Married Without Love novel Chapter 22

||Mishal's POV||

“This area is not good for girls like you,” The man said who was showing me the small cottage.

“What do you mean?” I asked him, quietly.

“This area is scary and criminals roam in this area specially gangs,” He said in a low voice, slowly.

I was now feeling afraid but I had nowhere to go and this was the only house which was available and didn't have expensive rent.

“This area may be cheap but the people here are more cheap. Rumors say that people who live alone are taken from their house to sell their organs,” He added.

“What about the police? Don't they do anything?” I asked him.

“They are with those corrupted people,” He answered and shook his head in disappointment.

“Here's the keys to the house,” He said and handed me the keys.

I looked down at the keys and prayed for new life. The owner walked out of the house while I let my eyes roam around the small TV lounge.

“And one more thing, don't go out of the house after sunset,” The owner's voice came as he closed the door.

I put my suitcases in the small bedroom and took out my fresh and comfortable clothes. I quickly changed into them and laid down on the mattress. I sighed in relief when my back pressed against the mattress.

Three weeks passed and I found a job as a teacher in a nearby school. Numan and ma helped me even when they were not with me. If they didn't give me that letter or money then I didn't know what would happen to me.

I didn't know whose but I was feeling someone's eyes on me 24/7 whenever I went out of my house to school. Sometimes, I felt safe but sometimes, I felt goosebumps.

I tried to find another place to live but I couldn't find one because all the other houses or apartments were expensive and I couldn't afford them but I didn't stop searching for another place.

It was night time and I was feeling scared because every night I heard someone running around the house, shouting outside or sometimes gun shots.

There was a knock on the door which startled me. I debated whether to answer the door or not.

"Please help me!" A panicked voice of a lady came from outside and constant knocks on the door.

I didn't want to answer but hearing this lady plead made me think ‘What if this lady really needs help?’

I slowly stood up from the mattress to answer the door when I heard that lady's voice again. I stood in front of the gate and looked at it nervously and in fear.

“Who is there?” I asked with my shaking voice which I tried my best to make it strong.

"Please help…!" That pleading voice was full of sorrow, making my heart clenched.

‛This is just a lady who needs my help!’ I was telling myself over and over again because what the owner said had made me feel scared.

I paused there for two minutes debating whether to open or not but the door was knocked again and again, continuously. I released the breath which I was holding and turned around back inside the house, not wanting to open the door at this late night.

I startled when the door knocked again and her screams for pleads came again. I swallowed down in fear and opened the door slowly with my shaking hands for the lady.

Just as I opened the door, a hand was placed on my mouth and before I saw who was that person, I was injected.

My eyes filled with tears and I trashed under the hold of that person. I felt myself getting unconscious but I tried to gain my conscience back in which I failed and fell in complete darkness.

At that time I promised to myself never help anyone again.

• • •

I was feeling pain and aches everywhere as I tried to move which was scaring me but the darkness was scaring me more. I opened my eyes slowly after many attempts and gasped.

I tried to sit up but felt pain in my legs. I moved my hands to rub my face but, suddenly, I felt the chill cold air hit me.

“Oh no!” I cried in disbelief and quickly sat with sobs.

I was laying on my mattress naked under the sheets and the pain was increasing more and more. I put my hand on my mouth and cried loudly. I looked beside me and saw no one was there but by the look of that side I knew someone was there.

My heartbeat was becoming out of control and I tried to gasp my breath. My eyes slowly closed again and I fell in darkness.

I didn't know when I was awakened and how I fainted. But I quickly sat up and wrapped the sheets around myself and went to the washroom. I quickly wore my clothes and went out of my house to the police station.

I was wrapped in my shawl and clenched it in a fist as I walked inside the police station and passed through the few policemen whose eyes were filled with lust.

I stopped in front of the desk of one of the policemen and looked at him feeling uncomfortable because he was looking at me from head to toe.

“Yes?” He asked me with a smirk.

“I... I... I want..,” I tried to speak but the words were stuck.

“You want, Ms.? Are you lonely or is someone irritating you?” He asked me, softly with a smirk.

“I.. I was raped,” I blurted out, quickly in one breath and exhaled slowly.

That policeman laughed out of sudden and other policemen also laughed with him. My eyes filled with tears and I felt more humiliated. My innocence and dignity was stolen from me and here they were crying in happiness with laughter.

“Sorry to laugh, Ms. But who can control his inner beast after seeing a real beauty like you. Well not sorry, Ms. Because this is the jungle of hungry beasts and wolves like us where we take every beautiful thing like you by hook or by crook. This is our territory and everything is normal here. You have already warmed someone's bed, how about you also warm mine,” The same policeman said with lustful eyes as they roamed greedily on my body.

I clenched my shawl more tightly and looked at the desk where a glass of water was. I picked that glass and threw the water on his face in anger.

“How can you call yourself a policeman or even a human when you can't protect anyone or give them protection? You don't deserve this uniform because of police officers like you, every police officer has to suffer from the hate of common men. And how can you even give people protection when you have sold your loyalty? And think about your mother before talking to any female. How will you feel when someone talks to her like this?” I yelled at them in frustration and walked out of the police station.

I wasn't worried about that creepy man if he died or not but what if something to this man then what would happen to his family. If he killed that man then police would put him behind the bars.

When he didn't answer me and kept looking at me coldly, I stepped back in fear of him killing me. I panicked when I thought he could also kill me and I held no power compared to him.

I quickly turned around and picked my bag from the ground and walked away from him as quickly as I could.

What have gotten in these men? Why can't they control themselves when they see females alone?

Finally, the school ended and teachers were also free to go home. I exited the school and quickly walked in the direction of my house but stopped when I saw my saviour was standing outside my school.

I would mind my own business if I couldn't look at his hand. It had cut on it and blood was coming out of his hand. Slowly and in fear, I took steps near but stood at the safe distance from him. I looked down at his hand and observed it.

There were stretched marks of nails around that cut and it made me guilty to know somewhere I was also the cause of it because the stretches marks were on the cut which looked an old yet fresh scar and it was like these stretches opened that cut.

“You need to aid it quickly,” I told him and looked at him in hesitation.

His eyes held nothing but coldness which made me step backward unconsciously but somehow I felt saved near him.

“Come with me to the near pharmacy,” I told him and turned around to walk to the pharmacy.

I made sure he kept walking behind me and I kept a safe distance from him. When we reached the pharmacy, I bought bandages for him and handed them to him. This was the least I could do to thank him.

“Thank you!”

I thanked him for saving me and was about to walk out of the pharmacy when my eyes fell on the pregnancy tests. My heart was skipping a beat every two seconds later as I walked to that side. I took three of them with shaking hands and bought them.

“Are you?” I heard the cold voice of that man from behind me which startled me but there was also something on which I couldn't put my finger on.

How could I forget he was also here?

I didn't answer him first and quickly handed money to the cashier. I turned around to walk out but he was standing in front of me.

“My friend. She needs it,” I lied to him, quickly and quietly.

I took a step back and quickly walked past him and out of the pharmacy. I quickly walked to my house but felt dizzy like I was feeling in the school. When I reached home, I quickly locked the door and rushed to the washroom.

I was trying to hold myself together to look at the tests from the last one hour. Finally, I held myself together and went to see the result. I picked it with my shaking hand and cried silently when I looked at it.

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Positive.

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