0. MONSTERS UNDER MY BED

Had the monsters under you bed ever crawled out in the middle of the night? Had they ever climbed your bed? Had they ever watched you sleep? Had they slithered next to you, traced you with their fingers, down your body, gentle with their undoings, sinister with their intentions? Had they ever donned on a familiar face? Lured you in with a false sense of security, built walls around you, telling you with a smile they're meant to protect you, but as days goes by, as sunlight slips further away from you, as light no longer comes home to you, as the walls grow taller and taller, blocking the world, surfacing the sky, as you end up standing with your monsters, alone within those walls, that's when you realise, you were never safe, you were never protected, you were preyed on, and you walked right into their trap.

Isolated from the world, stranded between your monsters, locked up within those walls, how hard could you scream? And how far is it going to reach? Would anybody ever hear it? Would anybody ever climb those walls for you? Would anybody be powerful enough to break them down for you? Would you ever be able to get out?

Would Kabir ever be able to get out?

Or would he live there forever? Would his world be morphed into those four walls, those monsters his fate, and the nightmares his reality.

Kabir closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"You're weird,"

His eyes popped open. He looked at the girl next to him coldly. "Sorry?" His voice devoid of any emotion. For an eight year old, he was deprived of innocence, addressing the world with depraved indifference.

"It's lunch break." She said, pointing around them, at the kids sitting in groups and pairs, having their lunch with grins and giggles. "You don't ever eat lunch during the break. How do you survive?"

Kabir stared at her face for three long seconds. Then looked around as she was suggesting, before his gaze returned to her. "I eat enough to survive. You don't read biology?"

"I only know photosynthesis." Rising on her tip toes, she plopped down next to him, removing the lid of her tiffin box and offering him the food. He gazed at the parathas with strange curiousity, looking up at her to check whether she was playing some kind of stupid prank on him. The kids in his class have already done that. He would be a fool to fall for it again. "Take it. It's just a paratha."

"No, thank you." He looked away dismissively, ignoring the way his mouth salivated at the sight of those parathas.

She sighed and grabbed a paratha from the box, holding out his palm with the other and slapping the perfectly wrapped paratha in it. He flinched, taken aback by the aggressive kindness, staring at her in evident surprise. "Eat it. My mother packs me four parathas unnecessarily. I feed them to dogs after getting off the bus anyway." She rolled her eyes, grabbing one for herself and placing the box next to her, between them, as if giving him an access to help himself for another if he wants to.

Kabir licked his lips, mindlessly fiddling with the corner of the paper wrap. His gaze flickered back to her. Locked legs swaying back and forth, she enjoyed her paratha with a satisfactory smile on her face. He looked back down at the paratha, folded the paper wrap and took a tentative bite, closing his eyes to relish in the taste of the first morsel going into his stomach ever since that morning. He had forgotten how a perfectly cooked, seasoned food tasted like.

Unlike her, who finished her paratha in a few bites, he savoured each, almost nibbling on it, knowing this might be the last nice thing he'd get to eat for the next few days.

"You ever wash your uniform, pretty boy?" She mused, pointing at his crinkled, stained shirt with a scrunched nose.

Kabir shrunk into himself self-consciously. "I've a name." His tone snappy.

"I know. But that's what everyone calls you in the school. Pretty boy. Because you're really pretty." She shrugged.

His eyes darted to her. "I am?"

She nodded, humming affirmatively. "You're beautiful." Her smile widened.

Kabir froze.

"You're beautiful."

He inhaled a deep breath. Don't think about it. Don't.

"Just like your mother."

His breathing went uneven. He tried to think about something else. Pramila Aunty. She taught him how to get out of these moments. Count your breaths. Look around yourself. Don't stop until you find something worth looking at. And then notice three things about it. Three nice things.

His eyes met hers. She wore a hairbelt with a cute little bow on the side. Her eyes were a certain shade of brown. Not really dark, but also not light, somewhere in between, like his favourite caramel chocolate. And she also had a bracelet on. A moon charm hung on it. He liked that little, eye catching detail on the otherwise simple bracelet.

