8 Chapter 8- Decapitated

Archie looked amongst the pictures which hung on the dusty walls of her mother. She took a closer look. She was so beautiful. Like a goddess. She took another photo in her hands before realising the clothing that her mother wore around her head and across her face. She didn't understand what it was. Nevertheless, she was a sight to see. In some pictures she wore the headscarf but in others, she didn't. She looked completely different, wearing a gold embroidered saree with dark green and yellow borders. Her hair reached up to her knees, plaited and was decorated with jasmines which were threaded together in a bunch. She wore a large maroon bindi {South Indian face accessory} and a leg piece which draped elegantly alongside her breath taking feet. This is exactly what she imagined her mother to look like. But in fact, she was far more a beauty. She couldn't take her eyes off the photo before she found a small crystal casing in the corner of the shelf. Archie slowly took it in her hands and opened it up to see the leg piece that she saw in pictures of the mother. But this time, stained in blood the colour of coal. At her realisation, she dropped the casing to the floor where it shattered into bits. This room was a treasure.

As Archie stared below in disbelief, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She quickly closed the door shut and held her breath before she heard it fade away. She tried desperately to take her mind off the leg piece and shove the little bits of crystal underneath the shelf. Standing scrunched in the nook of the room, she realised that most of the pictures were taken near an old house. It looked like an ancient palace, with pillars twice the size of trees on both sides before leading to the magnificent structure in royal blue. This was a typical South Indian style house. The roof gave it away with the edges slightly lifting upwards, just like she had seen in the books. It stood amongst the side of a paddy field, with coconut trees surrounding both sides near a small stream which smoothly flowed aside the field. It looked like heaven. She thought her father said that they had no connection to India, but she wasn't surprised as that wasn't all that he kept from her. But what was so shameful about it? Why did he make the decision to move her when they could have lived in paradise?

In front, she saw her father and mother holding both her sister and herself. She slowly fell to the floor and cried until her eyes were swollen. She took the photo off the frame and carefully put it into the pocket of her dress.

Feeling the ground beneath her, her fingers met with a metal pole. Confused, she followed her hands and looked up. Her eyes budged in fright and her heart beat out of her chest but no noise came from her mouth. It was a severed head of a man.