''Don't even think about stepping outside, Nitya. The world out there isn't made for girls like you.''
Her mother's voice echoed in her ears as the main door slammed shut, the lock clicking into place like a final verdict.
But Nitya knew the truth.
It wasn't the world outside that was dangerous.
It was the world inside the house.
she was seventeen when the walls of her home began closing in on her. Slowly, quietly. With no screams or beating-just silence, suspicion and betrayal.
At the center of it all stood Ritik her cousin.The so-called son of the house.
He wasn't her brother by blood, but he was trusted more than any blood ever was.
He smiled in front of elders, touched their feet, paid the bills, ran errands and pretended to be everything like a perfect boy should be .
But behind closed doors....
He told her mother she was on her phone too much. He told her dad he had seen her laughing with a boy. He told her grandmother that she'd changed, that she was hiding things.
One lie at a time. One doubt at a time.
Until everyone believed him more than they believed their own daughter. And slowly they began to control her-'' for her safety ''
Her phone was taken away. College was postponed. Friends stopped visiting and finally... the locks came.
Nitya became a prisoner in her home . But what shattered her more than the isolation was how her family handed her over to him-trusted him blindly while doubting every word she said.
They couldn't see the way he looked at her , not with love, not with care- but with hate.
A cold, burning hatred that she could feel in the way he walked behind her. The way he stood too close. The way his eyes scanned her like she was an object he owned, not because he wanted her... but because he wanted to destroy her, her happiness.
Maybe it started when she topped the class but he didn't. Maybe it started when she laughed at him once and he never forgot. Or maybe ... he was born like that.
But Nitya saw it now, clearly. He didn't want her happy. He didn't want her free. He wanted her caged , controlled and crushed.
And he almost succeeded.
Almost.
Because while her body stayed trapped behind those locked doors, something inside her began to rise. Not fear, not sadness.
FIRE.
She was alone now, no freedom, no voice, no one believed her.
But she had two things left- the truth and the trust on god.
And one day, she would rise with it . To burn every lie he ever built . To destroy the image he wore like a mask. He thought she was broken.
But he forget- Even a caged bird remembers the sky.
And when she flies again...
She will tear him apart.