Riposte

"Do you agree or not, that it was dark and you may have been partially drunk, hence not recognised the oppressor's face?" Was the demanding question from the defendant's side that hit her, while rough images brutally tore into her memories once again.

  Shutting her eyes, she pictured that fateful night, and yes, the face was clear in her eyes, her head, as she had tried to resist with all her might, of course she remembered his face. Who wouldn't? Who the hell wouldn't remember? And she wanted to scream out, shout out in front of everybody, and curse them for not believing her, for questioning the truth! She wanted to strangle the lawyer in front of her with her bare hands, but even worse, she wanted to kill that guy who sat with so much ease at the table, glancing at her with victorious eyes, a smirk playing about on his face.

  She glanced back at the questioner, who was still waiting for her answer, and couldn't help but let few tears run down her cheeks, when her throat couldn't manage to form the words.

  "Miss Wade. Tears are the sign of weakness." The man's voice had toned down, but ever so slightly. She could still feel his words lashing in front of her face teasingly, injuring her more deeply. May I suggest that it's because you've finally realized that this was a huge mistake? That either, you've accused the wrong person or brought to court something that never happened?" He chose his words well, she noticed.

  "It happened!" She found herself croaking out half in fury, half in utter disbelief that this person in front of her, who didn't even know her, was paid to insult her over and over again, and he did pretty darn good job of it!

  "Are you a hundred percent sure?" The lawyer's smooth voice sifted through the air, leaving her speechless, while those horrifying images in her mind became more frequent, forcing her to break down into tears. She wanted to tear her heart out, tear her skin off herself, because it had his imprints on it. His dirty, filthy and disgusting touches all around her body, while in vain she had tried to free herself.

  "Your honour, the opposition is just terrorizing the victim." Her lawyer spoke up. And she glanced gratefully at him, for stepping in.

  "Am I really? I merely asked a few questions to be clear. I'm sorry if that upset the court, or…" his eyes flickered tauntingly at the woman in the witness box, who couldn't make another effort to answer any of his questions. "Miss Aamanda Wade." His face straightened out again. "The mere fact that she is unable to answer any of my questions, your honour, proves that she may have been unsure of what really happened. Her hesitancy also suggests that she might have made a misguided accusation to my client, Mr Sahil Verma, because, your Honour, Mr Verma is a rich guy and it's in most women's minds to trap these sorts of fellow. Therefore, I stand by my client's claim that he is not guilty of raping Miss Aamanda Wade. I rest my case."

  "Thank you Mr Singh. Mr Agarwal, would you like to cross examine the witness?"

  "Not this time, your honour." Was the curt reply from Aamanda's attorney, Rohan Agarwal.

  The judge and the jury abandoned the court room and one after another went into an adjoining room. They returned in half an hour and after a good five minutes, while they all settled down, the judge said.

  "Defensive evidence has been heard and taken into consideration. The case will be resumed on this day, in five weeks' time. The court may disperse."

  Aamanda shut her eyes in fury, as she clenched the rails of the witness box tight, so tight that her knuckles slowly lost their entire colour. She had waited, waited a good six months for the trial to begin, and now the days just kept extending. Tears of frustration, of injustice and plain hurt were streaming down her cheeks, while she did all she could to not sob out loud.

  "Aamanda!" She heard her best friend's voice float to her ears and pretty soon, warm arms engulfed her into themselves. Turning her head inside Aaliyah's shoulder, she let out all her sobs, while Aaliyah's eyes tightened and her own tears streamed down her face after being witness to everything.

  "Aamanda, please keep yourself under control." Rohan said, caringly, not paying any heed to the opposition, who looked like he was about to make his way forward.

  "I know I've got to, I know…" she whispered, and squeezed her eyes shut. Slowly but steadily, she regained hold of herself and every bit of it took the last minute strength and courage that remained inside her. Just as she was about to exit the room, with her two best friends, one being a lawyer, beside her, the silk voice that had berated her for the past hour, interrupted their thoughts causing them to stop in their tracks.

