Throw Me Down And I Will Climb

Godhara was not a backward town. It had all the amenities which were required to make a town enough for people to live a comfortable life but curiously the only means of transport to get around the town was huge, well build a network of buses which was run by the government and to some extent, it seemed ideal for the not so densely populated town in the middle of a place which stays generally away from the satellite. So if you would want to visit this place out of curiosity, well, hard luck.

It was not that this town was perfect. It actually has a big concern and that concern being a bus, no. 258. This chap was actually the first bus that came into being in this town and usually the driver would mess up the routes and take the passengers to a lonely, deserted moor. But nobody bothers because the chances that you board that bus is actually very rare since that bus usually works in the afternoon while everyone is asleep so it can be a rumor, I am not sure.

It was actually just another day for Sheena but considering her state of mind, it was telling another story. She has just got admission to one of the best college in the town but she was actually just so timid to let this feeling sink in. As described by her, well, she was just being driven to hell occupied by hooligans who don't know at all to behave. 

Must be because of that incident which involved her in the worst possible way, being surrounded by boys who just won't let her go. OK, it was childhood but the wound has left a scar and she is just clueless as to what to do.

She could tell her father to get her into a girl's college but she knew his reply, "My only daughter is a fighter!!!" Well if getting up every morning as if its a nightmare and trying to suicide three times is being a fighter, count her in.

You know, there are circumstances when you are just helpless and usually are forced to just go with the flow with only two possible ways as a destination, either do or die. Similar was the case with Sheena but unlike the classic way, she had the option to either die or transform.

"Why don't you get this Sheena? You have got admission to the most prestigious university, GTU why do you want to quit!!". If it's not clear from the voice, its the protagonist's dad.

 "Dad please try and understand, you know what happened back there when I was a kid..."

 " Yeah that's it", he cut her short "at that time you were a KID!! But as of now, you are just mature enough to let go of the past"

 "No way can I let go dad", she said almost sobbing" I called for you but you never listened".

 He always wanted to avoid this topic. Being a father but more of a boxer by heart, he always wanted a son who could continue the journey which he so abruptly had to leave due to lack of resources. But God had other plans so he was blessed with a daughter whom he wanted to train to become a boxer so he had to send those goons to a ten-year-old girl just because he thought that she was a boxer prodigy. It was supposed to be very simple, in and out and simply taunting her about this and that but those lunatics actually betrayed their teacher and robbed the girl of its courage and self-confidence.

" Look honey", he had to save her brilliant daughter's future " you know what, even your mom wanted to see you succeed".

"How could she dad", she replied. "She died the day I was born".

" But she had the dream of seeing you getting a degree from GTU and I know your passion for words is all because of your mother's blessings", he said. 

 " No dad please..."

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!" he cut her short "You have to get rid of this fear otherwise I will be forced to repeat what happened with you eight years ago". Suddenly he realized that his choice of words was not good.

" Was it you?" she was so stunned to hear her father.

Rakesh Gupta knew when he was beaten up. " Yes" he stammered "T They were mm my students. "

 She just couldn't tolerate it any further and was forced to bang open the door, run down the stairs and into the street. She kept running until her legs couldn't carry her further and slowly the voice of her father calling her back got vanished into thin air.

Her father was actually a star for her. She had grown up seeing him fight and winning every single match. She would usually stay in the stands alone and wait for her father to win and give her a hug. She still remembered the warmth of his hug which used to give her a lot of comforts but after that incident, his father's behavior had changed towards her. He had become dominant and used to throw his decisions on her. She would accept this with grace but this time he had crossed his limits and now she vowed never to return.

Walking wearily she came across a bus which was reaching for the stand. She had a feeling as if the bus was calling upon her so without thinking she sat in one of the window seats and fell asleep. Least did she knew that the journey was going to be memorable for her whether positive or negative, well, it was up to her.

She didn't know how long she slept but she was awakened by the bus's horn. She got off the bus. While watching the bus which was getting shorter every minute her eyes fell on the number plate and it was enough to give her the chills since she recognized the number as 258. 

She suddenly got very alert and looked around her but all she could see the infamous moor which was closing her like a demon. She started walking but it seemed like an endless toil.

She was about to fall due to hunger and thirst when suddenly she heard music coming out of somewhere. At first, she thought that it was her imagination but suddenly she caught a glimpse of a blue-colored light that was stretching from a source towards the sky. Slowly as she moved forward she saw the light getting brighter and brighter and suddenly she could hear beat music and people shouting at the top of their voice.

 She almost fell on the door while fighting her way to the crowd and entered into a darkened place with laser light the only source of light. Suddenly a girl with a funky hairstyle and tattoo all over her face approached her and threw in a pipe in her mouth and asked her to inhale. Confused, Sheena took a whiff and the girl shouting like hell went to the members of the bizarre place.

Suddenly Sheena could felt quite light-headed. It seemed to her that all her problems were solved and she started dancing like a maniac. She was hungry so she went to the snacks section and started helping herself and without warning, she started crying and wailing and sobbing and started pushing and pulling people out of agony.

Soon she gathered the attention of everyone present at the party and got surrounded by boys. Her worst fears started haunting her and she started running here and there but every time she tried to leave the circle someone would push her to the middle and laugh at her. She was totally confused as to what to do and her eyes fell on a group of men who seemed a little older than the other people. It is said that our brain takes a split second to recognize a face but she took a little less time than that and instantly recognized those men as her childhood fear.

All her life she had gone through various emotions be it frustration, anguish, agony or sadness. But this feeling which she could define as anger was the mixture of all those feelings. She felt a new strength in herself and slowly got up. She balanced herself and went towards those men and asked them

" Were you up against a ten-year-old girl back in the town"?

The men were actually shocked to hear these words coming from a stranger, but one of them seemed shameless and he stood up in front and proudly announced, 

"Yes, we did. By the way, she was cute. But who the hell are you"?

 That was more than enough for Sheena and she gathered up all her strength, flexed her hand into a fist and punched it so hard at the man's stomach that he almost drew blood from his mouth. She didn't stop there and started punching and kicking all the four men until they couldn't tolerate any further. Then she gathered up her leftover strength stood up with air messed up in a sweat and her t-shirt and trousers loathed with dirt, she shouted with all her might to the men,

"I WAS THE DAMNED GIRL BUT NOW I AM A FIGHTER", and before she could continue any further, she collapsed on the ground since the drug given to her earlier was showing their effect. 

When she woke up she recognized the curtains as her own room's and suddenly she realized that she was back home. She was massaging her head with here sour hand when she saw her father thanking to who seemed like a policeman from the window.

She was about to run go back to sleep when she saw her father enter her room with red swollen eyes. She was shocked since as a daughter she had only seen her boxer father making other people cry.

He sat down beside her on the bed and said in an almost apologetic tune,

"I know my dear", he said " that you don't even want to look at me and I don't have the right to be called your father. I got so blinded by the obsession of my dream that I forgot that you are my daughter and are deserving of my love not the burden of my dream. Don't get me wrong my dear. I couldn't be a good father I am really very sorry. But I want to improve the relations between us." Saying this he passed an envelope towards her. She read it and it turned out to be an admission letter for a girl's college. She had tears in her eyes and she embraced her father like she never did. They both cried in each other's arms for a long time. Then she composed herself and politely decline the admission to the girl's college and explained as exactly what happened at the party. Her father was shocked to hear her but couldn't help but believe what she said.

"I am a fighter dad", she said " 'am ready to go to GTU. BTW, they have a boxing club do you mind if I join", and hearing this her father embraced her with pride and whispered slowly into her ear " no problem dear, no problem at all".