Fractured Reality - #ATOZCHALLENGE – F (2026)

 

Sherry was about to lay the dinner table. She put two plates--for her and mother. Mother always sat on the right side and wanted her porcelain plate. It should have no stains. She was always particular about even a hint of the previous meal they had. The domestic help would be told off for anything left in oversight. 

"Noorie, did you clean mum's plate well?" inquired Sherry. Noorie looked back with a hint of surprise. "Yes," she spoke softly, with a grief laden voice. 

"Mum will be very upset if she sees a stained plate. And make sure she gets her two glasses of water before her meals." Noorie nodded in assent, her grief almost reaching her throat. 

"Are you alright?" Sherry inquired with a concerned look. 

"Yes, madame. Hope you are well too?"

Sherry was thrown aback by that question. Why did she ask this? Why would she not be well?

The next day, as she began to move out of her house, she realised she couldnt step out. The snow in Srinagar was four feet already. It was almost impossible to move out of the house. 

"It's been the third day in the row. Expecting any kind of cleaning from the local authorities is a tall order. I have no choice but to stay indoors even today. Noorie, please make me another kehwa."

Noorie didn't reply, but Sherry assumed she must have heard and will oblige soon. She sat back in the rocking chair near. She drew the Kangri close to her to keep her warm in the insane winter.

"Noorie, please get mum her Kangri too. She'll fall ill otherwise." Her second request too, was met with silence. 


A few hours later Sherry switched on the television to watch the news. The weather conditions were being played in loop mode. The thought of more confinement made Sherry feel even more helpless. So she decided to watch something off her cellphone.

The latest courtroom drama was about how a senior citizen managed to corner three theives who broke into her house. Being an ex-cop she did have a few tricks up her sleeve. Trying to incapaciate one, she accidently shot his gun into his torso, taking his life. The drama was about how it could be self-defense and how not. She knew how guns worked. Why did she shoot in his abdomen?

Her kehwa had not arrived in time. Sherry went to the basement kitchen looking for Noorie. She wasn't there. She must be with her mother. She went back to her rocking chair where she snoozed off.

A sudden breakage of glass woke her from her slumber. "Noorie? Noorie, is everything all right." No answer yet again. She was tempted to go up and check on her mother. As she was about to move, she heard a faint reply. Coming madame. It was Noorie, smiling broadly walking in with her kehwa.

"I asked for this yesterday night." Sorry madame I forgot. 

"Never mind. How is mum?" Noorie stared and returned a faint smile. She said nothing.

A few sips of Kehwa made her head spin, and before she knew it, Noorie passed out. 

Her eyes opened to a ward in a local hospital. How did she get here?

Her body was strapped to the bed and she couldnt move. She tried to struggle out her bonds, but when that didn't work, she cried for help. "Help, please untie me. What is going on? How did I get here. Noorie? Maa?"  

"Please relax Shehrbanu ji," the kindly doctor spoke. We have given you a mild increase in dosage. You should be fine."

"Fine? I was anyways fine. What happened? How did I get here? Where is Noorie, my househelp?"

"We don't know any Noorie, madame. The Dhar's live in your neighbourhood. His wife, Meghna Dhar, she brought you here."

"Who Meghna? We don't have any neighbours. Just m-mum, me and ... Noorie."

Her eyes travelled to the door. She saw Noorie there, but she was dressed differently. She sported a Pheran instead of her regular Salwar Kameez and a scart that even covered her windows peak. Two dangling dejoors hung from her ears and she sported a red dot of vermillion right at the centre of her head.

"Did she recognize me, doctor?" Inquired Noorie, who was now Meghna Dhar. 

"I don't think so. We'll have to wait till the medicine works." 

She nodded in agreement and prepared to leave. As Sherry saw her figure vanishing into the corridors, Noorie/Meghna paused for a bit, gave her a steely glance and then turned to walk away. 

Sherry looked aghast. The chaos and confusion along with the confinement made her feel terrified. If she pretended to be normal, they may just give her a wee bit of freedom. She would go home in two days only on the condition that she would go along with Mrs. Dhar. Seeing this as her only recourse, Sherry complied.

The Dhar's arrived and took her with them. In a short while, they escorted a nervous and terrified Sherry in their vehicle and drove off along the highway on an empty road miles away from the city hospital. They reached home and escorted Sherry to her favourite rocking chair in her house. Meghna went in to get a change of clothes. She would wear the simple salwar suit and retransform into Noorie.

She and Mohan, her husband, pulled out their vaping machines and took a deep, long puff. While Sherry settled, they sat in the garden and spoke. 

"Shehr won't be the same again. Her stint in the army was far from easy. She was the only woman in a platoon of men. A few miscreants broke into the camp and attacked her thinking she was vulnerable. That dark night, she was assualted, injured and almost dead. She however mustered the presence of mind to pull out her service revolver and shoot one of them in the rib cage, thus killing him. The incident led to her early exit from the camp. Around that time, her mother had died. This back-to-back trauma became too much for her to process. She had even become suicidal. I saw her alone and desolate in her home one day and I instantly recognized her. The last time I had seen her was when she wore a crisp army uniform and held a rifle tucked firmly in her arm. I was heavily in labour, and the situation was that of insurgency. I was fearful for my life and that of my unborn child. Shehr made sure I reached the hospital safely and got proper medical care. In return, this was the least I could do. She has an almost permanent delusion that our home is her family home, her mother is still alive, and the reason why she is mostly homebound is the harsh weather. Her own past will play as a webseries on a television that doesn't even work. Everytime her mental activity increases, she passes out and needs immediate medical intervention."

"Yes, Meghna. We both owe her our child. This is the least we could do and hope that someday her illusion and reality intersect in a happy place, "

Tathastu.