Sequel to Mary and her sisters - Part 2

 Sequel to Mary and her sisters - Part 2

A SHORT STORY

BY
JUNAID WAHID JOKHIO
(M.A, B. Ed)

After taking place of a happy marriage of Mary with Chris, both of them begin the new journey of their wedded life. Everything in the beginning days of their married life goes absolutely perfectly. They both enjoy themselves by going on their honeymoon to wonderful places. They laugh together, eat together, and get even much closer to each other. They share every pain and comfort with each other. Now they express their love with each other even more passionately. They never want to be separated from each other even for a single moment. They want to feel and know each other so minutely that the example of such closeness of theirs cannot be given anywhere else. Mary always tries her best to be around Chris who also never misses any chance to stay in her attachment. Their love in the very beginning goes on hiking like the tides of the oceans that never stop soaring higher and higher after every new turn. They understand the natures of each other so well that they seem to be existing in two bodies within a single soul. Chris takes great care of Mary whereas she also never disappoints him by being away from him. Actually, they do not even harbour any such idea of being away from each other. They live their lives in the world of imagination where there are no barriers or impediments to impel them to get away from the nexus of each other. Their love catches such enthusiasm and zeal that they seem to be blind to this world as they cannot feel or see anything else other than themselves. There is a very famous saying, “ love begets love”. Now their love takes a very strange detour of which no one can easily think. It is a very common thing that after the rise, comes the fall of everything in this world and similarly, the love of Chris and Mary also starts waning day by day after Mary’s elder sister called Christina comes to stay with her for some days. She tries her level best to wheedle Chris in every possible way to make him fall in love with her. She never misses any chance to get closer to him but as we all know that he loves his wife so much that he does not even have a look at her. She tries everything on Chris but fails very badly in it. Finding herself completely helpless in taking the attention of Chris, she plans to prove him bad in the eyes of Mary by going to his room when he is all alone there and to do so, she waits for the right moment to strike so that she can go to Chris all alone in the room to put misunderstanding in the mind of Mary regarding her husband’s bad character.

After a few days when Christina finds Chris in his room alone, she goes there with a glass of milk in her hand which is served to him after which she starts seducing him. It is a quite natural thing that however intensely men love someone but after all, they are also helpless before nature and similarly, Chris cannot go against it and finally, he surrenders himself to Christina this time and as soon as he tries to kiss her after putting his hands around her neck, Mary enters the room. At first, her eyes do not believe to have seen her husband and her elder sister in such an objectionable condition but later she boldly goes near to both of them in order to slap. And as she slaps her elder sister, her husband takes hold of her and pushes her back so hard that her head hits a table, and then she gets a tad injured. Chris does not even care about saving her at all. Instead, he scares her saying that if she told this matter to anybody at home, he would divorce her. Actually, Chris becomes so blind in the love of Christina that he does not want her to be away from him. Mary becomes utterly shattered to see her husband behaving so strangely with her and decides to find out everything behind his such behaviour as she loves him so much that she will become incomplete without his love. Therefore, she talks to her elder sister to go back to her home but when she refuses to do so then she understands that she must have done something related to incantation which is why her husband does not even want to see her face. Actually, her husband who used to love her so much and who never wanted her to be separated from him even for a single moment now seems to hate her so much that she herself cannot believe it at all. Their love gets cast an evil eye and the gap between them goes on getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.

Mary beseeches her elder sister to stay away from her husband but as we know that she also enjoys the company of Chris so much that she does not care for her sister at all. Instead, she asks her to leave him for her as now he loves her more than her. After having heard these words, she slaps her elder sister in her face so hard that the sound of which can be heard easily. After which, Christina also slaps her back. Mary starts crying noisily and she cannot understand anything at all. Neither could she tell this grave matter to anyone nor was she allowed to do so since her husband had threatened her that if she told this to anyone, she would be given divorce.

