Ties that bind us together

Akshara is sitting in the hospital room, thinking about living with her family again. She is calculating what she has to do while living here. She doesn't want to burden them, so she is planning things. A nurse enters the room, breaking her reverie.

"Ma'am your discharge papers are ready!" She announced. Akshara nods. The nurse then proceeded to change her bandages before discharging her. She is hissing from time to time when the nurse prods her harshly. "You need to be extra vigilant with these wounds ma'am. Make sure to cover them properly while bathing to avoid any infection. There are so many small cuts here if either one of them gets septic infection - it will cause so much trouble for you", the nurse instructed her to be extra cautious. 

"I will. Thank you for looking out for me," Akshara smiled at the nurse's concern. The nurse smiled at her and continued to bandage her injuries. "Umm, do we have an extra set of crutches around here?" Akshara asked. She didn't have her prosthetics with her, so she had to rely on the ever-faithful crutches. 

"Sure, ma'am. I will look for them," the nurse replied professionally. Akshara smiled at her as the nurse left her room. She is thinking about how to be away from her family and not disturb them. She is lost in her thoughts when someone knocks on the door. 

Thinking to be a nurse, she allowed them to come inside. "Come in". 

Abhi poked his head in the door asking for her permission to come inside. He didn't want her to feel uncomfortable at all with his presence. "Can I come in?" 

"Oh, Abhimanyu! I thought the nurse was at the door", she replied.

"So, can I come in?" he asked for her permission again.

"Of course you can! Please come", she replied politely. 

Abhi came inside with her crutches. He handed over them to her. When the nurse was coming with them, he took it from her. He wanted to talk about something with her so why not hand over these crutches to her too?

"Thank you", she said to him after taking crutches from him. This is her life. She is not ashamed of using her crutches in front of other people. 

Abhi sat on the nearby chair to talk about the main issue. "Akshara, when you were missing, Panchi asked me to help her to find you. Many police officers were there to find out about you. To get that many police officers we need to register a FIR. A missing complaint was filed. Now, that you are safe and sound we need you to give a quick statement regarding what happened to you and then the culprits will be punished", he slowly talked to her so she wouldn't get upset hearing all these things.

When he told these things to her family, their reactions shocked him. They told him that Akshara was afraid of police officers and that if any officer came into her vicinity, she would get anxiety attacks. One of the reasons that she had never met Neil, or his family formally was because her family refused to tell her that Neil belonged to the family of police and defence. They were afraid of her reaction. Panchi even strictly warned him about telling this to her. But they have to complete the formalities and without Akshara, it cannot be completed.

"Can't you do something about this Abhimanyu? My sister is afraid of the police. She gets anxiety attacks if she hears about them. Please can't our statements work?" Panchi pleaded with him.

Abhi was shocked to hear these words. "Why is she so afraid of policemen?" he asked them.

"Something bad happen with her during her childhood due to police. Please can't you do something. You are big shot policeman, at least you can help us in this", Ayushi replied to him. He was shocked to see their terrified faces. It looks like that they have eaten a sour lemon.