Are We Human?

I saw myself wandering through a never ending stretch of darkness. Numerous tiny beads of sweat sprout up on my forehead and swept down my face. My fidgety heart lashed my rib-cage mercilessly. I fought to reign my acclerating breaths as I struggled to make my way out of the damp, choking darkness.

Suddenly, a beam of light appeared a little ahead of me. In that dim light, I saw a lady who was sitting on the ground with her face buried in her hands. As I approached her, I realized that her body was jolted by agonized sobs. All of a sudden, she raised her eyes and a pair of sombre, vacant eyes stared at me. The tears that rolled down her cheeks tore at my heart and I hurried my pace. She seemed to be in some deep pain and my soul urged me to help her. When I was almost close, her pretty face became scared with numerous lacerations. Her tears were replaced by streams of blood that gushed out of her eyes.

I woke up struggling for breath, all bathed in sweat. I promptly looked around and sighed as I found myself secure within my house. Warm rays of the sun had started litghting up my bedroom with it's golden hue.

"What a nightmare it was!" I shook my head to shrug the horror of a bad dream out and stepped down the bed.

I went through my ablutions and switched on the television. The very next moment, I regretted doing so as the news that I was being broadcasted made me shiver. I tried my luck by switching between the channels, but it was the same news that was being telecasted on all the channels. It was about a minor female student being assaulted and murdered. I switched off the television and picked up the newspaper to read. The bold capitals that abruptly held my attention was the title of an article on female infanticide. My eyes hurriedly scrolled through the article as the words printed in black shook my faith in humanity.

The ringing of my phone came as a relief and I placed the newspaper back to attend it. My subordinate had called me ask for a leave as she had to rush back to her village. Her sister's greedy in-laws had burnt her alive. Her sister's only fault was that she couldn't satisfy their demand of a hefty dowry. I hung up with a heavy heart and sat glued to my chair, absolutely drained and dejected.

I was brought to my senes as the doorbell rang. I composed myself and ran to open it. I found the 8-year-old daughter of my maid at the doorstep.

"My mother is not well, madam." She said in a dull voice, "so my father sent me to work for you as a replacement."

"But..." I fell short of words, "don't you have school to attend?"

"If we don't provide money for his alcohol," her innocent eyes were as frightened as miserable they were, "he will beat us both to death."

She turned towards the kitchen without a words and started doing the dishes. I understood that I was never going to wake up from the bad dream.