Prologue: Before Phoenix

One night when I wished upon a star for my life to change I didn't think about the pros and con's of my wish. I was so sick of how I was living that I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted a different life.

Growing up in a small town in western India I never had much except for big dreams.

Only ever having enough for basic necessities after apparently 'saving for the rainy day' I never had privileges other kids my age had, no yearly family vacations, no tons and tons of gifts, barely any clothes budget, but the one thing I had and they didn't, was maturity.

Having been forced to grow up too soon, to understand the value of things and not to demand for things had quite the impact on me.

Everyone deserves a good childhood, to be carefree, eat junk foods, have lots of toys, play for endless hours and then come home to welcoming arms of your mother ready with your favorite food and be pampered by your father with presents he'd get while coming back from work. But like it's said not everyone gets what they deserve.

I was always the social outcast even at school. I couldn't stand being in groups playing house and gossiping about boys, didn't have many friends because let's face the truth I couldn't 'socially interact' even for the sake of my life.

And then in my teen years I found new friends, books and music.

They were the only ones that understood me, borrowing books from the school library and getting lost in their pages and listening to songs on the small television at home became a boon, my only comfort.

Most of my playlist was heavily influenced by American pop artists and Kpop artists. It was always a delight to watch the Kpop band boys dance so gracefully to each and every beat. Every down day in my life was instantly lifted up because of them, they had struggled as well but they made it to their dreams, allowing me the tiniest glimmer of hope that maybe I could beat the odds and get my dreams too.

Dreams.

Dreams of travelling the world, dreams of writing something people like me can get lost in, dreams of making soul soothing music, dreams of just being free and figuring out what I actually wanted to be.

Even after living in the cheaper part of the town for a large portion of my life I was never accustomed to the dangers of it.

The never ending cat calls, my mother always fearing for my safety or rather the safety of my dignity. The constant police patrolling in and around my building complex, the 'no going out after dark' rule.

It was frustrating. The constant fear, the constant poverty, the restrictions.

I was always the rebel, didn't want to grow up in the kitchen waiting to be paired up with a distant relative's friend and then given away in marriage.

Fate had other ideas though. The proposals for my marriage started coming in the minute I was of legal age, with long black wavy hair, brown eyes and a fair skin tone, I matched the criteria for being a desirable wife. The in-laws would be happy as well because my mother made sure I was adequately trained in household chores.

But the million dollar question was that did I really want this for myself?

Absolutely not.

This was my life before. The life of Radhika Sharma.

I hated it and I wanted out of it so bad.

Opportunity presented itself to me.

One trip to another country changed my life for the better and then for the worst.

I met the most beautiful and kind human beings. They gave me a new life, a family, a new and true identity and most importantly they gave me love.

Unfortunately life is cruel and fate had other ideas for me. One fine day everything was going just great and then suddenly everything went wrong. Pieces of my life started falling like a domino.

I loved and I laughed, I fell and I cried, I went from simple, reserved and caged Radhika to bold, strong and free Phoenix.

And this is my story of a life changing journey.