Nyra after listening what Elira said ran from the Archive. Confused she was crossing the road and suddenly a car came from behind and hit her. She fainted at the stop.
Nyra is unconscious in the hospital after the accident. The world fades around her, and the screen in her mind starts playing the flashbacks - fragments of memory she had long buried deep.
Memory 1: The Bet and The Beginning
Age:9
Location: Slum area in old Delhi
The room smelled of old alcohol and rusted iron.
"Don't stand there! Stir the damn curry!" her father yelled, cards scattered on the floor, whisky sloshing from his cracked glass.
Nyra flinched, rushing to the stove with trembling hands. Her oversized kurta was stained. She was too small for this world, yet already drowning in it.
That night, everything shattered.
He slammed his glass down.
"One last round. Everything I got.....and her."
"Her?" the man across the table raised a bow.
"My daughter she will work for you. Do cooking. Cleaning. Stay Quiet. Strong."
Nyra didn't understand the word 'bet'. But when her father didn't met her eyes, something inside her knew - she had been given away.
Memory 2: The new homeAge:10That house was silent. Big. Empty. Yet somehow, terrifying.
Mr. Raghavan led her to a small room with a tiny mat.
"You live here now. Obey me and i won't raise my hand. Disobey........and you'll regret it."
She nodded silently, touching the hem of her kurta.
A week passed.
One evening, she was cleaning the floor....
"Take off that kurta. It's dirty. Just wear...that."
He pointed at a pair of faded pink underwear and a black small vest. That small that could barely fit a 5 year old.
Nyra blinked:
"No.....I - I don't want to - "
"Do it now or else you will sleep outside tonight."
She whimpered. Hands shaking. Her throat ached. Her knees scraped on the floor.
"Please....Please don't make me...."
He slapped her.
The sound rang louder than her cries.
One night she was lying still, trying to stay invisible.
The door creaked open.
"You're quiet today, girl. That's good. Quiet girls are easy to handle."
Nyra backed into the corner, whispering:
"Please....dont.....it hurts...Please dont....."
She didn't even understand what was happening. She hadn't even hit adolesence till now. But the pain came. And tears. And silence.
Her tiny voice cracked.
"Why....Why are you doing this? I just want to sleep....."
He didn't answer.
Only after it ended she did realize - there would be no saving. Not here.
Weeks passed.
One afternoon, the house was filled with visitors. Mr. Raghavan's neice has arrived - with her son.
A boy - maybe 12.
He saw her from the corridor , scrubbing the floor in silence.
She looked up. Their eyes met.
He didn't smiled. Didn't laughed.
Just watched. With confusion. And sadness.
Later that day, he passed her again, she whispered:
"What's your name?"
"Allen."
She nodded, "I'm.....no one."
He frowned.
"You don't look like no one. You look like someone who is trying to disappear."
Two months later , Raghavan left for a trip.
Nyra waited until nightfall. Took what little money she could.
She didn't go home.
Didn't go to the police.
Didn't trust a soul.
She slept in trains, alleys and cold floors.
And then - she found the building.
Abandoned. Forgotten. Safe.
She made it hers.
She carved a name into the wall with a rusted nail.
"The Archive."
She didn't know why she called it that.
Maybe because she wanted to erase everything before - and record only what she chose to remember.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Nyra jolted awake. Her lungs gasped like she was drowning in memories.
The ceiling was white.
Her body ached.
A boy sat beside her, reading a book, legs crossed.
He looked up, surprised:
"You are awake. You almost died."
Her voice cracked:
"Where.......Where am I?"
"Hospital...I brought you. You passed out after the accident. You kept saying weird things about......archives......and Allen."
She froze.
"Who are you?" she asked.
He smiled.
"Aarav."
Childhood is supposed to be warm, safe... but hers turned to ashes.
Did this chapter break your heart too? Comment with 💔 if yes.
Which moment from her past will haunt you tonight?
⭐ Star it if she deserves more than just a burnt memory