Society – Part three

She was happy to finally end her working shift and drive the final few blocks back home. She switched on the car radio to confirm her fears; it was indeed going to rain cats and dogs all night. She decided to take the highway and not the canny small lanes which in her view were without a doubt submerged in water.

Renu was happy, after working so hard for a law degree; she had finally completed the course and joined her husband’s office as an apprentice. She had been married for the last twenty years and very happily. After her son was old enough to take care of himself, she had finally begun her journey towards her long never fulfilled dream, becoming a lawyer. Her husband while a lawyer himself had been supportive in all her endeavors. She knew she was lucky. She knew lack of understanding between partners was the main cause of failed marriages, while others tried to work on understanding their partners, Renu had been blessed with a soul mate. The cell phone beeping in furiously caught her attention; it was her husband calling to check her whereabouts and if she was okay. Renu parked her car on side of the road and started chatting over her phone. She had never ignored her call, she never could.

After five minutes of conversation, Renu felt content. She triggered the ignition of her car once again to notice a car approaching the highway with a horrifying speed. She ignored the headlights flashing as she put her foot on the accelerator. That was when she heard a loud noise and a scream. Startled as she was, she peeked out in the rain to notice a nineteen year old crying with her eyes full of tears near a body that lay senseless. Within a second she also witnessed the murderer spying off and fleeing by. She wanted to stand upfront and confront the stranger, asking her the reason for this calamity but she was numbed. It was the first time she had been witness to an accident, let alone a death.

Renu was crying bitterly sitting in one corner of her bedroom as her son watched closed by. She did not want him to see his mother weeping, crying so wildly. She felt helpless, she wanted to stand up, rinse her face but the tears kept flowing in, she couldn’t prevent them. Her son came closer and wiped the tears off her face” It’s all going to be okay , Mom” was all he said and left.

Renu was upset because her marriage was crumbling. She was torn between choices, from the time she had witnessed a horrifying accident, a gruesome murder by her accounts and had chosen to be witness in the death of a little kid, only to know it was his husband’s boss’s daughter. Renu knew what was right , she could very well recite the pledge she had undergone the day she decided to become a lawyer, the pledge which asked her always to abide by the truth, the pledge which she had undertaken to support those in need. Her pledge was now her command.

From constant arguments to bitter fights, everything had happened between the closed vicinity of her bedroom. A memento of her privacy , a place which she chose to share with his husband knowing he would understand her thoughts , respect her privacy but he chose not to.

It was a Friday, two days before she was to file an affidavit in the court releasing her statement. She had quietly eaten her dinner and was lying lazily in her bed. She knew if he could talk to her husband one last time, maybe he would understand, May be he would respect her point of view. Strolling in her own thoughts, she waited for him to arrive, waiting to talk to her soul mate.

Renu was woken by a surging pain across her cheeks. Next thing she noticed was her husband screaming obscenities at her “After all I have done for you and the family, cant I expect this? Why do you want to ruin everything I have constructed over all these years” he said and cried lying in her arms. He smelled of liquor, Renu did not know what to do or say.

She signed across the affidavit and passed it on to her husband, who weakly smiled at her." It would all be fine now, Boss. There is no case being filed against your daughter, just tell her to be safe on the road henceforth”, his husband kept repeating sentences after sentences till the point Renu couldn’t take it anymore.

She stormed out, dead inside, knowing two people had killed the little girl down the road. While one was on a car, causing an accident, Renu had murdered the soul; her soul was hers no more. It belonged to the little girl, the one who was dead lying on the highway of death three months ago.