Mary becomes all alone without her love who has become utterly disloyal to her but she also starts doubting that he must be under the influence of some black magic or incantation. She also realises that his behaviour has never been like this before nor has he ever been so rude to her as well. As she thinks about her husband’s love for her, she cannot control her feelings at all. She even remembers the days that she spent with her husband. She cannot stay away from him but she cannot also get near to him because she is completely compelled. The separation of two bodies may not be more pathetic than the segregation of one soul existing in two bodies. She becomes half without her remaining half. She laments for Chris who now remains engrossed in the love of Christina. Her each day elapses with great difficulty without her love and she wants to get him back in her life to make it complete and beautiful at every cost. Therefore, one day she gathers courage and decides to tell this matter of affair of her elder sister with her husband to her mother-in-law who gets stunned to hear it at first but later she straightly goes to her son to warn him but being under the effect of some black magic, he does not even care about the warning of his mother and asks her instead to stay out of this issue. His mother gets shocked to hear this from her son who had never even talked to her like this before.

Mary explains to her mother-in-law that Chris has been charmed and that however hard they may try to take the attention of him it will be useless unless they try to find out such a person who is well versed in perishing the effect of incantation that has been done on him by her elder sister. So they go to one of their relatives who knows such a person who is an expert at removing spell from the people. After reaching the sitting place of that saint, Mary tells him everything that has happened to her husband. She also tells him that her husband used to love her very much even before the marriage but ever since her elder sister came to stay in her home, her husband has been so rude to her. She also discloses to him that now her husband not only hates her but does not even want to see her face and so far as her elder sister is concerned, she has taken hold of her husband. Mary says that she doubts her elder sister who must have charmed her husband on account of which he has gone completely crazy about her and become very much unkind to her. She implores that saint to get her husband rid of her sister’s claws so that she can live her life with him merrily.

After listening to Mary carefully, the saint starts his meditation after which he tells Mary that her elder sister had mixed a talisman into a glass of milk and served that to her husband without the knowledge of anybody. Afterwards, he hands over a kind of amulet to her to be served to her husband after mixing that into a glass of milk. He also consoles her saying that after consumption of that glass of milk, her husband will automatically start hating her elder sister and love her.

After a few days, Mary finds a very fine chance to mix that talisman into the milk to give that to her husband but Christina secretly sees her doing so and as she goes to her husband to give that to him, she knocks that over which results in spilling all over the floor. Christina has a look at the talisman lying on the floor and understands everything about that. She scares Mary saying to her that now nothing will ever free Chris from the charm or spell of hers. She does not get scared of her hollow threat this time and rather gathers the courage to slap her in her face very hard for ruining her life. Christina cannot help leaving the drawing hall while Mary cleans all the pieces of the glass from the floor as nobody gets injured. She tells her mother-in-law that the amulet brought from the saint has been wasted and that they need to go to him again for fetching a new one. Her mother-in-law asks her to have fortitude. She calls her relative to go with them to the saint for the new talisman but she tells her that he has gone somewhere for a couple of days but as soon as he returns, she herself will call her to get the new amulet from him.

Mary’s mother-in-law consoles her saying that everything will be alright but she remains worried about her husband who has even stopped talking to her. She cannot believe it at all but now she has to lead her life with this reality. After a few days, her mother-in-law gets a call from her relative who tells her that the saint has returned to his own place. So they go to him together again for the new amulet but this time the saint asks Mary to be very much careful about the talisman and warns her not to waste or lose it or else she will lose her husband forever. She gets a bit nervous at first after having listened to such words of the saint but gathers courage and makes him believe that this time she will not miss her aim at all.

