I am Elaine

Thunders and lightning lashed out in anger in the dark black sky that was crying as if mourning death of someone.

A woman in her twenties stood still as she looked at the injured man in the hospital bed, her eyes dried out and her voice hoarse. Tears could fall down no more and her voice could cry out no more.

All she could do was stare at the man as if she had lost her soul and life. She was listless. 

But she herself was in no good condition. Big and small wounds covered her from head to feet, her clothes tattered and battered as if she had been in some kind of struggke.

She clutched the hand of the man with her tiny shaking hands.

"How come all this happened...How are we so unlucky....Why you always have to suffer for others.." She complained and cursed with her sore throat.

"If only I had never met you...you..." She broke down as if her heart was going to stop any moment.

"If only I had never left my village.." A pain gripped her heart and soul while her memories rewinded back to one year ago.

*********

[Before One year]

(A small Village outside the main town)

'Splash'

Water droplets fell down from her hair to her round smooth forehead slowly reaching towards her rosy pink lips that were trembling because of the cold. The oversized white shirt she was wearing got all drenched and stuck to her bare skin making her tremble all over.

She looked miserable yet like an enchantress making people unable to take her eye away from her. The three girls who were just snickering and smirking a moment ago had their jaw wide open looking at this.

The girl in front of them was not a bad guy but for them she was the one who showed off their talent, beauty and attitude which was obviously not true.

Elaine picked herself up from the washroom floor and picked up the bucket from which they poured the water over her when she was entering the washroom. It was nothing new for her. She faced this kind of situations every day since some weeks ago that she started to feel that it was normal.

The more attention you gave to someone the more encouraged their action will be. She knew it and so she really didn't care about the small pranks they played on her. Ignoring the three girls who were the culprit she hurriedly entered the nearest stall.

Passing the three stunned girls she looked red and her eyes looked misty. Coming back to their senses and seeing her running like that they felt accomplished thinking she felt ashamed and wanted to hide her as soon as possible.

Once inside the stall the first thing she did was relieve her. She had been in emergency for last 2 hours and the drama before consumed her time. When she finally finished her business then only she realized she was cold and wet and being the type of person who could easily get sick she was already red and little bit feverish. Since she felt it was not that serious she ignored it.

"Uhhhh " she wanted to shout but decided to maintain low profile and calmed down. "It was my only shirt..(>_<)", she thought to herself. That shirt was something really important to her. But the main important pressing matter was how she will attend the rest of her classes.

For the first time she felt angry with the so called practical jokes of her so called classmates. Maybe she has become way too lenient these days. If she wanted she could beat them to pulp but she was holding herself back but her skill was never to hurt others. It was something important taught to her by her senior brother.

A smile flashed through her eyes as she touched the oversized white shirt.

She mocked herself as her desire and principle contradicted each other. The more she wanted to avoid attention and decrease her presence the more they were adamant on dragging her back.

The three girls were from her class who always hung out together. She didn't know why but she had become a throne in their eyes. "All I wanted is a peaceful ending to my school life if not happy." Elaine sighed as she made her way to the locker room. 'I must have owed someone a huge debt in my past life.'

Elaine went to her locker directly from the bathroom. She found her already old and ragged sweatshirt lying on the corner. It was neatly folded but that doesn't mean she wanted to wear it. "It is ragged okay..." she thought to herself.

Still she had no other choice other than wearing it. She didn't want to catch cold in that wet dress after all. It was gonna be pain in the ass. She didn't have time for so many of her works and if she became sick on top of that...''.Let it be.'' She waved off her thought.

After changing into her sweatshirt she looked for the trousers only to find it missing. Well that meant she had no choice but to stay in her skirt huh. 'Well no worries', she thought to herself, 'I can make do with it for now.'

The teacher had already entered the classroom when she returned to her class. The students were looking at her and giggling. Even the ones who didn't have bad thoughts about her couldn't help but chuckle remembering her sorry state.Well she didn't care at all. She was already in her final year of high school and she won't be seeing these classmates of her anymore.

"Life is not easy ", she sighed.

When the classes finally ended for the day Elaine without delay packed her belongings. Upon reaching the gate she found the girls from the afternoon waiting for her. They were probably looking for trouble with her.

"Ugh", she sighed. Why couldn't she have a peaceful school life?

She felt she was sighing way too often that day. "Maybe I'm growing older huh"

She wanted to end things once and for all. She approached the gang and signaled them to follow her. Upon reaching the empty backyard she turned back and asked them, "So tell me why you guys are always searching for trouble with me?"

A girl stepped forward. She had round face and looked quite pretty but her eyes couldn't hide her malice and hate. Her face twitched in anger as she spoke her saliva spitting out.

"We just hate your guts", she smirked. "You think we don't know how you think you are so much better than us. You see us as nuisance don't you? Huh?"

'Well I think I'm much better behaved than you guys', she thought to herself but she wasn't gonna say it so she just stayed there listening to them.

Seeing her silent they thought she was ignoring them again. One of the girls reached out with her punch but Elaine was always careful. She dodged it and instead sent a punch flying towards her. When she felt a warm liquid flowing out her nose she hurriedly touched her nose. Red blood! Yes, it was blood. "How dare you, bitch" she screamed out in rage and came at her with another punch but she fell to ground on her face.

"Oopps, I think she fainted", Elaine was amused; "Maybe I used too much strength."

The remaining 3 girls were quite scared still they angrily shouted at her, "Who do you think you are huh?" The girl in front of them who fought like a hooligan was actually the honor student!! They just wanted to teach her a lesson to not get cocky just because she had a beautiful face and excellent grades but they picked the wrong guy with mess with.

Elaine didn't want to waste any more of her time. She still needed to go to her job and she was already 5 min late. 'Looks like I might have to run' she thought as she looked at her skirt. 'I need to change in the trousers before that.' Elaine thought. She was about to leave when she suddenly turned back and said, "By the way, I'm Elaine. Remember that."

Author note: We will reach interval of the novel and come back to the first scene.