Freedom lies Within

Shiannah’s face is buried in her mother’s lap, while her mother is crooning her a warming lullaby. Suddenly they hear a shriek cry for help, her mother runs to help but never comes back. Shiannah is calling for her mother but she is just left with false hope. She wakes up from this bad dream and finds her mother cooking in the kitchen.

She recalls the time when the Sikh’s and Hindu’s were assassinating each other in the name of Jesus, the situation was getting worse with every second. Her mother Jessica was married to a Sikh man whom she loved more than anything, they had just been married for like three months. Jessica and her husband were not in good terms because of the war. This was becoming a threat for her life so she had to matricide in order to live a satisfactory life that wasn’t threatening with each passing moment. The society criticized her for not being the idle wife and for also not being able to perform her duties. She was thrown out of the community into the world where men were dying to get their hands on women. She was hiding and protecting herself from the ravenous men who either wanted to manslaughter each other or wanted a woman in their bed to please them. It just didn’t end here these creatures had wives who could please them at night but no the pleasure they got by over powering a woman against her will was way more cheerful. Raping a woman against her will actually made them a true man. These obnoxious men used to physically ill-treat a woman every night. They had a reason for being the bastards, as their wives were just not enough. Men were tired of protecting their wives and children all the time, the stress was back breaking and their wives couldn’t fulfill their desire anymore. That was when Jessica was ill treated by several men while she was on hunt for food and shelter. Men whether Hindu or Sikh or Muslim or from any other religion raped and threw her away as for them she was like an object that helped them get relieved of stress. Jessica still wanted to run away from this dreadful world that made her look more as an object than a human being. She decided she would not stop fighting for her dignity and respect that was lost. She tried to escape many times but was eventually caught, it was as if she had to be thrown in bed every night to please a man who would then abuse her and suspend her from being the human she wanted to be. She had given up on fighting for herself for she knew that there wasn’t any hope left. Overtime she had to adapt herself to the environment, to the men who would forget the next morning who they slept with. Every night her body was grievous, she was raped in such a beastly manner. She wasn’t herself now, the strong, and cheerful woman was lost. She was like an emotionless human being, which could be used at anytime of the day to bring pleasure. It was as if all the pain was demolished. She was not doing it by fate but by force, she didn’t choose this, this chose her.

 The war had seen bloodshed of innocents it was as if the human race was getting extinct and demons were occupying the area in place of those virtuous souls. Jessica saw infanticide, patricide and what not but she had already broken down inside and seeing all this didn’t really change anything in her life. She had given up on humanity. 

Just when she thought that she was was never getting out of this labyrinth, there was something waiting for her to bring back her ecstasy, her belief in Jesus. Probably a silver lining is always there to stop your adversities. She was lying beside her bed stone faced, never reacting to anything, neither asking for living or asking to die. She was given the news of being pregnant for the first time but destiny has never been in her favor, she didn’t know who the father was. So she decided to not bring this child into this world for if it was a girl.  She will have to go through these ravenous creatures and if it was a boy, well she couldn’t stand the thought of him being the same. She had decided to annihilate the infant. While she spent a year in this iniquitous world, she managed to be friends with Rosy another woman of same story but with a twist. They say that every man has a different story to tell but Rosy was the same as Jessica apart from the fact that her own husband sold her off to these demons because he didn’t have the money to fight the war and war was important than his wife. Rosy was not ready yet to let Jessica execute her child, so she decided it was time to make someone escape from this heinous place where woman are treated like shit. She didn’t let Jessica annihilate her child instead she made arrangements for her to escape the countryside. Jessica had no clue about this arrangement of Rosy’s but she knew that Rosy wouldn’t let her down. Jessica was told that she had to hide in a carriage that will eventually take her to the doctor who will help her in getting rid of the child. Rosy gave her a letter while bidding her a final adieu. When Jessica reached the countryside she had to change the carriage in order to not get noticed while escaping the lands of utter shame and insanity. Three months had passed since Jessica was hiding herself from the other ravenous men who were in other towns as well. When finally she was due, she managed to find herself a shelter. Jessica gave birth to a baby girl but she wasn’t delighted. She knew what her daughter would have to face but she wasn’t even ready to let go off her. It had been quite some time since Jessica got to witness some pleasure in life she wasn’t letting go of that easily. Jessica was a strong woman now, she had decided that she wouldn’t let herself be threatened or abused by anyone and her daughter will get an amazing and secured future which she had once dreamt of.

Shiannah watches her mother she looks so unbounded. Its as if she has been given a new life altogether. Jessica and Shiannah are together; they don’t want anything or anyone. They both are there to support each other during the bad times. Jessica is the most powerful woman in the town now; she has already established two rehabilitation centers for women so that they don’t have to go through what she had to. There seems to be a kind of order in the universe, in the movement of the stars and the turning of the earth and the changing of the seasons, and even in the cycle of human life. But human life itself is almost pure chaos. Everyone takes her stance, asserts her own rights and feelings, mistaking the motives of others, and her own.

Jessica and Shiannah define the true meaning of living life on your own terms, away from the niches of society.