After getting back to her home, Mary decides to remind her husband of their love of the past so she goes to him boldly and shows him the pictures of the marriage. She also asks him to have mercy on her by leaving her elder sister. Chris seems to realise that everything he has been doing to her is wrong and even says to her that even he wants to get back to her leaving her sister forever but he does not know why he is unable to do so. He adds that he does not even like to talk to her and feels like fighting with her all the time. Mary understands everything very well what her husband is going through but she does not let him know about it and consoles him instead to have patience saying that everything will be okay. While both of them talk to each other Christina enters the room and finding Mary in, she starts talking harshly with her. She leaves the room with tears in her eyes whereas Christina tears the marriage album off after seeing that lying open in the hands of Chris. As we know that he has really very badly been affected by the spell of the amulet brought by her so he does not say anything to her at all. Actually, this black magic is really very dangerous and its results are even more appalling. Hence, if anybody gets affected by it then they do not remain in their own control nor do they find the difference between right and wrong. They just follow the instructions of the person behind their such condition. Now it wholly depends on the person what he wishes them to do for him but overall, it is just like playing with the lives of others. There have been so many cases in the world in which it has been observed that the victims of the black magic themselves have gone near to attempting suicide as well as they get sick of their life which does not remain their own at all. Similarly, Chris also starts thinking about finishing his life after committing suicide. So, he decides to take sleeping pills but when he thinks of Mary and his mother he gets this evil thought of suicide out of his mind. He exhibits audacity and soliloquises that he would rather be bold than commit suicide. He also says to himself that how will he be able to face his mother and his loving wife? Ultimately, having mulled over a couple of things, he decides to continue leading his life smoothly. He goes to Mary to help him get out of this plight. She satisfies him telling him that she has brought such a solution that will surely cure him of his morbidity fully making him perfectly hale and hearty. She goes to the kitchen and brings a glass of milk mixed into an amulet for him and asks him to drink that at once to get rid of everything that upsets him. After Chris drinks the milk, he feels fine and finds himself free from a burden of any sort. All of a sudden he starts loving Mary and hating Christina. Mary recalls the words of the saint who had told her this fact that right after the consumption of the glass of milk mixed with amulet her husband will love her and hate her elder sister. So, she hugs Chris and thanks god for the recuperation of her husband. He also feels himself utterly fit and says sorry to her for being brutal to her but she explains to him that it was not his fault at all and that he was under the effect of the amulet due to which he could not help misbehaving with her and his mother. So, he also goes to his mother to beg pardon from her for not obeying her but she also loves him saying to him that he was completely unaware of what he was doing. Now he feels content and assures both his mother and his wife that now he will not spare Christina who is the cause of all his bad actions to them so he asks them not to disclose this matter of his recovery and keep it a secret so that he can find out as to why she did all this to them. While they make this plan sitting in the drawing hall, Christina turns up there and as Chris sees her he starts behaving very harshly with them in order to show her that he is still under the effect of her amulet. Both his mother and wife also pretend to weep and leave the drawing hall at once. Although Chris himself hates Christina, yet tries to be good to her as he has to find out her intention behind ruining his life. So one day he overhears her talking to her sisters on the mobile. She tells them that Mary and Chris have become separate from each other and that the talisman handed over to her by them in order to mix that into the glass of milk is so powerful that no power on the earth can now get them together. She laughs so loudly at the separation of her own sister from her husband that one cannot believe it at all that she and her other two sisters who are involved in bringing about destruction in the married life of their own blood-sister are really related to her in any way. Furthermore, Christina tells her sisters that their retaliation from both husband and wife does not end here at all. She explains to them that unless Chris divorces Mary they would not sit reticently at all. They think that both Mary and Chris had humiliated all three of them in front of everybody on the day of their marriage so they think that the only way to take revenge upon them is to separate them forever. Therefore, they get a talisman from an exorcist adept at black magic whose job is to obliterate the lives of others. They become so blind to the ferocious beast of envy that only gets content after some huge havoc. While she still talks to her sisters on the cell, Chris snatches that and slaps her so hard that she loses her balance and after staggering, falls down on the floor. He gets so angry that starts kicking her for ruining her life but as soon as he starts yelling at her loudly, both Mary and his mother come out of their room and save her. Mary asks him to stop but he says to her that a sister like her must be punished severely for being so jealous of her own blood-sister. He also tells her that it is not just her but all of her sisters who are responsible for spoiling their lives replete with sweet love and care for each other. 

Chris cannot control himself and wants to beat Christina more but Mary halts him saying that she will call her mother and ask her to come to them in order to sort out this issue herself. Mary’s mother gets the rest of her two daughters along with herself and reaches the home of Chris who demands that justice be done with him by punishing them all for ruining his wedded life which almost ended due to jealousy of all sisters of Mary. He even says to her to get them arrested by police after complaining about all three of them. They are a stigma in the name of sisters as well as daughters. They, if left unpunished, would prove to be baleful to society. They can have detrimental effects on the minds of people as they always remain ready to hurt somebody in some way. In addition to this, they have not spared their own sister then what favour can be expected from them by others? Enough is enough now! says Chris. Mary also comes forward and asks her mother that if she did not make a decision in their favour, she would not talk to her at all. After having listened to both, she assures them that from now onward they will never be hurt by anyone, and then she swears to god saying that except for Mary none of them are her real daughters and before she could utter the next sentence she has an acute cardiac arrest which causes her sudden demise.