Mere Three Seconds - 4

PART FOUR

She could see that man once again, and the way he had walked away from her rejoicing in the victory that his sickening and conscienceless soul gave him while setting her flesh on fire by the hands of the love that she once had rebuffed- a fire that kept burning until it left her incapacitated to believe in love anymore. And there, she could see the countless times her heart had been stabbed and smashed, hopelessly exploding into zillion of shards that made the hollow chambers of her heart to bleed and crack upon seeing the dear ones who once claimed to love her now evading her while rending themselves apart from her, and from the scars that were irrefutably inscribed in her flesh. And there, she could see those dreams that she once had woven along with her dear ones only to be left unrealized as every person whom she had loved from the depth of her being failed to stand by her rather discarded her from their lives only because they held the valor to embrace her beauty but not the past that left her scarred.

And there, she could see the several eves when her soul never stopped fragmenting until an unknown and everlasting emptiness seeped into its pits that remained entirely barren every time she cognized the hidden fright and dread that laid underneath the shallow condolences and laments of the dear ones who once claimed pull her through every storm and splore. And there, she could see those quotas of hope that she did her best to raise and never let go only to be crushed by the incessant stares from the society that had been too coward to accept her unlike formerly and too hapless to hear those bewails of hers for the equity that she deserved. And there she could see, how three seconds were all it had taken for every fantasy and fallacy to wilt away - only to leave behind a coldness of the reality that she couldn't abandon anymore rather witness every time she felt the broken heart, the shattered soul and the scarred flesh of hers.

Letting out a sigh, she tried to calm the uncontrollable pace that her heart never ceased to quit all this time while the walls seemed to closed in on her. She traced the ragged surface of her face, letting the coldness of her fingertips to soothe away the sting that still pierced through them. A tentative yet biting bolt of pain searingly spread across the burnt side of her face when she remembered those incurable three seconds that led to god knew how many days, nights and hours that she had spent in the bottomless pit of misery and pity formed by the horridness of the man made societal norms.

She remembered the days she had spent confined to this very room of hers only to be away from the people who threw half-hearted pathos every time her scars and wounds caught the eyes of theirs. She remembered the afternoons that she had pulled herself through with several pieces of fabrics keeping her veiled from the people who used to repugnantly look away from her for they never had the courage to sew the scar that still caused her to bleed with anguish. She remembered the multiple nights where awful convulsions raged through her body as her mind was too tired of burying the past that kept coming to light every time people around her kept eluding the very presence of hers. She remembered, those hours of miserable wails that kept breaking out of her and dragging her to the abyss that held the least will of living a life with an identity that was imperishably marked by the blotches of an acid.

Streaks of yellow and red peeped through the half drawn curtains, casting a shimmer across the window that still remained closed. She felt it - the luster of warmth that beckoned to her, that longed her presence to come and let it overshadow the darkness of the past. She padded towards the window, curling her soft yet bruised fingers around the latch as she snapped it open. And once again, the memories of those three seconds resuscitated right amid the vibrant sky of the dawn. But this time, her mind didn't throb violently as the scraps of that horrifying past commenced to play across the vision of her eyes. But this time, her body didn't tear apart as the scars of that horrifying past scratched and scathed the side of her face. But this time, her soul didn't seeped out of her and scattered bit by bit underneath her wobbling feet as the numbness from that horrifying past once again threatened to smother her. For this time, she recalled those three mere seconds as the seconds that made her to come across the self of hers that she never knew could have existed before.

She reminisced the times when after years of becoming a prisoner of her own mind, she had yanked the piles of veils away from that side of her face - the face upon which the tale of her valor and fortitude was written boldly. She reminisced the months that impelled her to step out of the cage of her own mind and compelled the masses of beings to break their silence and ignorance. She reminisced the weeks that went by with her gaining the reins of her life back and no longer living in that abyss of self-pity and shackles of the shallow mankind. She reminisced the mornings and nights filled with the sheer incandescence of survival that nudged her to weave her way through every odd that was stacked up against the combative spirit of hers. She reminisced the hours when she continued to walk with her head held high and never once bringing her gaze down rather looking ahead with the sole determination of nurturing those shreds of dreams and concluding them with fulfillment - the very dreams that were once shredded by that splash of an acid. She reminisced the minutes that she had gone through while staring at those scars that now adorned her flesh and never once looking away from them for these were the ones that rekindled the flame of a certain confidence in the core of her being that was once eradicated by that one bottle of acid. She reminisced the seconds through which she had pulled herself together with a newfound curve resting victoriously on those lips of hers that vanquished every cry of agony and despair that had been unheard. She reminisced those three seconds that pushed her to the verge of utter hopelessness only to bring out the strength that she retained by embracing every vulnerability of hers, along with the past that once destroyed not only the beloved identity of hers but also her will to liv

Laying flat on her back, she basked in the warmth of the rays of the sun that had finally risen from its slumber. These weren't just simple rays of light, rather were the anchor to her sinking soul- everlastingly urging her to get up and brace the new day that awaited her presence and incomparable courage. These weren't just simple rays filled with the similar hues of orange that were now painted across the sky, rather were the companions of her solitude - everlastingly beckoning her to stand on her feet and show the world the power that it still lacked when it came to acceptance of one's strengths and vulnerabilities

She ran the tips of her fingers stoically along the side of her face, but this time not once quivering - for now, she knew that once again a battle held its abeyance, and awaiting her only to let her emerge not as a victim but as a survivor.