Chained

Wrapping his fingers tightly over my wrist, he led me into a dark room. Claustrophobic and gasping for air, my lungs felt trapped. The room was small with little breathing space. The walls were weak, barely able to deter an intruder from breaking into it. The numerous chains which dangled from one corner to another, solely held this feeble structure together. A whiff of rusted iron filled the room. Beads of sweat formed over my forehead, an odd chill ran down my spine as the cold flooring touched my naked feet. The man, who brought me here, had his face hidden behind a black hood. His voice cast a sense of familiarity over me. His heavy baritone, ordered me to sit in one corner. The next minute, my hands and feet were chained to the rods sticking out of the wall. A dozen odd rods peering out of the walls, through the chains.  As the metal rubbed against my body, tracing red scars along the skin; my soul burnt. Pain pricked every inch of my body and the tears that welled in my eyes blurred my vision. I ran my tongue over my lips, trying to wipe away the saltiness. Unable to move my shackled hands, I tried to stir my facial muscles in an attempt to ward away some discomfort.  The ‘kohl’ with which I had lined eyes that morning, flowed in unruly patterns across my face. The lipstick had waned away. I tried rolling my eyes up, in an attempt to understand the pain that was spreading across my scalp. My head ached. The man walked in again. This time, he held a whip in his hand. He firmed his grip over the black leather that encased it's wooden handle. Even before I knew it, taking it out of the case, the man delivered it brutally on my knuckles. I cringed and cried out in pain. A jolt ran across my veins. He tightened the chains and the metal brushed even harder against my skin. The lashings that cut through my skin, spilling blood in every direction were the hundreds of voices that condemned my existence. My blood-curdling cries pleaded to be heard in a room that was ringing with the horrific sound of the atrocious whippings against my body.

 Yes, I was trapped and chained.  My fate had been chained in a room civilization called the mortal mind. This room in particular as I said was adorned with a hundred chains. Chains of traditional notions. Some a beautiful shade of shinning silver while many were old, rusted and brown. Like cobwebs that ran across the wall, they impressed a sense of antiquity upon the place. Unlike the silver ones that held the walls of that room together, the rusted chains were unwanted. They were old. Much like most of the traditions and conventional ideologies that fabricate our beliefs, some were necessary. Many were not. They were archaic and regressive, pulling down humanity to the bottom of the abyss of regression. This time, I was the victim and ironically the culprit too. To have chosen to fall in love with a man of a different faith, I had dragged myself into this dungeon. An act that apparently scalded my family’s honor. My freedom, now shackled.

 Down came another beating, this time against my face. I screamed louder than before. I could feel the blood spiraling down from my mouth. My grief was a flicker of dust in the room that was filled with hatred and denigration for me. ‘You deserve death. Only death’, the scream intensified. The man laughed. Reiterating his power to rule this kingdom, his laughter pierced through my soul, like a carnivore tearing apart a piece of meat, devouring it. And then he lifted the hood, revealing his face. A vision that transpired into reality from a memory not so distant.  I knew him a little too well. Society, he called himself.