A struggle for survival

The girl's voice, haunting and mellifluous, reverberated in the hall of the club restaurant where she was performing as a guest artist for a charity function. She strummed the guitar in her hand creating magic with its strings. The charity function was arranged by Mr. Lords the chairperson of the charity club. The audience mostly comprised of members of the club who were distinguished who and who. Luckia, as she was called, was a singer in a local five star hotel.

She sang popular old numbers at the request of the guests and patrons of the hotel. Since it was a special occassion she also sang some of her own compositions.

She looked divine and the purity of her soul reflected in the songs she wrote and sang and captivated her audience so much that they forgot the outside world.

Her singing over she rose from her chair and bowed amidst thunderous applause from everyone. Some eyes were glistening with tears.

' Luckia you will have your dinner here tonight' said the hotel receptionist, as she went to collect her things and leave.

No thanks. I am tired and tomorrow is my morning class. I have to be up early, said Luckia

Ok I can get something packed for you to take home. It's for free , the receptionist persisted.

I'm in a hurry. I am not hungry. Luckia held on to her resolution. She did not want to be treated as one of the hotel staff.

Luckia's father James had a successful business in women's fashion. Her mother Mary, a housewife was also a musician. Luckia got her gift of music from her mother. Her parents didnot get along .They only stayed together for her. Luckia was close to her mother. Then one day Mary fell ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Her father opted to move on in life and away from them thinking it would be best for everybody concerned. He did not think of consulting or telling anything to her mother.

Luckily for her,Luckia got admission in a prestigious music college in another city and got scholarship to pursue her training. She moved to that city with her mother where she got her evening job at the hotel. Luckia nursed Mary back to health.

A man's deep voice brought her back to the present. 'May I drop you ?'He said from inside an expensive looking car window. He looked middle aged.

' Thanks but No. I'll take the bus . It will be hear any minute.Luckia said , eyeing the stranger with suspicion and then looked away. The man drove away without another word.Luckia felt relieved. There were many predatory men prowling in the city but Luckia knew how to take care of herself.

I'm home Ma. Luckia announced loudly as she closed the outside door.It was good to be home, she thought. Her mother came from the other room.

'I have made a light dinner for the two of us' Ma said. ' I'm hungry. They wanted me to bring some food with me from the hotel, said Luckia putting her guitar aside and starting to eat. ' Umm, this tastes good.Nobody cooks like you. (Mother and daughter hug one another). After helping her mother with washing the dishes both sat together , Mary, mending a button and Luckia preparing for her next day class.

A couple of days later she saw the man of the car among the hotel dinners. He was with a small group. When Luckia finished her performance he rose from his seat and came to praise her voice and gave her a bunch of flowers. Luckia accepted and thanked him.After that day he came quite often to the restaurant to dine. One evening she couldn't decline his invitation to have coffee with him. Luckia had a slight headache and cold. Maybe that was the reason she let her guard drop.She was normally shy and didn't mix much. But he seemed harmless and sad. When he came to know Luckia had a headache he gave her medicine to ease the headache.She felt drowsy after a few moments.

She woke up to camera lights flashing on her and a woman screaming at the man she had coffee with in the hotel dinning hall .There were some other women with her.They were all shouting .Luckia looked at herself and to her horror found herself half naked. She couldn't understand what was happening. Moreover she was horrified to see herself undressed.

'Who had undressed her?How did she come there?These were the questions in her mind as she gazed at all the crowd gathered there, half dazed,the effect of medicine still strong.

Somehow she managed to get up, get into her dress and walked out from all that sordit drama. She could hear angry curse and filthy abuses of the women who were that woman's friends.One woman grabbed her long silky hair and tried to tear them.Another woman lunged at her gold chain. 'Get her, get her we have to finish them all, this husband snatcher and home breaker of our sister they screamed after her. She took a cab and ignored the driver who now looked at her as if she was a criminal.

'What happened Luckia' her mother ran towards her seeing her condition. Luckia could not answer and great sobs shook her whole body.Fever came at night and Luckia tossed and turned in her bed unable to sleep.Her mother stayed by her side the whole night, sadness in every line of her once lovely face.

Next day Luckia's picture was splashed all over the newspaper. She stopped going to college and didn't go to sing in the hotel. A friend from the hotel called the next morning concerned about her health. Slowly the truth started coming out. She came to know that the woman was that man's wife and the couple had used Luckia as a pawn to get a divorce from each other. Her reputation,wellbeing, and future meant nothing to those people old enough to be her parents.

Then another newspaper got out the true story.They investigated and gathered evidence with the help of CCTV footage and showed how the couple had framed Luckia.The man when contacted pleaded innocence.He said his wife was following him about.He said he saw luckia as his own daughter.She had headache and he had given her medicine.She fell asleep so he took her to the hotel room so that she could sleep. He had left the room and it showed on the CCTV. His wife came with her friends and undressed sleeping Luckia, staged that drama for her own selfish gain and lied about Luckia.

Luckia's name was finally cleared but she got a scar in her heart to last a lifetime.She lost her belief that people are good if you are good to them.

The reporter who helped Luckia had watched her from distance and he was an honest person.Luckia got her degree shortly after and got a job at a holiday beach resort. The owner of the resort was an old lonely woman.She lived in one of the hotel suites . Luckia's songs brought tears in her eyes and they became friends.