  "Miss Wade," Mr Singh said, and Aamanda was forced to turn around and look at his handsome profile right in front of her. His eyes had a calm sea of nothingness inside them, but she took her time in trying to study those blues to read what was behind that mask she was so sure he had put on.

  "Sorry to come down on you harshly. I'm just doing my job; Nothing personal." He stated, smiling genuinely at her. She looked around to see the court empty, concluding that Sahil had already left the room.

  Rohan and Aaliyah were spitting fire at the nerve and words of the guy who had a cool attitude about him, but just as they were about to come and help Aamanda, she put a hand up to stop them. Being a woman, she had a lot of internal strength, a hell lot. But right now, she was at one of her weakest moments. She had given her everything for this moment, everything! All for what? To see it all fall apart? To see that bastard in the hospital, roaming around as though nothing had happened? To see him Scott free, after giving her a lifetime of memories that will always scald and burn her future? Her eyes rolled down again at those thoughts, but she still looked back at the lawyer with unwavering gaze and could tell, he was impressed by her courage.

  "Mr…" she hesitated, but he filled it in for her quickly.

  "Singh, but you can call me Arjun."

  She swallowed. There was so much she wanted to say! So much she wanted to do. Like kill him on the spot! Slap him and force him to understand the meaning of rape. It wasn't just the possession of someone's body. It was a bloody disgusting actand it is against the nature of humanity! It was something that ripped a person's soul apart! It snatched away every reason for them to be happy! That was what Aamanda felt like. That was what she wanted to explain to this guy, Arjun. Sahil had snatched her life away from her! And the one chance she was getting at justice, Arjun was trampling it down with his own feet? The one chance she had waited for, was all coming to nothing? Arjun Singh could be one of the best lawyers in the country! Obviously, Sahil Verma with his money would take nothing but the best. But how, how could even the best lawyer defy the truth? How could he stand there and defend a guy who was guilty of ruining her life, then say it was nothing personal? Her mouth opened to give him all that, but instead, the words that came out were,

  "Mr Singh, I have nothing to say to you."

  She took one last look in his astonished eyes and it satisfied her to know she had surprised him, caught him unaware. He was probably expecting a huge outburst, probably her trying to slam her fists against his chest, threaten to kill him too, but calmly, all she did was turn and walk away, leading her friends out of this God forsaken place, where things were rarely, if ever, set right. She hadn't even bothered calling him by his first name as he suggested. And being a lawyer, he always analysed these littlest things in people. The use of his second name, and the respecting 'Mr' in front of it, showed she wanted to keep distance from him. As though he was the reason she had gone through such an ordeal. But in some way, by supporting Sahil, wasn't he?

  Arjun sighed as these thoughts clouded up his mind and ran a hand through his hair. He actually meant it when he said 'nothing personal'. He wanted to get rid of all the guilt! But her eyes, everything about them screamed constantly that he was a heartless, awful person. And this constant blow to his self-esteem did not strengthen his resolve to win the case at all. In fact, it made him bitter and ashamed of himself. Shaking every little feeling out, he proceeded to walk into the sunshine. They had five weeks before the next hearing, which gave him enough time to rest and party for
a week, maybe two, before getting down to more work, look for more evidences. Not that there were many evidences, it was basically a woman's word against a man's. However, the court nearly always favoured the women.

  "No! Please...!" She screamed and wailed, in the shadowy room, fighting with all her might, but the figure wouldn't stop. "Sahil leave me!!" her tears were useless, and so was all her resistance, everything she tried to do failed! The door was locked, the room was dark, and she kept bumping and crashing into every single thing. His hands were now gripping her tight, while every single inch of her body was screaming loud to get out of that hold. Nothing helped.

  SMACK! One hard slap across her face threw her down, onto the ground with such force, that she heard the slam of her back against the wall, even before the pain started shooting through her body, even before she finally gave up.

