SONAKSHI STERLING

Nothing good ever comes without pain.

Since I was a little girl, that fact has been cemented into my head with bloodstained fingers.

I was born from pain, raised by pain, and eventually embraced it.

However, no matter how much pain I’ve had to endure, I’ve never managed to become numb to it. Not even when I went out of my way to train my body for it.

Pain is real, suffocating, and with the right amount of pressure, it’s bound to break my every last barrier.

My endure is strong though.

"Great Job, Honey." My senior doctor tells me.

"This child survived." I kiss the little girl's forehead.

Finally! I feel great for breathing today as I was able to make this little girl survive. She's all set to see more bright days in her life.

My ankles scream to be put out of their misery, as they have repeatedly over these last couple of months. Long hours staying in my feet. I know I should also remember about my own health condition but just as half of the population here I take it easy too.

We’re expected to be our absolute best whenever we enter the operation theatre and I always keep up to that.

What makes you feel alive?

Success. Happiness. Tiredness.

For it reminds me that I still breathe.

I MEAN, I GUESS THIS is classified as talking to myself, but I’d always been this way.

What so ever. I had the most beautiful simple life.

DEV ARORA

Being brought up a certain way forces certain expectations. Sometimes, they’re the easier type where all you have to do is go with the tide. Others, it’s all about taking action.

I understood early on that taking action is proportional and depends on a set of predefined circumstances.

Acting too soon or too late can cause tragedy. Refusing to take action in the first place is the main cause of self-annihilation.

My life was messed up with my mom stealing an artistic work from the world's top Mafia world.

She wanted to give me a better life but that involved stealing. I don't even know whether I should blame her not but I have just been living on.

While the Spetsnaz was brutal, it hardened my mind and purged out whatever humanity lurked inside me.

It made me the monster he wanted me to be since I was a boy.

Dozens of guards occupy the private restaurant room, all armed and scowling even when their bosses are drinking and plotting an upcoming drug shipment.

I pretend like that didn't bother me or now I'm so used to seeing that harmful drugs and assumed it doesn't bother me anymore.

“Follow that van,” I order one of my guard, Tore with a calm that sounds twisted, robotic even.

We leave the chaos behind as we chase the van. It doesn’t take us long to corner them.

They’re not really that professional and must be some small-time bastards who have a grudge against my leader.

We corner the van near an empty, industrialized road with abandoned warehouses.

They open fire, but Trey and I are faster. Our shots hit their wheels and they swerve before banging against the wall of a warehouse.

We storm out of the car, not giving them a chance to recover. Two men stumble out of the van, shaking their bloodied heads and holding AK-41s.

Trey shoots the first between the head and he drops dead. I don’t blink or attempt to take the kill. I might use violence to my benefit, but I don’t get off on it or seek it out. Violence, just like everything else, is a means to an end.

A method to get things done. Those who thrive on it become addicted to it, and I don’t allow myself to get consumed by anything. Or anyone. Trey easily disarms the other guard and hauls him to his knees in front of me.

I don’t even bring out my gun. “Who sent you?”

“Fuck you,” he snarls with an accented English then spits blood at my leather shoes.

“Fuck you isn’t an answer. Either give me one or I will find your family and make them watch as they’re being tortured and killed.”

That does it. Bringing up the family always breaks them. And it’s why people like me can climb the ranks higher. We have nothing that weakens us, no beloved ones to go back to, and certainly no people that control our fate.

We always go up while everyone else stays down. After he finishes selling out his boss, the bastard in front of me stares up.

“Go ahead and kill me, but one day, you will be killed, too, Mr. Arora.” He grunts.

“That day isn’t today." I bring out my gun and shoot him between the eyes. Now, nothing and no one will stop me.

🌺

I'm back after a long time 😃
I hope to look forward for some positive response.