the drink that Ram gave it to you?. Is it because of your love and trust on Ram?", said Nisha.

"Yeah Nisha, I loved him so much but I believe in the facts more than the trust on any one".

"Then what is it?. How can you be so sure?", saked Nisha curiously.

"The devil is the details, Nisha. I don't know whether I am good at remembering things or something but do you remember?. The day when we googled about the roofies, we read that roofies will start it's effect in just 30 minutes. I just drank the juice that Ram gave me and went to sleep after 5 minutes. I shouldn't have slept if that drink has roofies. It was in the night shift coffee. I had it in 10:45 that night and I started to sleep after 11:15. See, exactly 30 minutes".

Nisha was broken into pieces. "So it was Chandimal?. It was Chandimal". She was breathing fast, her heart beats was fast and finally started to cry but I didn't.

"Come on, Nisha. this isn't the time for crying". She stopped her cry for a second and looked at me surprisingly.

"This is the time for rage. The rage of Prabhavathi. THE RAGE OF THE RAPED".

CHAPTER 6 :

"Sir, earlier I told it was enough for me to finish the session in 5 days but now I need some more days. 3 days extra, may be", I said to bench manager, who handles the freshers on bench.

"You can extend to whatever the days you want. Just make sure they get it well and of some use in their project. Just extend your transit house duration", said the bench manager.

"Thank you, sir".

In the break out area, I and Nisha joined for a coffee and a small talk. We made sure no one was looking at us and talked silently.

"What we're gonna do and how?", asked Nisha.

"We just can't do anything until he confesses. We are gonna make him confess".

"Alright. Great idea but again I have to go with 'How?' ".

I looked little intense at her comment. She shrugged.

"Okay. Listen, now Ramalila will help us in this. You know I was put in noon shift when I was raped that night?", I said.

"Yeah"

"I felt like someone followed me that night. It gotta be Chandimal".

"How are you so sure?. It might be Ram, right? ".

"No. He came in front of me in his car. Some other person stalked me. I am sure it wasn't Ram", I said.

She saw me doubtedly. "So, your plan?".

"You remember that I told you about the CCTV camera which has been looped?"

"Yeah"

"So on that night, in our apartment, one of them either Chandimal or his servant might be in the maintenance room taking care of the camera while the other one entered our room to kidnap me. I think it was probably Chandimal who took care of CCTV thing as he is well with the tech".

"Alright and again I got to go back to 'So, your plan?' "

"Oh shut up and listen". She laughed. "Alright, you continue"

"Ramalila was also put it the noon shift, the same way I was put in. After her shift was over, Chandimal will be following her. I think she's next after me. We are gonna follow him, until he kidnaps Ramalila. As soon as, Chandimal's servant touches her, we're gonna take him".

"Take him?. Like he's just a tedddy bear", said Nisha in shock.

"Don't worry. I got methods. Later Chandimal would be coming in search of him and we are gonna take him too and make him confess".

"I think it is so easy, easy as breaking the mountain with just bare hands. Yeah yeah, it is easy", commented Nisha.

I mumbled my methods in her ears after making sure there was nobody around. She stared and stared, almost without words but I got her covered, took her back to our cabin.

I got Ramalila's address. It was just the walking distance from the office. It was advantageous for us because we could do all these stalking things just on foot. I collected all the details. She was staying alone in her flat, in the 8th floor. Nisha, after gaining some confidence, was then sure about doing that. We were then ready for the encounter.

Ramalila, after her work, set her foot to reach her room. She was walking near main gate of the office to her room. I and Nisha, quietly followed her, looking around her for Chandimal, maintaining the long distance away from Ramalila, yet visible. After some time, we could see Chandimal following her near the main gate. We gained a little more focus, and saw him and around closely. We are now waiting for his servant to show up and he did showed up when Ramalila crossed the road. They were quietly following her and so did we. Then, Ramalila reached her appartments and she had no clue what was in the stake. She took the lift and went to her room but before she could open the door, she fell asleep. Yeah the roofies' effect.

Then after some time, His servant went up but Chandimal stayed in the ground floor and went to the maintainance room for the CCTV. I and Nisha went up the floors in stairs, making sure that the camera see us, in short, we want Chandimal to see us. We went fast as we could and hid in the wall covering the stairs. We saw the servant taking her in his shoulders and he waited for the lift. As we planned, Chandimal saw us going up the stairs and he quickly looped the video and head up to the 8th floor. Before he could reach there, we took our bag, took the strong wooden log and hit him from the back. He fall and became unconscious. We took the ropes and tied him hard. We safely placed Ramalila aside and waited for Chandimal to come up.

"Come on Mr. Most-wanted-manager, now has came up to become the most-wanted-rapist".

He was so shocked and frightened and stood still. I came running and hit him with the same log, making sure he was not unconscious and well enough to talk.

"There's no way Chandimal. Tell me. What did you do to me?. Tell me exactly or else you would get hit and this time it's not just the hit. It's death. If you think, I am just bragging, try not telling me anything. Try me, bastard". Even Nisha got terrified of my threatening and what more a mere middle aged Chandimal could do but confess.

