A Second Chance

Savitha sat on the mountain top. She breathed in the fresh air, bent her head in prayer, thanking God for the freedom He had granted her.

She was free at last. Free from the shackles of a loveless marriage. Free to roam the world, do whatever she wanted to do.

She was now ready to start life anew.

But first, she was going to write down her story so that more girls could be inspired to be brave.

She was from a middle-class family. Her parents had married her off, citing the usual reasons.... it was the proper age, the boy was good, what would the people say if she remained single, etc etc.

Little did they know, they were binding her in matrimony with a man who had an altogether different personality than what he presented to the world.

While they were engaged, Vivek was most attentive, very outgoing and respectful to all. But once they got married he became the opposite. He would not even allow Savitha to call her parents. In fact, whenever they called to enquire about the couple's wellbeing, he would be very curt. Savitha was confined to the four walls of her home. At times, Vivek would even lock the main door before going out.

Thankfully, Savitha was an intelligent girl. She did not allow her sadness and frustration to show. She remained calm and collected, going about her daily routine. She did not want to alarm her parents so she called from her neighbour's phone saying she was alright.

In the meantime, she looked up advertisements in the newspaper applied to them regularly using her neighbour's address for the same.

After four months, she was able to secure a job in another city. She was finally going to breathe free.

Savitha timed her exit perfectly. That morning, she asked Vivek to leave the door open as she had to go to the doctor for a gynecological problem.

As soon as her husband left the house, she gathered up her belongings and left the house forever, bringing to an end her so-called marriage