Stand Up for Yourself

The man opened his eyes and saw there was pitch darkness in the room. He felt something heavy on his right leg. He moved his hands towards his leg and tried to touch slowly to feel what it was. He felt something hard band clamped around his right ankle. He tried to feel the band. It felted like an iron band attached to the iron chain. He soon understood that someone had tied his ankle from the iron chain. He tried to remove but couldn't. He couldn't see it as it was dark. He tried to pull the chain. As it was loose, he sat on his knees and started to pull the chain. It felt like a never-ending task. The more he pulled the chain, it extended further. He screamed for help, but nobody came. Soon he quit.

*****

Rajeev was educated, worked for an IT company and earned well. He married recently. He was a simple man, but his wife never wanted anything simple. She always nagged about how he couldn’t fulfill her dreams, and he was incapable. He did whatever he could to make her happy, but no matter how much he tried, she was never happy. She wanted more in life. He changed few jobs to get a hike in his salary thinking he could then make her happy. But the more his salary increased, her demands increased too. He was not able to understand how he could make things work.

*****

The man who was trapped in the darkroom was tired of pulling the chain. He thought of trying something else. He crawled forward touching the floor so that he can find something to break his chain. He crawled and crawled, but neither found anything hard to break the chain nor any walls. He moved towards his left for some time but never found any walls. He was dead scared and thought ‘Where am I?’

*****

Rajeev was frustrated with his marital life. He thought of not listening to his wife anymore. He thought of neglecting her whenever she demanded anything or showed her tantrums. But his wife was much smarter than him. She knew that he would not fall for just words anymore. So, she took a knife to cut her wrist and blackmailed him to give whatever she wanted. This affected his work life. He was not able to concentrate on his work and got warned by his manager couple of times. He started drinking to get rid of his stress. He took an overload of work to impress his boss so that he was not laid off.

*****

The man cried hard, not knowing anything around. He thought of not quitting. He got up and said to himself, ‘I would prefer to die trying instead dying sitting here in the dark'. He started walking straight slowly. He thought no matter what, he will not look back and only move forward. He thought of at least finding the place where the chain was attached. But no matter how much he walked, the chain never stopped moving. He got worried and scared. He started running. Still, neither found the exit nor any walls. But he never stopped running.

*****

The life of Rajeev was like a vicious cycle between his wife and his boss. No matter whatever he did, he was not able to get out of his problem. Soon he lost his job and his wife blamed for his incapability of doing jobs. He was devastated and decided to end this.

 

He went into the kitchen picked up the knife and placed on to his wrist and took a deep breath. He was about to slit, but then he heard a voice "STOP". He looked around but saw none. He again got ready to cut his wrist, but his inner voice spoke again. ‘Wait!! Why should you die? It wasn't your fault.' Rajeev thought and said to himself, ‘yes, it's not me who is supposed to die.' He then moved to his bedroom holding the knife in his right hand, opened the door and saw his wife in a sound sleep. He raised his right arm and was about to stab and heard another voice, ‘Wait! If you kill her, what would be different? You'll end up in jail.' He thought again. Depressed, he moved to the living room and threw the knife on the floor and sat on the corner holding his head and started crying.

 

In the morning, the wife woke up and saw Rajeev in the living room watching TV. She came to him and said, ‘I need you to transfer some money into my account. I’m planning to go on a vacation with my friends this evening. So, make it fast, I need to book my stay.’

 

‘Don't you remember, I was laid off from my company yesterday?'

 

‘Oh! Come on. Now, don’t waste my time. It’s your headache. You better find a new job before I come back. Now transfer the amount.’

 

‘I won’t.’

 

‘Don't challenge me, Rajeev. Last time when I complained, Police released you with a warning. This time I won't save you. If there were any cuts on my body, the case would become strong. So, don't argue, just transfer.'

 

‘I said,I won’t. Do whatever you want.’

 

She saw a knife on the floor and took and made few slits on her left arm. Then she said, ‘Now watch what I’ll do.’

 

Rajeev was silently watching and then said, ‘How will you prove it? The knife has your fingerprints.'

 

‘I’ll say that you made me hold the knife and you had cut slits on my arm. The judge will always believe what he sees. I have a cut on my arm, and I'm the victim here. So, I don’t have to try hard to make him believe me.’ She gave a sinister smile and called the police. In few minutes they came home. She gave a big smile to Rajeev and opened the door and pretended to be the victim. She started crying and complained about him to portray his domestic violence. The police came and held his collar, and before they said anything, Rajeev said, ‘Wait! I have something to show you.’

 

He then moved to the bookshelf and brought his mobile and showed the video which he had recorded what had happened. Then he looked at her and smiled and said, ‘Yes, you were right. The judge will believe what he sees. So, see you in court. I'm applying for a divorce. So now I don't have to prove much to get out of this relationship.'

 

The police dragged her out and she begged him to help her. He smiled and waved at her. As soon as they left, he closed the door, took a deep breath and opened his arms wide and closed his eyes and felt peace.

*****

The man ran faster and faster and started seeing the light in a near distance. He speeded up and saw an exit which opened on the beach. He saw the chain which was clamped on to his leg vanished. He happily jumped with joy. Closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened his arms wide and felt the freedom.

 

The man who struggled to come out from the dark was Rajeev. He was trapped in his mind. He always struggled to come out of his problem. But, no matter how hard he tried, he was never successful. It is easy to think that we can kill the person who is hurting us. But it is never the solution. We can’t solve a problem with a problem. We are so dependent on others that we always expect someone to come and pull us out of the problem. But the day you stand up for yourself, no one can stop you. Not even you.