"Yeah I put you in the noon shift with intension. I used your birthday to know the location of maintainance room and CCTV cameras in your appartments. I put roofies in your drink that night. I was following you but Ram interrupted us yet me and Bolu, my servant followed your car from our car. After he safely brought you in your room, Bolu went in while I took care of the CCTV camera. Later he broke in to your room and kidnapped you. We took far away, near my old garage. When we started to undress you, Ram somehow found us and tried to save you. We then beat him but he ran away. I promise I didn't killed him but planned to do so. He got hit in the car and got killed. We then got back and took his car to the lake and came back to our garage. We then undressed you completely but you are just sleeping still. We then raped you for hours and later while we are bringing you in our car back to your room, you woke up. My mistake. I used low dosage roofies by mistake but then we used another set of roofies to put you back to sleep, this time with high dosage roofies". He then laughed, wiped his blood and said,"We then just stopped the car and then undressed you again and raped you for hours. Yeah, again". I tightened my fist but controlled and waited for him to finish fully

He then spit his blood from his mouth and continued, "Later, I continued for the office the next day. I was relieved hearing you saying that all you saw after you woke up was just the dream but damn you, you were helping the police to find the Ram's killer. I got afraid. I know you won't be going to Chennai even If I transferred you until you find the killer. So I put roofies in Ram's drawer by myself and asked Nisha to look into it, just to make you think that Ram raped you. Now that people from the office hurted you badly as I expected, I know you will accept the transfer". He then smirked and said, "It wasn't just you, my dear. There were many girls who was raped by me. They didn't even know they were raped till now. Yeah baby, we raped many. We even lost the count. What you're gonna do?. Make us got arrested?. Try it. We will somehow get out through loopholes. And what if we get hanged up?. It got almost 8 years for Nirbhaya's rapists to hang them and it is still on process. We happily enjoyed our days and it is worth the death".

Nisha recorded it all and was about to dial 100 but she saw something taking out from my bag. She then stopped calling police and tried to stop me which she failed.

It was the knife, a really sharp knife that I took out from my bag.

Yeah, Seenu, you got it right. I killed him ruthlessly. Stabbed him multiple times until I got satisfied. Not only that, I also killed that servant. Yeah the same method, stabbing multiple times until my satisfaction level hit everest top.

"What have you done, Prabhavathi?".

"I did justice, justice to many girls from our office".

Nisha hit her head and said, "There are police and court to do that. Your life will now be ruined because of this".

"Police and court?", I smirked. "Don't you remember what he has just said?. He was right. It took 8 years for the Nirbhaya's rapists to hang up and it is still on, not yet hanged. I think this is what to be done, Nisha, This is what is right".

"I think you are right. This is right. I am with you, Prabha".

The words 'I am with you, Prabha'. It was like Ram told me. I don't know what would happen in my life after that murder but I knew I was doing right. I was right, for sure. We then took Ramalila to her bed room, put some bed sheets on her and patted her head. We then later went.

"Unexpected ending, Prabhavathi. I was stunned, really stunned. Such bravery you possess. Pure greatest. One doubt though", Seenu said after Prabhavathi finished her story.

"I know what is it. 'Had the police didn't found you out?'. Right?", asked Prabhavathi.

"Yeah, it is"

I was terrified too about the police. I had to stay in Pune for three more days, just not to look as though I was running from something. Nisha planned to stay in Pune for a month until everything was settled and later planned to get out of Pune too. I was too much worried for Nisha as she was staying for one month. But we got it all covered. Though, police found out what happened to Chandimal in just two days and later in third final day of me staying in Pune, the police came into our room.

"Can we just talk for few minutes, Prabhavathi?", Harish Kalyan, the Inspector told.

I really got terrified, terrified to the soul. "Not now sir, we are getting late for the office", I said with sweats in my face.

"Just 10 minutes, madam. Why sweating?", he said and went straight to the living room. I knew. I knew. Just by body language, I knew he knew

He sat and showed some pics. We took and saw it. It was the pic of us running in the stairs in Ramalila's appartment to the 8th floor.

"Yeah very good try for an amateur murderer but not good enough. We got finger prints on Chandimal's which just confirmed it was you guys"

I and NIsha fell into his legs and cried. "I am sorry, sir. Please spare us. It was him who raped me and I killed out of my control. We even got everything recorded on him saying that he has raped me", I said.

He took me up and said, "First stand up mam. It was just the bluff to fear you guys and I think I got you".

Nisha and I was surprisingly looking at him. "What do you mean, sir?".

"In my whole life, I used to find murders and not only that. I also will find the reason on why someone did that. If it convinces my morality, I will just bluff like this, laugh at this fun, and will take a selfie with him or her and will leave, handing over all the evidences to him/her. This time I was not only convinced but also felt so proud. The whole nation should praise you but sadly it was up to us to make it as a secret. But, you know even though I was so proud of you guys, I can't restrict myself to stop making fun at you guys", he laughed hilariously and so did we. We thanked him well. He said it was okay and said he was so privileged to do this. He then took selfie with us, handed over the evidences and left. This is what happened, Seenu.

"I can't find words to express my feelings over here. I am so privileged to do this writing. Thank you, mam for allowing me to write your story".

"I think your story will give me a great relief. All these, everybody knew I was a rape victim but no one knew who had done it. Most of the people still think it was Ram. I had done justices to many girls but Ram. I think your story will do justice to my Ram, my love of my life"

"I will do this, mam. Any last words, mam?".

"There are men like Harish and Ram. There are men like Chandimal and his servant. You know, there are roses out there and it has also got thorns in it. It is totally our choice. We can get hit by the thorns or we can ignore it just being careful of it. But there's always a third way. If you got hit by that thorn, Just break it. Break it with all your might. Break it with all your strength. Above all, BREAK IT WITH ALL YOUR RAGE".

It almost took up to 2033 for our Prabhavathi to see rape-free India. But, if we think, if we change, if we do something, some little things and change our mind, that 2033 dream could be achieved earlier.

"Hail to rape-free India".

Can we make this roar all throughout India?. Can we?.

YES WE CAN.