"Kabir?" She waved her hand in front of his face.

He blinked out of the reverie. His breathing finally calm, levelled, controlled. Something he had been mastering the art of lately. He screamed less now. He cried less now. He panicked less now. He was starting to learn how to control his body, its reactions, its reflexes. The monsters might control him on the outside, but he would never let them do it on the inside. His mind was his own. He dictated it. It was committed to him, and only to him.

The bell rang, loud and clear, causing her to hop down the bench. She looked at him, concerned at the split second of change in his behaviour. "Are you okay?"

He nodded.

"You should throw it away." She looked down at his hand. He followed. Gritted his teeth realising he crushed the paratha in his hand so hard it was now sticking to his skin. "I'll get you another one tomorrow."

His head snapped towards her. "You will?"

She nodded. "We're friends now," she stated confidently, it flattened in its progress witnessing his poker face, "aren't we?" She grew timid.

Despite the clear warnings in his head, Kabir nodded in a yes.

"Yippie!" She fist pumped in the air. "Bye, friend! See you tomorrow!" And she skipped down the stairs, meeting some of her friends on their way to the classroom. Kabir stared at her until she disappeared. When she did, he came back to reality, which is bleak and grim, where he's alone and weak, and leaned back on the bench, trying to release some of the tension before heading for his next class.

The school ended early because of PTM. He was let off since he had no one coming to attend the meeting on his behalf. He preferred the same. He'd rather not see his father in a broad daylight. In the dark, it made it easier to pretend he was someone else.

The door of his house creaked open. Kabir dropped his bag on the cot and made his way to the bathroom, stripping off his white school uniform and using the body soap to wash it clean since he had no special soap that Aunt Pramila uses to wash her clothes. He spent over an hour trying to get the stubborn stains off and ended up with faded marks where once were oil and blood spots. At least he got rid of all that sweat and dust. The shirt also smells cleaner now. He left it to dry off in front of the table top fan.

Grabbing his backpack, he unrolled a worn out mattress on the cold floor and sat down to complete his homework. A headache soon began to bloom behind his eyes. The rancid, putrid stench of the gutter that ran just behind his house made it almost impossible to breath. He got up and ransacked through the makeshift mandir in search of the incense stinks. Upon finding none, he stepped out, knocking on their neighbour's door.

"Kabir!" Aunt Pramila beamed at his sight. "Hi beta, what happened? Are you hungry?"

Kabir shook his head. "I wanted an incense stick if you've any. The smell of gutter was causing me a headache." He mumbled nervously, ashamed to ask.

Pramila nodded eagerly, "Of course, just wait here, I'll go get them for you." He stood quietly in his place while she went back inside the house. The woman returned a minute later, hurried footsteps stopping at the doorstep and she held out a bunch of incense sticks in her hand.

"Thank you," he gave her a small smile.

Pramila sighed, watching him return to that shithole he has to believe is his home. But no more. She was getting him out of that hell. She didn't care what her husband or mother-in-law thought anymore. People are so quick to judge the wrong, never to correct it. She had stayed quiet for too long. No more.

Kabir blew off the flames on the incense sticks, waving them all around his tiny little metal hut, getting rid of the disgusting smell coming from outside. Picking up a rotten potato from the waste, he stabbed the ends of the incense stick in its flesh and went back to finish his homework.

At sharp nine o'clock, the door grunted open, and Kabir's head snapped up, watching a man stumble in, drunk out of his wits, barely able to hold himself up without a support. Kabir stashed his school supplies under the bed and stood up, cornering himself as the man lifted his head and looked around, searching and searching, until they found the terror stricken onyx eyes. And a malicious, crude smile came upon his lips. "Come here," he beckoned.

"Baba, so jao." Kabir whispered.

Baba.

His father.

The man who's supposed to protect him.

Became the monster who devoured him first.

