“You! Stop right there. Is this your house, asking for so much food? We have to feed hundreds of your likes. Go away from here! Bloody Bi– ”

Mishti zones out the rest of the words, having been used to hearing them every day. Her gaze falls on her half-empty plate, only consisting of a handful of undercooked rice garnished with some watery dal. She doesn’t want to eat that but the way her stomach grumbles, she knows that she needs to. 

She sits down on one of the tables at the mess, the corner one, not wanting to interact with anyone else, not that the others are dying to do so. 

“You! Get up from here, this is our seat.”

Or maybe they do. Spoke too soon. 

Mishti barely refrains herself from rolling her eyes at the utterly stupid statement because as it happens there are no seats allotted to anyone here; one can’t expect that from central jail, and neither those women have any permanent seat, yesterday the front table in the third row had been their seat and the day before it was the fourth table in the second row. 

Yes, Mishti keeps a tab. She hasn’t got anything better to do and wonders why they have to change the permanence of their seats according to where she decides to sit. 

A loud clang of utensils brings Mishti out of her reverie, only to witness her precious food now spread on the dirty table, the two women looking down at her with smirks on their faces. 

Mishti glares at the two women, running out of patience. She wants to yell at them, give them a piece of her mind, ask them why they are so keen on ruining her already ruined life, and yet all that escapes her mouth is, “I was going to eat that.” Impassive and quiet. 

The words only does to give a push to the two women throwing a smug smile towards her.

“Aww, seems like you are starving. That’s ok. You can eat tomorrow.” The taller of the two, Yashna coos, flicking at her chin harshly.

Mishti swats her hand away, staring at her.

“Who do you think you are giving that loo –” The shorter one of the two, Tamanna begins but is interrupted by a rather snarky comment.

“The beggars are here. You’re homeless again, I see.” The girl scoffs. “Go and sit on the floor because we are not going anywhere! And give your plate here, your food is spread on the table.” She grabs the plate from Yashna’s hand and thrusts her in Mishti’s, the duo now looking at her with their jaw dropped.

“How dare you! You’re nothing but a filthy rat –”

“Raima, not rat.” Mishti’s cellmate says with a sickly-sweet smile, an action that has her ducking her head to hide the small smile that surfaces on her lips. “And it’s ok, darlings if you don’t want to step away from here. I can give you both some company.” Instead of yelling at them, Raima drags her index finger down the taller woman’s arm in a slow, sultry way who coils in disgust. 

“She’s a freak, Yashi, we’ll come and deal with that one some other time,” Tamanna exclaims, having curled up her mouth in disgust, eyes flitting between her and Raima. “Who knows what goes inside their cell.” The speaker shudders, making Mishti turn around to bite back another smile which is relatively harder to hide.

Letting out a few more curses, those women leave them alone. 

It’s then that Mishti takes a chance to face the stranger with whom she has been sharing space for the past three months.  

Raima chuckles. “You are allowed to laugh, you know.” The girl exclaims and Mishti’s rarely put on smile dies on her lips. The girl’s loud laugh also comes to a slow as she rolls her eyes. “Oh c’mon!” she exclaims dramatically, reminding her of Aisha. “You’re not even going to say a thanks to me? I saved you from those bullies.” The girl pouts.

Mishti starts cleaning the table because of course, she can’t just leave it all dirty. What if they extend her punishment? 

It is with a quiet voice that she says, “I know how to defend myself.”

“Ha! You say that every time and yet I am the one who steps in as your knight in shining armour.” The girl huffs and Mishti, well this time she doesn’t bother to stifle the curl of her lips.

She has never really been able to accept the girl as her friend but the number of times she has helped her out of situations, unasked, Mishti thinks that she might just give her that title.

"Yes, you are. Thank you." She says then, genuinely smiling at her cellmate, who smiles back at her, eyes shining with mirth.

They both make their way to their cell, passing a queue of constables amongst which he stands. 

The man that wears a menacing smirk, as his predatory eyes land on her.

Mishti falters in her steps as she sees him, her brain automatically taking her to the day it all started, the day that broke her already broken spirit, welcoming her into a world of doom that she still hasn’t found a way to get out of.

It was exactly a month ago when this constable was appointed at the gates of the corridor in which Mishti’s cell was situated.

