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Tape a tale

She felt the world had dropped dead, there was an unexplainable pain in her lower belly. She gasped as she felt the pangs of pain which throbbed her heart. She wailed for help and lost consciousness. They rushed her to the hospital, her water had broke, she was to deliver a child. Her life was going to change, she had longed to hold her baby in her arms for the last eight months, she finally was going to be a mother. The thought had filled her each day with immense pleasure.

Moments of reflection coupled by hours of pain was more painful than death, she felt like she were dead but she couldn't give in, the doctor's words reached her ears, "Fight for your baby, try a little more", he said. She put all the energy she had and finally the baby popped out of her womb. She felt dead and alive at the same time. She bit back her lower lip, and lay still as she heard hushed tones. She was in a trance, she couldn't make out what was going on. She lay there until the thought striked, where was her little one?

Her world came tumbling down when she saw the still born, the baby girl had her eyes and her smile but God had tricked her, her hopes and faith received a major jolt. Her life lacked meaning. A cheerful person in her was dead as log.

She tried to fight back her tears each morning when she tried to run her fingers over her belly which no longer thrived with life. Everything was becoming unbearable. Her husband and her family tried to comfort her but no one could heal her wounds which she only was aware of.

She slowly gave away to a routine life but she was simply existing, she had stopped living. Her neighbour who was an acquaintance of her's became a mother, she gulped down her pain and went to see the baby with some gifts. There for the first time, she received a major blow. They didn't allow her to touch the baby, they feared she would bring bad luck. She could no longer hold back her tears, she ran home and hugged her pillow. She was hurt, something within her rang hollow.

It was after two years when she found herself pregnant again, this time she had her fears. She took extra care to keep herself safe, people around her tried their level best. Each passing day gave her new hopes which she had burried long back. Finally the day came when she gave birth to a baby girl, she refused to blink her eyes when she saw her little one cry. She kept looking at her while tears ran down her eyes. An angel had come to heal her pain, was what she thought.

She kept looking at the child for the whole night, she caressed her little hands, ran her fingers over her head. Overnight her life had changed, her prayers had been rewarded. She had become a mother.

It's been decades to the day when she had become a mother but whenever she narrates about this event, her eyes twinkle. Her girl who is no more a little one understands the pain that her mother had to undergo to gift her life and she would often ask her mother whether it was worth the pain to bring her to this world? And each time her mother would smile back and say, "For you a thousand times over".

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