"Come here, Kabir," he gritted out. "Don't make me repeat."

Kabir teared up, pouty lips trembled, chin started to quiver.

"Come!"

Kabir staggered to obey.

"How can you bear this uncanny similarity with your mother?" The man dropped to his knees, seized Kabir's chin in his grip. "She was the most beautiful, you know? The most beautiful in our entire village. And you're just like her. So beautiful." His hand started stroking the drenched, chubby cheeks. The touch slid down, down to his shirt, stopping at his buttons. "I'm sorry. I miss her."

Kabir closed his eyes shut, breaking down in soft sobs as his nightmare began before he could even fall asleep.

Kabir woke up in pain. Dragged himself off the small bed. Tip toed around his father's sleeping figure. Got dressed and left for school.

He met her again. This time, she brought with herself a sandwich. He didn't bother wasting time or prodding around it like a cautious dog. He grabbed it and ate it within seconds.

The lunch ended and they returned to their respective classes.

"Your fee receipt," his maths teacher slipped a piece of paper between his pages. Kabir looked at the man gratefully. "You're an incredibly smart kid. Never stop studying." Kabir nodded.

He returned home from school at five in the evening. Sat down to do his homework without bothering to change. He wanted to use the time before his father would come home from work. He is a security guard at this big shopping mall where rich people buy shiny stuff. Kabir sighed wistfully. He wondered when he'd get to buy whatever he liked.

A knock on the door startled him. Kabir went stiff.

His father was supposed to come home at nine. He wasn't even done with his homework. If he returned this early, does that mean? Kabir shuddered.

The knocking grew rapid. He heard chaos outside. Multiple people were talking. Amidst the unfamiliar voices, he heard her, Pramila Aunty. Kabir leaped to his feet and quickly opened the door. Men and women dressed in khaki coloured clothes walked in.

Pramila rushed to his side. Picked him up in her arms. He wounded his arms around her neck, burying his face in her neck as the multiple men with sticks in their hands searched the house. They grabbed his unwashed clothes and panties with their gloved hands, stuffed them in plastic bags and then walked out.

It all happened so fast.

One moment he was dreading the night where his father would become a monster again, the next, he was sitting in a place filled with kids his age, older and younger. But through it all, he was glad that Pramila Aunty was with him. However, when she crouched to his level that evening, a rueful smile on his face, he knew they were parting ways.

"These people are going to help you."

Kabir frowned.

"You'll be safe here."

The frown dropped. Hope lit up in his eyes. "Baba won't come here?"

"Baba is gone. Baba will never ever hurt you again."

Tears of relief brimmed his eyes. "Really?"

Pramila nodded, hugging his small body tightly. "You're safe here. And if you're fortunate enough, you'll find a loving family for yourself." She pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I'll keep coming to meet you okay? Don't ever feel alone. Make friends. You're a kid," her tone wavers, gets heavy, "Please be a kid again." She almost begged.

Kabir watched her leave melancholically.

Over the course of the next few days, Kabir settled in his new environment seamlessly. He didn't need to do much. Just eat, study, sleep and do your chores. His friendship with the girl in the school was growing too. He always looked forward to their brief lunch interactions.

It was a gloomy evening when a big, expensive black car came to a halt in front of their orphan home's gates. Seated on a stair, Kabir watched with concentration as the elders went personally to greet them.

The pair, a woman and a man, perhaps a husband and a wife, walked in, talking among each other. Then the woman's gaze found him and she stopped. Kabir blinked.

"This is Kabir, he just came in recently." Sister Julie introduced.

The woman knelt to his level. "Hi, Kabir," she smiled softly at him.

Kabir smiled back, shy in his mannerisms. "Hi," he had decoded the trick. When these rich people come in, you act like you're a blessing to the world.

The woman gasped, looking at him in awe. "Vihaan, isn't he absolutely adorable?" She glanced at the man behind her.

"I thought we're here for an infant?" The man bit back.

