The cool wind gave froze her naked hands and legs as she tried to stay warm in the middle of the night. For once she thought about going to some one for at least body heat. The thought of some warmth evoked a deep sense of longing inside her and made her eyes shine, but as much as she wanted to be warm, she would not and could not go downstairs. The cool night’s hand caressed her body and sent yet another chill down her spine and she curled up into a ball, fighting to retain her own body heat. This was not something new to her, she had faced worse nights but tonight she did not know if she would win the fight against nature to preserve herself. She was sore and there were drops of blood scattered all over her flimsy skirt. She did not have anything to eat all day and she was raging with fever. She was trying her best to not drift away to unconsciousness because she was scared that she might never return to consciousness again. She tried to think of good times, but failed to recall any moment. Had there been any good times in her short lived life?

She was born into poverty, alcoholism and prostitution. As long as she could remember there was a clinging smell of soot and liquor in her clothes and everything around her. Her mother was a petite brunette who accused her for making her lose precious 5 months of her employment. If Mike had not been as nice as he was, Angela would have been born in the middle of the road with dirt all over her naked baby body. No one else in "the shelter" had babies. Precautions had to be taken to assure that there were no extra mouth to feed, but mom's precaution had failed and had resulted into Angela! She should be grateful to Mike, mom always told her, as he was their bread provider. At the age of 5, she could cook, wash the dishes and if needed, she could also wash adult clothes. She would see men come to her mom’s room almost every night but by the time she woke up the next morning, they would already be gone. Sometimes she saw some bruises in her mom’s body. It scared her the first time she had noticed it. She had clung to her mom and cried in horror thinking that something awful was happening to her. In response, mom had grabbed her by the arm and pushed her aside and told her to grow up. Life was harsh; bruises were inevitable if they wanted food in their plates.

Angela had never again tried to hug her mom. Sometimes at nights when she had nightmares, she would want to run to her mom for comfort. One day the fear had been unbearable and she could not stop herself from going to her mom’s room. What she saw that night was imprinted in her mind and she started having nightmares about it. Her mother was tied to the bed and was naked. There was an elderly naked man with gray hair torturing her mom and whipping her. He kept shouting at her to say his name and would whip her every time she took his name. Angela had been so astounded that she had shouted at the old man to stop torturing her mom, only to be chastised by her mom and sent out of the room. She did not get anything to eat the other day. Every mistake deserves a punishment, mom said, so punished she was!

She was ten years old when she received a blow right on her face. She got up in the morning and proceeded with making breakfast for everyone. She heard sirens outside and wondered what had happened in the neighborhood. Hearing sirens in the neighborhood that she lived in was not a big deal. Someone always got shot, mugged or injured. When the ambulance stopped in front of her home, she did not flinch. Every once in a while, someone would get injured or overdose every now and then and had to be taken to the hospital. She looked out of the window with curiosity over what had happened this time. What she saw overwhelmed her. She dropped everything she had in her hands and ran outside when she saw the bloodied body of her mother being taken to the ambulance. Her customer last night had whipped her so aggressively that she had fainted last night. The customer had left without informing anyone and no one knew how long she laid there and lost blood.

Mike shoved Angela out of the way and told her to wait while they took her mom to the hospital. She nodded her head and went back and waited. Every second seemed to be ticking away at snails pace. Miserable thoughts ran inside her head as she waited for any news, but it had been hours and yet no one informed her of anything. It was almost completely dark outside when Mike finally came back. Angela ran to him and asked if her mom was alright, but Mike would not tell her anything. He asked her for some tea and bread and as an obedient child, she went and did her bidding. She waited patiently as Mike ate his food.