Mishti hadn’t even taken notice of the change, too busy wallowing in self-pity and melancholia. It was only when they were instructed to wipe their respective cells clean as a part of community service did Mishti feel someone standing behind her. She didn’t need to turn around and check who it was because a pair of arms overlapped hers from where she was cleaning the cell bars, his chest forcefully pasted to her back.

“Wh-what are you doing? Leave me!” Mishti struggled in a hold for a few moments before pushing the man away from her who shamelessly laughed in reply.

“Calm down, darling. I was only teaching you how to clean the windows properly.” The constable replied giving her a malicious grin, his colleagues laugh.

“Don’t torment the girl so early on, Dubey. This lot has just come in. You have a lot of time and girls to play with.”

“Yeah? Guess you’re right.” The constable drawls, giving her one last stroke on her cheek with his filthy hands and even filthier gaze. “I do have quite a lot of time. See you somewhere more private, darling. Till the time take care of yourself for me, yeah?”

“Get lost, you bastard,” Raima spoke from beside her because Mishti was too scared to even move. Horrified. Tongue-tied.

“You’re a feisty one. I’ll tame you too, one way or another. Just wait and watch, girls.”

The other constable clapped their hands on his back and left Mishti alone with a new fear instilled in her heart; a realisation of her inability to fight back and defend herself.

She’s still scared, waiting for the day this will all end, the day she’ll get out of this hell.

Mishti’s all the preceding and succeeding days pretty much go the same ways except that tonight, for some reason, her heart feels light. 

As soon as she reaches her cell, away from the disgusting gaze of that man and the remarks of those women, she feels like floating in the air. It’s as if the baggage that she has been carrying of all the memories, all her thoughts, all her emotions, they have calmed down, have come to a silence. 

Today Mishti sleeps like a baby. 

Like she used to sleep when her brother was with her. 

However, just as the serenity begins seeping inside her heart, beginning to take the shape of some beautiful dreams that she hasn’t seen in a long time, Mishti hears the approaching footsteps and just like that all the makeshift beauty drowns in the darkness. 

The footsteps come closer and so does the man, except that man isn’t the same who has been troubling her since she has entered the cell.

While that man had been clean shaved, this man has a full beard and moustache, while that man used to be dressed in a uniform, this man is dressed in casuals that shouldn’t be allowed in the central jail; and while the other man never seemed to have the key to their cell, this man has it… the key with which he is currently opening their cell.

Mishti’s eyes open wide but for some reason, she’s unable to wake Raima up. She can’t even see her.

She doesn’t get the time to grab something to defend herself or even sit up before the man is crouching beside her, his hand tightly covering his mouth, leaving Mishti to writhe on the ground. 

Though she can’t keep up the movement till too long, a peculiar familiarity in the hands; their texture and scent, making her frantic movement slow down.

“Ooo aaa u?” 

Who are you? Mishti wants to ask but her voice comes out muffled.

That’s when she hears those words. 

“Don’t you recognise me? It’s me, Chutki.” The man says and Mishti all but stills on the ground, eyes wide. 

“Keep quiet, ok?” her supposed brother says and slowly removes the hand from her face, not waiting for a reply. Mishti is unable to give one. 

He then does away with that fake beard and moustache too. 

At the realisation, Mishti almost shrieks again. 

Almost, because she’s not so stupid of risking her brother’s life like that. However, that doesn’t mean Raima doesn’t scream. 

Where did she come from?

Mishti quickly goes and covers her mouth with her hand. “Shh, he’s, my brother. My brother.” She tells her, weighing the words in her mouth as she says, Raima’s shocked brows curling in confusion. 

Mishti thinks she’ll deal with her confusion later.

“Bhai!” she whisper shouts and all but throws herself on her brother, who catches her just like he always did, immediate tears pooling in both their eyes. 

“Bhai…” she mumbles again, this time in his shoulder and he holds her tightly, murmuring ‘my Chutki’ all the while. 

“Bhai, where wer –”

“Mishti!”

“Mishti! Wake up, it’s time for the inspection already. They won’t take it kindly if we’re late.”

The beautiful dream gives her peace as long as it lasts and makes her lose a part of hope when her eyes open to the cell walls and Raima’s urgent expression looming over her. 

How she wishes for her eyes to shut back.

Forever.

A/N: A small leap, new setting and a few new characters. I understand that it will be a task to get accommodated to the change quickly, but hope that you guys would still appreciate and enjoy the upcoming storyline. ☺️