  Aamanda's eyes flew open on the pillow. Images of her dream and reality kept flashing in her mind, while she shut her eyes tight to try and bury everything behind her. Why had she

  given up? Didn't she have that last ounce of strength in her, to fight back? It had been over six months since that incident, and not one night had Aamanda managed to put herself in deep, calm sleep, unless she took those pills. Swallowing thickly, she sat up and reached out for the jug of water on her bedside table, her mind constantly haunting her about that one night. Her trembling fingers let the jug slipped from her hand and crash onto the floor, making an ear splitting sound in what seemed like the dead of the night.

  Predictably, she heard footsteps rush into her room soon enough, and the bright light that switched on almost blinded her for a moment!

  "Thank God! you're alright, Ammy." Aaliyah's shaky voice came through the doorway. "Don't worry about that, I'll do something about it in the morning." She motioned to the broken glass as she made her way across the room.

  "I'm sorry, Aaliyah…" She managed to whisper.

  "Have you lost it?" Aaliyah replied. "What are you saying sorry for? And look at you. You're sweating so much. Was it the same dream?" She asked in a quiet voice.

  All Aamanda could do was nod once.

  Aaliyah shut her eyes tight to prevent herself from tearing up. No matter how much she had cried for her best friend, no matter how much she had insulted, cursed, almost beaten up Sahil, nothing took back what he had done. And nothing would. She held Aamanda's hand, and warmed it up, noticing how it had almost frozen. Was it really because of the weather, or because there had been lack of blood supply to it?

  "Why don't you try and sleep again?" She whispered. "I'm just next door with Rohan. Please don't worry about anything."

  It took everything for Aaliyah to not burst into tears every time this happened. She got up, fetched Aamanda a glass of water, and handed her a bottle of pills.

  "Here. I think it's best if you have them tonight." Aaliyah muttered, knowing that was a sign of weakness. She had sworn to stop Aamanda from having sleeping pills every night, but how could she help it when she saw her in this condition? How could she stop herself from trying to give her best friend some sleep, which she desperately needed? Heck how could she doze off peacefully when Aamanda couldn't even close her eyes? "We're always there for you alright? Both, Rohan and I. You know that."

  Aamanda smiled. Of course she knew that. Rohan, Aaliyah and Aamanda had been together ever since she could remember! Ever since primary school, back in India. Engaged at the age of twenty one, Rohan and Aaliyah had decided to shift to Leicester, UK, but they couldn't leave without Aamanda. So she tagged along, and then followed the five most amazing years of her life. Until that fateful day. And from the day she turned up at their house, in such a filthy condition, they vowed to always stick together and never break up. Recently, the couple had just celebrated their third wedding anniversary.

  "I'll be fine Aaliyah. Thank you." Aamanda whispered, as she slid into her bed and pulled the covers over herself after swallowing one pill. She closed her eyes, but Aaliyah did not budge; instead sat on the bed and caressed Aamanda's hair, until she was sure her friend had slipped into a deep slumber. Finally, after tucking her in and before leaving the room, she contemplated whether she should switch off the lights and shut the door. Doing neither, she walked back to her room and saw Rohan sitting up in his bed, trying to squeeze out every single detail from the 'Laws of Criminology' book.

  "Is she alright?" he asked when he saw Aamanda.

  "Yeah, she's fine." Aaliyah replied, slipping into bed. "Same dream. Rohan," she looked up earnestly at him. "We have to win this no matter what. I can't see her stuck like this for the rest of her life. If we win, at least she'll be able to move on."

  "I know Aaliyah. Neither can I." He put aside the book, turned off the bedside lamp. "It's past two am. Let's get some sleep." He whispered, pushing himself under the covers and hugging in his wife.

  "Rohan, do we have a chance?" she asked him in the dark.

  "We should. But that lawyer is too bloody darn good." Rohan furiously muttered, clenching his jaw. "And to match his steps, we need to advance ours. But he's managed to block so many paths, that it's almost become impossible."

  "So now?"

  "Now we just keep going and not give up. As long as Ammy doesn't give up, I won't give up. I'll do everything I can to make sure that bastard is put behind bars."

  "And I'll pray for that." She turned around and held Rohan close to herself, waiting for sleep to engulf her.