Silent Screams (Part 6)

Anandita's mother was in complete shock.  She thought that for once her daughter,  her introverted shy quiet daughter,  had for once,  found friends in school.  She thought that Anandita finally  had friends.  Anandita's mother was very happy  when she came to know that Anandita got a call from her friend. She was bursting  with joy,  more so that she even shared the  same with Anandita's  father.

Now,  she wished that she had never let Anandita go, praying  to God for a miracle  to save her girl,  her daughter.   While her mother was silently  sobbing,  her dad was in a frenzy. He seemed like he would bring the whole hospital  down. All he could see was red.  "I'll bring the hospital  down if something happens to my daughter,"  he all but threatened the doctor  in a low hoarse whisper.

As he turned around,  he saw Sameer and marched towards him, determined to get answers.
"I do not want you to say more than I ask for," Anandita's  father said,  "What happened?"

With tears in his eyes,  Sameer explained  everything.  "I know only what I saw uncle,"  Sameer said, "I don't know what actually led to all this." "Hm, " her father let out the breath that he was holding, " I hope what you're saying is the truth son.  I am holding you to it." "Yes s..,"  Sameer was about to reply,  by the time they heard someone shouting.  It was a female voice,  "Sameer,  where are you?"  Sameer ran to her and hugged her tightly.

He didn't care that he looked like a small child right now.  He felt guilty.  Guilty of this happening  to Anandita,  Guilty of him not having done anything to save her,  Guilty of him not being able to stand up against the bully.  He knew that he was a coward. He did not have the guts to look at himself in the mirror without getting angry at himself.

Looking at her brother's condition,  Tanya was moved.  She was satisfied that at least now that he was wrong. That he should've been there for her.  If not as a friend,  then at least as a fellow human. She remembered how,  when she was in school, she had stopped every bully from getting even near Anandita. She had introduced herself to Anandita as Taman a,  her official name. She always had a soft corner for her,  like it was her responsibility to protect  Anandita.  When she had passed out of the school,  she had specially instructed Sameer to protect Anandita.  They had a massive fight because of this.  He had blatantly disagreed to do any such thing. Their fight went to be so serious,  that, he insisted that Tanya was lesbian.

They sat quietly for what felt like years.  It seemed as if time stood still. The silence gave way to the loudly beating hearts clearly expressing their fears.

Silent Screams (Part 5)

Sameer waited outside the operation theatre as Anandita was taken inside in a hurry. Sitting down, he remembered about the paper he had crumpled in a hurry. He finally took it out to read.  It read:

Who’s to blame?

You’re fat

You’re quiet

You wear glasses

Who’s to blame?

You don’t raise your voice

No one wants to talk to you

You are nowhere in the social food chain

Who’s to blame?

You’re scared

You’re nervous

You’re anxious

Who’s to blame?

You’re to blame

Girl,

You’re to blame.

Note: I wish I could change myself. Wish I could look better to fit the society. Wish I could act better to fit the society. I just wish everything was okay.

A shiver ran down his spine. Every line that she wrote had some pain attached to it. He felt guiltier, with every line that he read. He, somehow, felt partially responsible for this condition of hers. At this point, he wished that he wouldn’t have stood quietly by the side as his friends made fun of her. He wished he had taken this up to the higher authorities. As these thoughts were crossing through his mind, a tear slipped down his cheek.

Someone wiped the tear on his face. HE looked up to see Tanya standing there.”Where is she? Tanya asked. By the time, he could answer Anandita’s family came running towards the operation theatre. “What... has... happened.. to... to.... my daughter?” Anandita’s mother asked breathlessly. Sameer got her to sit down, offered a glass of water to her and narrated all that he had seen. 

Silent Screams (Part 4)

Sameer was in the ambulance with Anandita laying unconscious and bleeding profusely. The first person that he thought of calling was his sister, who had recently passed out of their school.

"T.. Tanya," Sameer sounded very frightened and out of breath. "What happened?" She asked assuming the worst, "Are you okay?"

"I..I..." He stammered. "What is it?" Tanya screamed through the phone. By then, their mom was trying to snatch away the phone from Tanya to speak to Sameer. His mother had already started crying assuming that something had happened to Sameer. "Tanya," Sameer said and took a deep breath, "nothing has happened to me. Ask Amma to calm down." After Tanya passed on the message, she considerably calmed down. "Do you remember Anandita?" He asked, "the quiet one." "Who?" Tanya asked puzzled. "The chubby, quiet one from my class." "Oh! That cute little teddy bear," Tanya said, "yes I remember her. She is one of the purest souls that I have met so far."


After a few seconds, she realized that there were sirens going off in the background. "Why are sirens blaring around you?" Tanya asked. "I am taking Anandita to hospital. She's bleeding terribly. Someone has attacked her. She was being constantly bullied and none of us did anything to protect her. Teachers didn't help her either. I think it is one of the bullies. I feel really guilty Tanu."

"Which hospital are you taking her to?" Tanya asked. "Surya hospital," Sameer answered. After that she hung up. Sameer knew that his sister was angry at him for letting this happen. Now that he thought of it, somewhere he was also responsible for Anandita's condition.

Next, he had to call her family about Anandita's condition. He suddenly remembered about the bag that he had tripped on. The strap of her bag was still across her body and her hands were gripping at the bag strap before she fell unconscious. He pulled the bag to his side carefully​ and rummaged through it for a phone number. He found an identity and when he pulled the ID card out a peice of paper fell with it.

He wasn't sure whether he should read what is written on the paper or not. First, he called Anandita's.mother and decided about reading the piece of paper later.

When he called, Anandita's mother was in frantic mode. He quickly told her the address.of the hospital and cut the call.

Just as he was about to open the paper to read it , the ambulance arrived at the hospital. Sameer stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket and proceeded to help the doctors get Anandita from the ambulance into the hospital.

Silent Screams( Part 3)

The school's football team was practicing for the upcoming tournament. The coach had all the players on their heels. This was probably the reason why the school always won the championships.

When Sameer played, his mind was a little diverted. And his coach figured it out. The coach never excused anyone for deterioration in the hard-work that is put in the game. So the coach asked Sameer to stay back half an hour after practice and sort all the sports equipments.

While re arranging the sports room, he heard a sound coming from the first floor, that is, the floor above where he was. It felt like something heavy fell with a loud thump. Assuming that it was his imagination, he continued to sort the last of the basketballs and the footballs.

Just as he was about to finish and pack up, he thought he heard some movement like something heavy was being dragged across the floor. He was scared at first. He wanted to inform some authority, but his coach had left 15 minutes ago asking him to close up.

Sameer had no choice but to go and check if something was wrong. He knew that no one went to the higher floors at this time of the day.

As he made his way up the first flight of stairs, he figured that there were no lights on that floor. Just as he was reaching the end of the second flight of stairs leading to the first floor, he simultaneously began to frantically search for his cell phone to use its torch feature.

In all this confusion, he couldn't see something lying on the ground and tripped over it. He fell face first on the ground and the first thing that he thought was why was the ground wet. Subconsciously, he ran his right hand across his face to wipe the water off his face. He got up and started looking for what had he tripped over.

What he saw had shocked him beyond measure. It wasn't a sack as he had assumed. It was a girl- a girl from his school, his class. She was lying there unconscious in a pool of her own blood.

Something suddenly struck him and he looked at his hand. That is when he realized that he hadn't slipped on a sack or spilt water, he had, rather, fallen over an unconscious body and her blood.

As soon as he recovered from his shock, he ran towards the gate and informed the watchmen. He, simultaneously, called the ambulance on his cell phone.