"What are you going to do now?" Mike asked matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean what am I going to do? Mom is going to come back from the hospital and then we are going to continue as we were."
"Your mom was 12 when she got into this business, do you want to start?" Mike’s eye never left her face.
"I am never going to get into this dirty business. I am going to go away from this place as soon as I am able to," Angela did not fear Mike's anger.
"Then I guess you better pack your bags sweet thing." Mike took a toothpick and started poking it through his blackened teeth.
"What do you mean? How is Mama? Why aren't you telling me?" she tried her best not to shout at him. She tried her best to remember her mom’s advice of treating Mike nicely.
"She is dead sweet thing. The son of a bitch beat her unconscious and left her in there to bleed to death. Her blood pressure was low to begin with so the loss of blood did not help. The blood was draining out of her body for hours."

Angela could not believe her ears. She could not believe that this man was telling her that her mom was dead. She would not ever be able to talk to her mom or feel her hand when she combed Angela's hair at times. She would not ever be able to look into those eyes again. Angela would never be able to tell her mom that she had loved her no matter what. Her fantasy of her mom breaking down and admitting how much she loved her would never come true. The only person she had ever loved in the world was no more!

"Where is her body?" There was no tremor in her voice or tears in her eyes.
"Tough little chit aren't you?”"Mike was still fiddling with the toothpick. "Donated it to the hospital. Who is going to pay for her cremation? Is the wood going to walk out of the forest and ask to be sacrificed on behalf of your slut mother?"

Angela could not take it anymore. Her mother had served, pampered and slaved after this man who could talk about mom's death so lightly. He was eating while taking about her mom bleeding to death for heavens sake! Fury as she had never known rose inside her and blinded her eyes. She reached for a knife and carved a big C along Mike's face but she was not fast enough to actually cause serious harm. Mike was too big and fast for her. He lifted her effortlessly and carried her to his room. He threw her in his bed and started thrashing her. With every beating her world became more and more numb until she could not feel a thing. All she could see was her mom's eyes and one of her rare smiles. Mom was gone and she was all alone in this world. She did not know when Mike tore her clothes away. She could not see a thing, could not feel a thing except the stab of something deep within her. The pain blinded her and with each thrust she lost her consciousness, and drifted to a sleep full of dreams. Dreams about her mother smiling at her and telling her that she loved her. Dreams about her mother taking her to the park or to the mall and buying her clothes. Dreams about her mother’s undying love. Dreams of what had not been and what would never be!

When she woke up the next morning, she was lying in the terrace all by herself with blood splattered all over her clothes. She had tried to get up and walk but her legs were not strong enough to carry her. Her body was swollen and every fiber of her being was sore. She spent the day drifting in and out of sleep, hoping for someone to come help her. No one had come to her rescue. Her mother might have helped her but she was gone. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep again, until the cold night's wind woke her up. She shivered and fought for her survival until the demon of sleep overtook her body.
______________________________________________________________________

She was found in the terrace with her eyes closed and her body swollen. Identification of a 10 year old child in a brothel was very difficult as there were no records of the children born there. She might have been a new prostitute who did not survive her first night. As always, the police overlooked anything with the help of Mike's persuasion and money. How important could a 10 year old found in a brothel be? One thing the police could not get over was the smile that was frozen on her face. She looked like a child having a sweet dream while her dead body was carried out the building. Maybe she had ultimately found happiness in her misery.

Rythm -

A very nice story :) Well told. Liked your style. Excellent job with the narrative and characterizations.Lots of palpable emotions at play.

Brilliant!

:)

Captain, thanks a lot for taking time to read my story and commenting. :) I really appreciate it.

