Choti Sardarni: A Different Perspective (Chapter 8)

The Accident That Changed It All I

It’s dark and windy and under a slowly fading moon night the women runs. She’s running turning back every few seconds, cautiously checking behind her for any figure that follows. She works her way into the woods hoping to find a road that may lead to some safe house. She’s been running for sometime now, she’s tired, thorns have bruised her feet and as she frantically searches for any sign of other people she hears footsteps approaching her. She hides behind a big tree and finds the steps coming closer. She steps on a small branch breaking it, the noise turning the figures attention towards her. She panics and runs! She runs and after clearing a small portion of dense bushes finds herself at the edge of a steep cliff. With nowhere to go she turns around and finds the figure standing behind her. She freezes in her steps. The figure slowly makes his way towards her. Nervously she walks back as the figure begins walking towards her. With every step the figure takes towards her, she takes a step back unaware of her growing closeness to the end of the cliff. With the last step she takes she steps on a rock, losing her balance and her arms flailing she falls off the cliff and….

“MEHERJI”!!!!!!!!! Sarab wakes with an abrupt start screaming his wife name! His breathing heavy and with sweat beads on his forehead he looks around. It’s no-one he thinks. “Meherji. O god, this is the fourth time I saw a dream like this. In every dream I see Meherji in some accident or some dangerous scenario, please don’t make any of these nightmares come true and protect my wife, wherever she is” Sarab closed his eyes and prayed to God as his breathing slowly normalized. His Meherji had been missing for over a month now and while everyone thought she was dead, he knew that the body they found at that village was not his wife. He just knew, there was something in his heart that told him his Meherji was alive. When Sarab tried explaining this to others he knew they considered him mad but he had no way to show them what he felt. He loved his wife, his Meherji more than he could explain in words, she was his life, his happiness, she was a part of his soul, a part of him. He knew that if anything happened to her he would not be able to live. He just couldn’t explain to others that he was living proof that his wife was alive, because if anything had happened to his Meherji he would also be dead. His heart beat for Meherji, every breath he took was for her so how could he be alive and living if anything happened to her. Sarab had decided that it was useless trying to explain his feelings to others, the only other person who seemed to have a slight understanding of his feelings was Kulwant, his mother-in-law. She was the only other person who had hopes of Meherji returning. Sarab, Kulwant and his three kids desperately waited for Meherji to come back.

Sarab got up and walked to the bathroom. He turned on the cold water and let it run before he washed his face. He opened his eyes, his face dripping with water when he saw all of Meher’s items on the bathroom vanity, her face wash, her toothbrush, her moisturizer, her body spray everything was in its spot. Her dupatta still hung on the adjacent towel hanger, Sarab wiped his face and held Meherji’s dupatta, he breathed in her scent and closed his eyes as he remembered their moments together. Sarab had very clearly told every servant in the house to dare not step into his room. He wanted to keep all of Meher’s things exactly how she left it, even her pair of slippers she forgot in the walk in closet which she normally kept in the bathroom. Sarab didnt want to change a thing in the house about Meher. He couldn’t stop the servants and family members from moving things around the house especially because his three kids aren’t aware about their mother. All Sarab told them was that Meher was at a friends house helping them. He didnt want to scare them by yelling at the servants and being adamant about anything. But in their room, Sarab would not change a thing, he won’t let anyone change anything until Meher came back herself. Sarab put back Meher’s dupatta and wiped the tears from his eyes.

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