THE RENEWAL (A SHORT STORY)

Hello everyone. I usually don’t write short stories because they end up being really graphic for some reason. This one below is no different. But I think no matter how optimistic we are, we need to still realistically acknowledge the world around us. So I hope you like it!

“Your body is a sacred temple and I want permission to it,” he smiled as he spoke.

She looked at the ground and smiled back as teardrops rolled down her cheek, one after another.

“Why are you smiling like that? Wait, why are you crying? Are you okay?!”

“Don’t worry it’s nothing.
It’s just that… No one ever asked before.”

He held her hands as she looked up to him; and the courage of the five oceans gathered inside one body as she opened her mouth to speak.

“They did not ask before they used me. They did not ask before they took my body like taking something off of a shelf whenever they felt like it. Not when they used me for their anger; not when they used me for their lust.”

“I know. But it’s okay now.” He tightened his grip around her hands and brought them to his chest.

“I have marks on my body of bruises that once were blue; scars from wounds that bled and the traces of hands that did not remember they had a God. I have the air from that locked, dark room inside my lungs. I have the sound of the man who whispered  “its only a game” in my ears and the man who screamed at the top of his lungs inches away from me, telling me I will be killed if I don’t shut up, if I do not stop crying after he beat me up. So shut up I did as they all got away with their actions.

I have been used over and over again and not one single time was I asked beforehand.”

“I know, my love, but I’d never use you. I am not them; even though I am a man. I did not marry you for that.”

“Then why did you marry me?” She looked back at him, replying to his gaze with a hopeful but afraid look in her eyes.

“Because… because you’re so much more. You’re more than the hands that made your skin go blue. You are more than the hands that didn’t know where to stop. You are more than filthy gazes and lies. You are more than forced obedience; or used goods.

Stars filled her eyes as he continued:

“You are human. You are kind, you are smart, you are gentle and mighty. You hold entire galaxies within you. You have no idea what you are. Not just to me but to the whole world.

So don’t you dare define yourself using incidents and people who do not deserve to even see your smile. You are not what happened to you. You are what happened by you. and I swear to God that makes you more beautiful than anyone I’ve ever known in my entire life. And your body, love, is not your prison. It is your home.”

 

16 thoughts on “THE RENEWAL (A SHORT STORY)”

    1. Thank you! Thanks a lot. Thing is, when it comes to these things we see too much of how bad it is and how torturous the suffering is. I wanted to show, with this story, that there is healing too. It’s not a road leading nowhere. After abuse, there comes healing like I wanted to spread hope about that, for people who have been through it, instead of just writing sad things about it. This is real and needs to be looked at from a better angle I think. So this is what I tried to do here :’)

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      1. That’s a good thought. And you are right, we need to look at things from better angle, we need to straighten our grip on hope.
        Keep sketching out brighter side. Thumbs up.

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  2. Sad. Just too sad. Sad how some people are so damn cruel. This world is a sad place.

    It’s a brilliant message that you’ve given through this story. Keep up the good work.

    (Sorry, I can’t write good long comments like you do. I’m short of words)

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    1. This world is a place of sadness and blessings all put together. If there was no sadness here, and we had perfection, how would we look towards the perfection of the afterlife and yearn for it? Dunya ko jannat se kam acha hona tha na is liye. Warna kahan hum ache kaam karte. 🙂 Alhamdulillah. Thank you so much for reading and liking this. It means a lot! And yes. I’m glad you like the message too.

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      2. Well I’m lucky to have a reader like you too! And I don’t believe in one person being better or worse than another so I can’t say anything about that haha :p thank you for stopping by! 🙂

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