Chapter 1: The Regret

Time ; 1 am

Her mind felt numb yet awake, though her body was resisting, she wanted to wake up. She had an ominous feeling about her surroundings , like something disastrous  happening  over which she had no control. She felt her skin going tender at most places and intense painful sensations throbbed through her. Her movement was restricted , she realised she was tied to a chair, ropes digging deep into her delicate flesh. She tried to process what was happening around heras she heard various voices through a haze.......  muffled, breathless , painful crying, whimpering and that nasty laughter.... yes, a bone chilling nasty laughter.

It was that laughter which compelled her to try force open her eyes, but her lids were too heavy. “Ah ! come on baby, you should be thankful to me , had it not been for my plan today, this beautiful body would have been wasted, don’t worry, this is gonna be a secret, our little secret,” then a few clicks sounded in air, like someone was clicking pictures.......  more whimpering was heard, “ Don’t be naughty, the more you give in , more better will it be for your sister, though she should have been here instead of you, but Alas ! someone’s got to pay for her, why not you? and also...  I wanted her to enjoy the show... after all she is responsible for all that’s happening today”, he spoke with a voice that was soft but shot sharp arrows to kill.

She struggled hard to open her eyes and finally managed to keep them open, from a short distance she saw a door connecting to another room and a few men standing around what looked like a bed, her heart sank as she realised that someone was tied to the bed, a girl and all the men ogled her with lustful eyes.

“I am going to make this night truly beautiful and unforgettable for you and your sister, so you both will learn to keep distance from things that you don’t deserve,”  he spoke venomously.

‘SISTER,”she panicked as the word registered in her mind . She struggled to keep her eyes up as she tried hard to see the person on the bed.

She froze as she recognised Mahira tied on the bed, her mouth gagged and fear written all over her face. The men around the bed looked ready to pounce on her, Mahira looked at Maya, their gaze met like she was asking for help, Maya struggled to get up from the chair but could not, “let her go, please, let her go,” she tried to scream but her voice was wimpy, tears wet her face as she struggled, the man turned to look at her.

“Aah, you’re awake... finally, I was afraid you’d miss the show Maya,”

Maya was shocked as she recognised the person, “You, Why would you do this to us, please let her go, please I beg of you.”

“Aww ! please don’t beg my dear, after all I am a very soft hearted person, what If I give in to your tears,” he said dramatically as he took steps towards her . His foxy eyes filled with vicious poison.

He reached her chair , bent down and roughly grabbed her jaw in his hands and spitefully hissed through clenched teeth “had I not given you enough warnings already you thick headed piece of shit, you bloody had the balls to come all the way here despite me having broken the bones of your almost dead father, your brothers are finished as I’ve destroyed their company, they are on roads, yet...” he paused to take a breath, “yet nothing that I did  deterred you from coming here,”

The pain inflicted by his grab reached her head, she was unable to speak.

“You know, I almost got you killed, but when I saw your sister, I felt there’s some scope for mercy, so I decided to gift you something better than death.....,” then he smiled, his tone turned sweet, “Memories, sweet memories of today ,to last you for this lifetime, well, that’s the least I could do for you,” he paused and gave her a dangerous look,

“Because..... After today.... you will live your life, only to regret the day you came here, you will live your life... only to curse yourself for being the reason to finish your family .... after today, you will live your life, only to remember the show of your lifetime, the show that I have arranged for you,” with that he let his grip off her as he stood up, breaking into a scary, malicious and blood curdling laughter.

“No, No please No, let her go, I.. I will leave this place forever, never show my face again.. please,” she sobbed, pleaded and cried trying to convince him, she’d already begun cursing herself for having come here and get her sister along too, she regretted it... so so regretted it, if only she could undo the things, just this one time. “Oh God please help, please,”

“No God visits a satan’s den you bitch, too late to regret .... now enjoy.” with that he gestured to his men and walked out.

“ No No NO NO NO, please NO,” she yelled and yelled, she tried to free herself but all in vain.

she heard  loud muffled voice and looked at the huge ugly men begin to devour Mahira’s body like hungry wolves , one by one the men took their turns ...... and bit by bit Mahira’s spirit broke, she helplessly kept looking at Maya, her eyes had various emotions, sometimes pleading for help, sometimes blaming her, sometimes assuring her, yet sometimes cursing her, Maya did not know whether it was her imagination or what, but after a few hours, when all of them had their fill of her body, she felt that she saw the last emotion flitting through her sister’s eyes..... the look of finally having given up .    

The men left the room, one of them walked up to her chair and undid her ropes before leaving. Maya stood up and tried to walk, but fell to the floor, her limbs, too weak to support her, she dragged herself to the bed calling out Mahira’s name.

“Mahira , Mahira, baby, my baby,” she reached the bed  there was a horrible stench and moisture in air, she took Mahira’s head in her palms and tried to shake her up, “Mahira, please, my baby sister ... don’t, please don’t give up, I.. I am so sorry,” she wailed hysterically as she realised there was no movement from Mahira, she felt for her breathing which was faint. “Mahira, please come back .. please don’t leave me,”

Suddenly Mahira spoke in a faint whisper, “Sister,’ she tried hard to speak, “I don’t blame you, just don’t spare them... don’t..... promi..,” she stopped speaking and her head rolled to one side. “Mahiraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” she wailed hard as she held her younger sister’s body in her hands, the sister who was so bubbly just a few hours back, who had dreams to achieve and was better off than any other member in her family.... the sister who was no more... she wailed and wailed

“I promise you my darling , I don’t know how but I promise to avenge you.”

There was an envelope by the bed, maya picked up the envelope and pulled out the contents, eyes wide with shock, they were nude pictures of Mahira in bed with various men, there was also a letter.

“I’m sure you must have enjoyed the show, lucky for me that Mahira is a complete identical twin of you, now that everything’s over, take her and get lost before I decide to flash these pictures all around Udaipur, remember.. never to be seen again..”

Maya held her sister, her twin sister who was 2 hours younger than her, she bawled aloud , her heart filled with unfathomable pain and grief.