The Girl in the Glass Case by Devashish Sardana

Author:Devashish Sardana [Sardana, Devashish]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789354921490
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2021-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

29

Nalini closed the door.

That was weird. No face-to-face contact for a year and now, out of nowhere, Ranveer was standing on her doorstep, half-naked, shivering in the cold, looking like he was going to be sick.

Sure, it was his house. But he was the one who wanted complete privacy. And then he had come to the lawn to shout and scream. He did realize that she still rented the cabin.

Nalini shrugged. She understood the demons that drove Ranveer. After all, they both had one thing in common: violent, asshole fathers. The only difference was that his father had tortured him, while her father had tortured her mom.

The signs had been visible even as kids. She’d go to his house to play—his mom would invite Nalini only when his dad was away at work—and Nalini would find him in his room, sitting perfectly still, arms folded, chin lowered to his chest, staring at the mirror on the dresser, as if in love with his own reflection. She would chatter non-stop to compensate for his silence. She would run around the room shouting, ‘Catch me, Ranveer. Catch me!’ hoping he would shoot up from his chair and run after her, giggling, laughing, the dimples in his cheeks sparkling. He never did.

When nothing worked, which was always the case, she would sit cross-legged on the dusty carpet—even though she hated grime—prop her chubby elbows on her knees, her chin resting in her palms and stare at him, like she was admiring the vivid colours of a painting. His swollen, crimson lips, chipped front tooth, strawberry-coloured welts on his arms and legs and the angry scorch marks on the backs of his hands. Cigarette burns. He had told her once, while boasting how brave and strong he was and how he never even flinched as his father painted him red.

‘Daddy! I want daddy!’ cried the special little boy from the bed.

Nalini rushed to him. She did not comfort him but stood by the bed watching him squirm under the quilt. So helpless. So needy.

The boy tried to sit up but fell right back. Nalini had tied one of his arms to the bedpost lest he decided to run away in the night. Plotting and scheming would be unusual in a kid with Down’s Syndrome. But fight-or-flight was the body’s natural response. Nalini expected to win the fight but didn’t want to take any chances.

The boy tried to sit up again and fell again. His forehead contorted, as he suddenly realized that he was tied to the bed.

‘Daddy!’ the boy started to bawl.

‘Quiet!’ Nalini whispered, as if lowering her voice would automatically make the boy lower his.

‘DADDY!’

Nalini jumped on the bed. She climbed on top of the boy and put her hand over the boy’s mouth. ‘Shut up!’

The boy struggled, swinging his head from side to side, trying to shake off Nalini’s hand. He screamed, but with a hand clamped over his mouth, it sounded like a groan.

Suddenly, he sank his tiny, sharp teeth into Nalini’s little finger.

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