Author's POV

The priest of Nyayanagar and his wife are expecting an offspring soon. Priest Nandanbala and his wife Surabhi do not have any kids, and they are married for eight years.

The elder sibling of Nandanbala, who is Rajnibala, leaves no chance of teasing and insulting an innocent Surabhi for not being able to produce kids.

Surabhi gets pregnant, but the foetus dies within four months of gestation every time. This time she did not lose it, and it is the sixth month of her pregnancy.

"There is no use of it. The baby will ultimately die."

Rajnibala passed a taunt at Surabhi, who was mopping up the floor, squatting on it. She was not supposed to do all these chores, but in the absence of her husband, she was forced by her sister-in-law to perform all strenuous activities.

"Jiji, please don't say such words. My child would feel bad to listen to them. I know he will survive."

Surabhi retorted, her expressions turned dangerous for the first time in her life. Her attitude was changing with each passing day, as her belly was growing.

"Huh! What if it's not 'he'?"

Rajnibala scoffed at her, folding her arms before her bosom.

"Then I wish Sri Krishna would kill me during her birth, so that I don't feed her."

Surabhi blurted out. Her words made it evident that she didn't want a daughter as her child. All she wanted was a son, but the destiny had different plans.

As the months passed, Nandanbala noticed a significant change in Surabhi's behaviour. She was turning demonic gradually as her delivery period was approaching.

This change in her behaviour was troubling Nandanbala. He used to spend hours in front of his deity to know what's wrong, but no answers came from the Divine, until one night he had a dream.

Surabhi was an asura's daughter, who was deeply affected by attachment towards her jewellery. On an inauspicious day, she was tricked to choose between her parents and the gold, and she chose gold, leading to her parents' execution.

The parents, on the other hand, cursed her that she would have to take birth on the Earth, and there her daughter would also turn out to be insensitive towards her parents.

Nandanbala's eyes opened, and he realised that he was all sweating. Surabhi woke up, and the labour was induced. It was mid night of new moon, and the midwives suggested Nandanbala to delay this delivery as the astrological positions were not favourable.

He agreed, but the baby inside Surabhi's womb seemed desperate to come out. The midwives weren't accompanying a helpless Surabhi, when her belly began tearing apart. Her screams turned louder and painful. The midwives and Nandanbala ran inside and witnessed this gruesome scene right before their eyes.

The mattress on which Surabhi was lying, was completely soaked in blood now, and a little blood covered baby was lying on her thighs - wailing intensely.

Surabhi was already dead. Nandanbala froze on his place witnessing this unimaginable event before him. The umbilical cord was cut, and the midwives brought the baby to Nandanbala, but he was too shocked to hold her, so Rajnibala popped up and held her in her arms.

"Krishna! Krishna! What did you do?"

The senior midwife muttered, placing her palms on her ears.

"What?"

Rajnibala asked, making disgusting faces as the baby was a daughter.

"Your husband died on the wedding night, and a woman like you should never hold the child at first."

The midwives asserted, angering Rajnibala to an extent that she brutally handed over the baby to her brother.

"Nandan! Take your daughter. After so many efforts, this useless woman gave birth to a daughter, and not a son."

She uttered disrespectful words for a dead Surabhi, whose face had turned pale and numb after her death.

"What luck are you talking about, hm? A woman never has luck by her side. It's all about her husband, and who will marry this poor priest's daughter. Her future is already doomed. Don't blame me for that!"

Rajnibala kept blathering, and all of a sudden, a tight slap landed on her face, shaking her deeply.

It was Nandanbala, who had slapped his elder sister.

"I've just lost my wife, and that too so painfully. My daughter won't have her mother's milk, and you are talking rubbish. JUST LEAVE THIS PLACE RIGHT NOW!"

He screamed at Rajnibala, and the little girl began crying, getting shocked to listen to such a loud voice. Rajnibala, feeling insulted to the core, ran away from that place.

Nandanbala, calmed himself down, and asked the midwives to arrange for some milk. He glanced at her daughter, and then his dead wife. He walked to Surabhi, and placed the tiny baby beside her.

"Feel your mother's warmth for the first and the last time."

He quavered to weeping daughter, and picked her up, hugging her tightly.

"Khyati!"

He muttered, gazing at the pink coloured face of his daughter.

"You will be so popular among the folks that they will talk about you for ages - Khyati!"

Saying so, he brought her out of the tent. He fed her the cow's milk, but it seemed like her hunger couldn't be satisfied with just milk.

Giving her to one of the midwives, he walked out with a few priests, to carry his wife towards her last journey. After lighting up the pyre of Surabhi during early morning, he came back to his small home, carrying her ashes in his hands, but as he approached his house, he heard a woman's screaming sound.

"What happened?"

He ran to his home, and parted the curtains to see what was going on inside, but the scene he saw was enough to scare him to the core.

His little baby daughter's mouth was attached to the midwife's neck, and she was sucking on her blood hungrily - like an enchanted witch, or the slave of the Devil.

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