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After what felt like an eternity, the week was finally over! All Anushka wanted to do was go home and relax with her boyfriend Ravi. Things had been a bit rocky between them, but Anushka felt good right now. Light. Happy. Whatever problems they were having wouldn't sour her mood. The walk back to their apartment was a little long, but she needed the fresh air. After a few minutes, she began to feel off. Feel like something was amiss. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a shadow on the wall moving in the same direction as her. “No big deal,” she thought, “everyone gets off work around this time. And the sun is still out. Nothing to fret over.” Despite what she told herself, she could not shake this feeling. Her guard was up, and she grew wary.
Anushka had walked a few more blocks, taking experimental detours along the way, but the shadow never left her line of sight. There was no way this person’s route was the exact same as hers. Someone was following her. She was sure of it. In a panic she took out her phone and called Ravi. She wanted to ask him to meet her halfway or find her at the nearest convenience store. Anything to dissuade this person from following her. But Ravi didn’t pick up. She called again. And again. No answer. Fear bubbled up inside her. Anushka couldn’t think straight. She didn’t know what to do.
In her growing state of panic, she took a wrong turn and met a dead end. It took every ounce of her being to stay strong, even though this was her worst fear come to life. She knew what happened to women in this situation. There was no way she would come out of this fine. She turned around, hoping to make a quick escape before she became trapped, but instead she came face to face with the person - the man - who followed her. Back against the wall with nowhere to turn, Anushka stared him straight in the eyes, even though she was petrified. His eyes, dark as night, held a promise of torture for her, fun for him. “Stay strong, Anu. Don't show any weakness,” she told herself over and over again, not once breaking eye contact with this man. As he slowly closed the distance between them, he leered at her. Anushka felt a flash of something, almost like déjà vu. She shook off that feeling though. This was not the time to think about that. Or anything really. He was steadily closing in on her. She sent a quick prayer to whatever deity may listen. Then, instincts kicked in.
When she regained awareness, she was outside of her apartment door. She couldn’t remember anything. It all happened so fast. All she knew was that she escaped and ran for her life. Maybe the gods heard her after all. She waited until she caught her breath before going inside. When she walked inside, she found Ravi playing video games in the living room. Like always. She saw him yelling at the screen, food scattered everywhere and phone on the couch next to him. That reminded her to ask him why he didn’t pick up.
“Sorry, Anu. Didn’t know you called,” he distractedly replied.
That was a lie. She knew it was. Both of their phones had Bluetooth connection to the TV, so her calls would have appeared in the upper corner of the screen. Whatever leftover emotions she had from the alley dissipated, frustration and anger replacing them.
“I missed a few calls, so what. I don’t see what the big deal is anyway.”
She tried to remain calm, she really did, but it was so hard keeping herself in check. It took everything in her not to cry, but she couldn’t help raising her voice as she told Ravi everything that happened. Instead of the comfort or worry she had expected, was hoping for, Ravi whispered, “I mean, I told you not to wear stuff like that to work, Anu.”
Tension and deafening silence filled the room. She could see regret immediately flood Ravi’s face, like he could not believe he just said that, but he did. Anushka's resolve cracked. For the second time that night, she had no memory of what happened. One moment she was looking at this man that she thought she knew, but the person in front of her now was a complete stranger, not the man she fell in love with. The next thing she knew she had a packed bag in hand and was out the door. She needed time away to cool off and think things over.
Cracked Heart: Shutterstock
She had planned to stay at a friend’s house for only a few days, but a week went by. Then one week became two. She had not heard from Ravi once, but then again Anushka hadn’t contacted him either. As two weeks drew to a close, Anushka decided it was time to return to their apartment. When she walked through the door, she looked around to find that everything of Ravi’s was cleared out. It was like he had never lived here at all. She felt this unexpected sadness upon seeing how empty this place was. Unbeknownst to Anushka, Ravi was grieving was well. He had so much regret from that night that moving out seemed like the best thing for him to do.
Life went on for the two of them. Everything changed that fateful night. For better or for worse, no one can say for sure. Anushka and Ravi lost pieces of themselves. They went their separate ways and moved on, but it still felt like something was missing. The age of Kali continued, casting a shadow over their lives until the end.
Author's Note: For this original story, I created entirely new avatars for Vishnu and Lakshmi and set the story in the modern era. Interestingly enough, we are said to be living in the Kali Yuga right now, so there is a lot of darkness and greed in the world. As such, I wanted to parallel the story of the Ramayana but give it a contemporary approach with these aspects of the Kali yuga. So, instead of the female character being kidnapped by the villain, she was put in a dangerous and scary situation that unfortunately happens all too often to young women and men presently. And the characters are both imperfect, so they do or say things that are selfish or proud. On the other hand, I wanted there to be noticeable character growth throughout the stories, so Lakshmi's avatar in this story is a strong and capable woman who can take care of herself rather than wait for Vishnu's avatar to save her. This was the first time Vishnu's avatar has a prevalent role in a story, so this was the starting point for his eventual character arc. I wanted to tie this story to the previous one in some way, so I created the moment of déjà vu when the villain approached her, just like when Ravana approached Sita at the grove. When Anushka prayed to the gods to help her, I wanted to leave room for interpretation as to whether they actually did help like she thought or if she simply defended herself without divine intervention. Either way, I wanted to merge the avatars and their divine identities slightly through these small moments.
Bibliography:
“Kali Yuga” from Wikipedia.
Banner image source: Trees in Overcast Skies
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