Dreams never Die

A short story written about a rape victim who is trying to move past the incident but keeps getting pulled back by the society.

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“She is that girl, the one that was raped”, she could hear their eyes screaming out as she walked past all those people in the corridor. It was her first day back to college after a year’s gap. Although everyone had welcomed her back with open arms and smiles on their faces, their eyes gave it all away. They didn’t like her, they pitied her. They said she was so brave and strong, but when she looked into their eyes, she only felt belittled by their pity. They felt sorry for what had happened to her, but she didn’t. Well, atleast not anymore..

A year ago, she was found unconscious on a street- bleeding and bruised, not just on the outside but also on the inside. People say, if someone faces a situation so unfortunate that they cannot deal with it, their brain tries to forget it and builds a defense system against those memories. But, everyone had it wrong. She remembered. She remembered every second, every word and every detail of each of their faces. She remembered every agonized scream she had voiced sent into the universe, and how it had sent back nothing- just empty silence. Those 3 hours replayed in her mind again and again and again until she finally lost consciousness while trying to walk back home.

The next thing she knew was hearing her mother’s voice, staccato, in whispers. She was sobbing. As she opened her eyes towards the familiar voice, she realized she was in the hospital, surrounded by her family. The physical pain was treated well by her doctors and her rapists were caught sooner than expected. The wounds on her mind and soul were tended to by her psychiatrist and the people who loved her the most in this world- her family. Of course it wasn’t an easy ride but she knew that from the moment she decided she was not going to let those 3 hours dictate every decision she ever made.

She just wished that everyone would do the same. For once, she wanted to be looked at as just another girl and not the rape victim.

In the past year, she had found out so much more about herself than she had in the rest of her life. She had gotten so close to her family and she had finally gotten to know who was going to “be there” for her when the going got tough. She wasn’t perfect and she knew she will never be, because she believed something perfect has no scope for improvement, growth and progress. She didn’t want to be perfect because she wanted to grow.

But now, every time someone tried to help her out, she could feel that it was only out of pity and not humanity. So many people had come up to her and expressed their condolences in badly formed sentences…

“I’m so sorry. It’s a heinous crime against humanity and I am glad those assholes got caught”,

“I hope you’re doing okay now. Just wanted to tell you I’m here for you if you need to talk about it”

“I can’t even imagine going through all of that. You’re so strong and brave. You’re an inspiration to me”,

“You know you can still lead a normal life. You are such a brave girl.”

She often joked about it with her mother. Everyone treated her as if someone had died, but in truth, she had never felt more alive than right now. She had a second chance at her life, she was back to college and had her whole life laid out in front of her. Life had given her a second blank canvas to fill with beautiful colors.

Her whole life was ahead of her, but people wouldn’t stop pestering her about her past.

So when her best friend asked her what she wished for on her 20th birthday, she only said “I only wished that people would allow me to enjoy the present and look forward to a bright future without bringing up the past”.

 - Shambhavi Kamat