She walked alone..

Petrified walking on the roads in the dark

She would turn around every minute

To see if someone was coming

Loneliness scared her less

Than being around them

She'd been warned of girls who face consequences

For being around them

Girls who were born

And girls who lived

Clutching her bag with all the might

She rushes towards where she could hide

As all the spaces were full of them

She was warned at home, and in the classrooms

In public spaces, evenings and mornings

She had taken every measure they said

Before giving her away

And she still had the same fate as the girls she read about in news

In the bedroom what happened though, was nobody's views

So she walked alone, still scared

But the warnings no longer flared

-Swati Shikha

Swati is a freelance writer, reader and student of Gender Studies from Ranchi, studying in Delhi.