Tenebrous thoughts ran across her mind. The eldest boy, Vidhit, had been inclined towards the idea of helping her. She watched him.

His scrawny physique disappeared in the dark evening inside the house. When he came back, a cricket bat accompanied him. It was selfish to put those three in danger, but Vayshali couldn't bear to let her brothers go down and risk themselves.

Silly were these three.

If Vayshali was in their place, she would've shaken her head in denial. 'It is neither my problem or my responsibility' was her response to anything that promised danger ahead. Life had offered nothing to the meek, feeble girl. Coming from an orthodox family had its disadvantages, but coming from a poor orthodoxical one was somewhat worse.

Forced to leave studies at the tender age of ten, and doing household work in other people's houses instead left a bitter taste in her.

Why was her education sacrificed to secure her brothers'?

Reason for this was simple. Her mother had told her that it was her responsibility to do the low work. Those few words gave her mother the right to do anything to her. Whether it was working as a maid, or selling cheap objects in the middle of a storm, the dirty work was on her shoulders.

The family was starving? Don't allow Vayshali to eat, and get her in the streets to earn money.

Shortage of money? Send Vayshali at someone else's house for a week or two. Someone died? Don't let Vayshali come near the corpse, or else she will bring bad luck to the family in the near future.

Irony mocked her from time to time.

Oh, the miseries of one's life when certainty was beyond them. How much it pained her to exist!

Details of the past blurred around her. The felony she was about to commit against humanity needed attention. Vidhit, with his highlighted blonde, padded the stairs with his feet.

She watched him disappear down to the dark staircase. Squeaking noises of high frequencies pained her ears as he tried to open the main door. This noise had become a normality of her life. Hence, the idea of it paining her eardrums was foolish.

Below her, Vidhit stepped down on the street. Without any streetlights, it was hard to see him for anything other than a dark blotch pressing against the dark of the night.

Nearing her house, his silhouette opened the door to her house.

Without making a noise further, he slipped inside the shelter of the house. There was no other way to see his progress now.

Vayshali prayed for him to find Pranav.

Fingernails that we're once tightened around the rails were released. With one fall, she collapsed on the floor. There was no other choice but to wait for the aftermath to arrive.

***

He never came back. The two brothers, worried about him, had taken their chances and went down to check on him. They didn't return either.

With feeble will, Vayshali plopped her hands on the floor. She got up. Dusting her clothes made a cloud of dust rose in the air.

She knew how dirty she was. There was no need for God to prove it like this.

Heaviness evident in her steps, she moved back to where she had left her two brothers. Her breath ceased as she noticed the now empty room. Running to the kitchen, she checked if they were there.

No one.

They went down.

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