I realized tht the first sentence itself has a typo (dont know if others have it too). Please read it as "The cool wind froze her naked arms.....". not as " The cool wind GAVE froze...."

thanks

Excellent!
Your story has lots of pain and reality. As a Nepalese, I always used to think prostitution, torturing and other abusing is common in poor country and NOT common in developed one. I was wrong “Poor are always poor wherever they are...” I must say an exceptional piece of writing! Please keep it up … GOODLUCK :-)

very sad story...

such realities of life make me think twice about the statement "life is wonderful"

10 out of 10...dats all i gotta rite....i bet i did drop some tear drops....F.A.N.F.U.C.K.I.N.G.T.A.S.T.I.C...........

love ghundruk ko jhol

And she writes another marvel again!!
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So, the life happened; and the girl died!!
Misery is it or her happiness!What she didn't get all her life, she get it on her death! The death juxtaposed with the dreams!! Is it death that makes the people happy after all?? or is it the dreams!! We can only assume!!
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Shall I say how much I love you and your stories Rythm?? or you know it already?? ;)
Can you write some more for me?? :P

very very sad story.

What a nice story to tell. I do hope that you will keep posting stories like this in coming days.
Goodluck

You remind me of the pain and misery in this world. Some one are lucky to get with a little share in some point of their life. There are few unlucky who born and die with it. For those ill fated, death is the salvation. Llittle girl had a hope which died with her mom although her mom never nurtured this hope. You saved my soul painting a smiling face on that death. Still I feel so uneasy in my heart.

Sijupanta -- Isn't poverty and pain an international phenomenon? Was trying to potray a Nepali-Indian brothel though. The names might have been confusing. Thanks for the comments:)

Cerine sis :) : So me people look at this and wonder if life is beautiful and others look at it and realize how wonderful their own life is comparitively.

gundruk ko jhol: Aww I am totally flattered by your 10/10 but I think there should always be place for improvement. what you say?

Juggy: Mi amor!!:P Of course I know you love me but thanks for loving my stories too. lol. I would certainly write more stories for you. Specially when I dont have internet at work!!:P

Uptowngirl: Very sad indeed. Made me sad while I was ending it, though it was a fragment of my imagination!

Aryalbabu: Thanks, I will try to post more.

very sad indeed. even a pack of tissue wasn't enough to wipe the drops that rolled over. buhuhuhuhuhuhu....what a cruel world we're living in!

i see a glimmer of hope in the ending, perhaps surrendered-to-the-ill-fate kinda but do you love writing sad stories? are you okay? coz i remember reading another story of yours with similar low and depressing note. be happy hai! world is beautiful even with all these miseries.that's what i used to think but perhaps not, "enlighten" me will you?....buhuhuhuhuhu-- still cying ;P

SunnyDev, I guess the world is full of sad things and we cant do anything about it. It was a sad and uneasy story.

Mr. Loote: I think i do like writing sad stories. For some reason everytime I start writing something it ends up sad. I dont think there is anything wrong with me though. But maybe I am wrong... And life is beautiful indeed!

Rythm,
Moving story, reminds me of "chandni baar", one of the most brilliant and disturbing cinemas I have seen in recent times, how effortlessly you touched the pangs of melancholiness with subtle words.
Kudos!

Rythm - that was really really sad and distressing!! :(
Life sucks!!!

And since you made me so upset, the story was obviously was written very well!! :) Awesome job!! Keep it up!! :)
:D

A good read...touchy and lamenting..lively description..
Well done...

John, Thanks a lot. I hadnt really thought about Chandni Bar when i wrote about this but when you mentioned it, Chandni bar is a very sad yet a great movie. When I started to write it, I had not thought about the theme, the first sentence in the second paragraph just sort of led me in to the story.

Nails, Life does not suck. I guess it does for a few, but when you think about it, aren't we the lucky ones? Thanks for dropping in :)

Nepal ko chora, Thanks to you too.

Rythm darling, nice to see you after a long time.........Ive not read the story but M sure its great coz I know how u write........

Sunday evening is perfect for the story :-D

Amazing hun, you make me laugh. hehe Thanks for the confidence:P it has been long since I was a regular here hasn't it? Much has changed!

Nothing has changed honey!! It is just that U stopped writing that changed everything!! See U start writing and everything starts to be normal!! Thats why I tell u u should write!! :P
I think I shall fall in love with u only when u write a story!Now start writing another one!:P