4 The Queen of the Hearth Part 4

Jassi and Shera ran at full speed. Jassi knew that it would not be long when Rajeshwar and Renny would call Kameshwar and other members of their gang and they would all come for her. She also knew that if they find her, they would probably skin her alive. Though she was very, very afraid of what they would do to her, she was in high spirits because before sprinting away, she had seen Renny's face being splashed with the scalding oil. His face and his smooth tongue had been the downfall of who knows how many girls. She hoped that he never recovered enough to lure another girl down the hell.

She ran and ran and ran. She had escaped the house in the evening before Kameshwar had returned home. The sun was just setting. It was probably 5 pm. She kept running as the sky grew dark and the panorama changed its colour to all-encompassing black. She kept running as the sun started rising and the sky grew lighter once again and the colours again made their way back to the world around her.

Though her legs were tired, somehow, her energy was growing. Her heart was beating stronger and stronger. She knew she was running at a high speed. Many of the things that swept past her were a blur.

She wanted to stop. But she was afraid to stop. Also, she didn't know where to stop. No place seemed safe to her. The railway stations, the bus stops – all seemed familiar to her once again but she was afraid that somehow Renny and Rajeshwar may catch her there.

In the last two years, she had developed a phobia for all men and almost all women. For a moment, she considered running to her uncle's home but then remembered what Renny said. It was her uncle who had arranged all this to get rid of her. No! She couldn't fall into his clutches again. Who knows he may have invested on her just to make profits off her!

But where could she stop? The sun was atop her now. Jassi was still running. Her legs were numb now. At school, she did take part in a marathon once and went for a short trekking during a picnic but she had never run for such extended hours. Running conjured up bad images for her. She did not like running.

But today, only running could help her. She did not have money and she did not trust anyone enough to ask for help. Her mind was clear. She had definitely crossed Delhi now. By the time, the sun was setting again, she saw Sikandra – the tomb of Emperor Akbar. So, she had entered Agra. She had never been to Agra before but she had seen its pictures in her history book long, long ago. She did not stop at Sikandra.

She knew that she had been running for over 24 hours and that she had to stop soon. She could not feel the exhaustion now but she knew that her body might give up anytime. Thankfully, she saw a Gurudwara and decided to take shelter there. With the sun setting once again, it seemed that the Gurudwara was glowing like an orange flame. If she was not safe in God's home, where could she possibly go?

She ran into the Gurudwara and when she stopped, her legs gave away and she fainted. The energy she had consumed in the last 24 hours was more than what she had spent in her entire life. Her extraordinary strength and speed was of course not the result of regular training. It was fuelled by adrenaline – and adrenaline sucks more energy out of our body than we can imagine.

Jassi had stretched her limits more than ever – and naturally, she had to pay for it now.