The woman rolled her eyes. When she looked back at Kabir, she was determined. This little guy had stolen her heart with just a smile. She didn't want to go any further. Her search ended at him. "I want him." She stood up, looking at Sister Julie.

The latter blanched. "Ma'am, he's - he's too much work."

Kabir clenched his jaw. Kept his gaze low.

"What do you mean?" The rich woman asked.

"He was sexually abused from the age of four."

The woman froze.

"We're moving on. Take us to the infants section."

But she had made her decision. "I want him, Vihaan!" She stopped her husband from taking another step ahead.

Vihaan turned around in disbelief. "Didn't you hear her? He's messed up, Anaya."

"Messed up?" Anaya snapped back. "Your thinking is what's messed up." She squatted back down. Looked Kabir in the eyes. "I want to give you a home. A family. Would you give me a chance?"

Kabir, after showing a bit of reluctance, nodded in response.

Anaya got up and glared at her husband. "There, it's final. He's coming with us. As our son. So I better not hear another word against my kid." She warned, a seething fury tamed low in her eyes.

Vihaan sighed in defeat.

And in less than a week, Kabir was walking into a mansion, presented with his own room, his own bookshelf, his own bed, with the world's softest mattress laid out, all the luxuries now at his feet, at an arm's length.

The next time he returned school, it was to withdraw his admission so he could go to a private school, like many other rich kids. His adopted mother made him sit outside the principal's office as she went in to complete the remaining formalities. Kabir sat swaying his legs, overwhelmed, but hiding it skillfully. His life was flipped upside down right in front of his eyes. But he was determined to walk through it calmly. As he looked up, he saw a glimpse of her. Hoping to meet her again, he got off the bench and followed her as she strolled the school compound with her friends.

"So, where's my earrings?" She demanded.

"I can't believe you befriended that weirdo Kabir! How did you do that?"

She shrugged. "A piece of cake!"

Kabir's smile faltered.

"No seriously! Tell me!"

"Just fed him a paratha!" She snorted.

He stopped in his tracks. Hands clenched into tight fists on his side.

"Kabir? Kabir!" A frantic voice called out to him. He whipped around. Saw his adopted mother searching for him in panic. "Kabi-" their eyes met. She took a breath of relief and rushed to his side. "Where were you?" She hugged him to her stomach. "I thought I lost you." Pressed countless kisses on top of his head. Pulling away, she cupped his cheek, looking into his eyes fondly. "Please, don't ever leave my side like that."

Kabir nodded.

She held his hand and the two made their way towards the school gates.

The final bell for the school rang, marking the end of the day. Kabir watched as the kids ran out of the school corridors, straight into their parents waiting arms, before they held hands and walked away, as if it was a regular, normal occurence in their lives.

His gaze lifted.

His hand was held securely too.

This normal occurence, is now his reality too.

So when the woman leaned in to buckle him up in the car's seat, he asked her, apprehensive about her answer, "Can I call you Ma?"

Anaya stopped fiddling with the belt, her eyes brimming with fresh tears of happiness. Unable to face in case she burst out in sobs, she nodded quietly.

"Thank you, Ma. For accepting me."

Pressing a kiss to his cheek, she smiled at him, "You don't ever thank your mother for loving you, silly."

Getting into the driver's seat, Anaya pulled away from the school's front gates. Kabir watched his old life grow distant from the rear view mirror. He was ready to put it all behind. Ready to start anew.

And he did just that.

As the years passed, he transformed from an abused, terrified child to becoming a man who made terror tremble in its boots at the sight of him.

Kabir Raichand, the CEO of Raichand Group of Industries, a prodigy, a charmer, an infamous heartbreaker.

The man who held the world in the palm of his hand. And the man who was now powerful enough to crush it.

So he wanted to ask you, "Are you ready?"

Because once you're in, there's no out.

Sup! Whipped it up in two hours so spare me if you encountered any errors. What do you think about the prologue?

Don't forget to vote and comment! Makes my day!