As the cool breeze brushed her face , she suddenly snapped back to the reality. She quickly stood up glancing at her watch and said , " Oh no ! It's already late. I have to reach house before 5 PM."
Prabha was walking in a faster pace without looking further. Suddenly , she tripped and got a muscle cramp in her left foot.
She tried walking, but it just felt more painful.
So, she decided to sit over a grass to rest for a while.
" Yes ! I am coming to Norway. I am never returning here. I am going to apply for scholarship this week and settle down there no matter what."
She overheard someone's conversation on phone. He seemed to be frustrated.
" Have you never heard this quote ?
One should leave the cage before it gets too comfortable to move out despite having the key.
I want to escape from this hell. I want to be somewhere free and peaceful ."
He spoke loudly as if he was declaring something.
He is Aarav, a 17 year old living with his adopted parents and one adoptive older brother. But he was more like enemy in disguise for him. His brother always thought of him as a greedy person wanting to steal his wealth.
But Aarav never said anything because he knew his brother wouldn't stop giving him troubles no matter what.
Today, he was talking to his best friend who is currently living in Norway. He is the one who supported and loved aarav as his own brother since childhood.
He was telling aarav not to rush things too fast. But Aarav had enough of the family problems so he couldn't stand being with them anymore.
After that call ended, he walked out with a poker face.
But Prabha zoned out.
Something striked her mind.
" Am I getting too comfortable in my cage too ?" Her inner voice asked with curiosity.
She couldn't answer.
So, she just sat there replaying her thoughts until she realised that time had slipped away.
She jumped up and started walking towards her house despite the pain in her feet.
She is Prabha , a 17 year old girl who has been struggling with family problems and many more. Her life seemed happy till she was in grade 10. But after that, it slowly started getting strangely difficult. Soon after completing high school, she found herself struggling to juggle in between studies and family.
Prabha is clearly aware about her trauma - induced attachment issues.
So , whenever she tries to get out of cage, she ends up feeling guilty for the step she is about to take.
At the end, she rather chooses to be humiliated, blamed and unwanted rather than leaving her family.
That night, something changed inside her. She decided to take the step that she has always been hesitating for.
She researched about the scholarship program that Aarav had mentioned about. Surprisingly, she had all the required documents.
Just before clicking the final decision ,she stopped and glanced over a family photo placed on the table.
" Am I wrong by wanting to leave my own family ?
Am I just a selfish and unlucky person just like my parents said ?
Would I even get selected?
Maybe I shouldn't apply.
At least others will get chance.
I will just waste their time. Yes ,I won't.
I can't disappoint my parents again. " She thought to herself as tears rolled down her eyes .
It was her guilt making her doubt trying to stop her.
The tears fell upon her fingers that was playing with computer's mouse unsure what to do.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door - it was her mom calling her to do chores.
Unexpectedly she had clicked the submit button . As soon as she saw, she went blank.
She started crying feeling guilty and wrong for doing something without asking parents.
Her thoughts spiralling to possible critisicm she would have to hear. At the moment, her mom started scolding for not coming out.
So, she immediately wiped her tears and went to work.
The time passed by without knowing. Prabha had already forgotten that she once applied for the scholarship because the stress from parents were tough enough to handle.
In a blink of an eye, a year flew by . But those 365 days felt more like 365 years for her. Yet, she still couldn't get out of the cage.