They could not brave the thorns beyond a point. Nor could the light from their torches reach where she was. If she stayed here all night, they would not be able to find her, she thought, relieved. She just had to keep moving. It didn’t matter what bit her, what pierced her skin. Whether it was tonight or in the morning, she would respond only when she heard Kumaresan’s voice calling out to her: ‘Pilla!’

She tried to roll her body tightly into a ball. If she met with an obstacle, she pulled back and looked for somewhere to turn around. She felt that she was getting stronger and stronger. Her heart’s desire was to share a long life with Kumaresan. Was she greedy? When she’d realized she was pregnant, she had thought that everything would slowly settle down. Who wouldn’t be moved by the sight of a child? She had planned to bear everything patiently until then.

Even when her mother-in-law’s words fell on her like lashes from a whip, she had comforted herself thinking all that would change soon. She had never thought that there could be so much evil behind those words. At first glance, this village looked like it was made of a few houses surrounded by a large expanse of land, and that anything could easily enter and get around. But that was an illusion. In truth, not even the wind from elsewhere could enter this space. The air in these parts had circulated within the confines of this place and had turned poisonous. The space would not allow anything to enter. Even Kumaresan did not know this secret.

Had they known things would be like this here, they could have somehow survived in Tholur. Her father and brother were definitely not like these people. They would have been angry with her and Kumaresan, certainly; they might even have hit her, but they would never wish to end their lives.

In Tholur, buildings were close to each other, but the streets were open and wide. They could have lived there happily. A single-room house would have sufficed. Life would have been easier in Virichipalayam too. Perhaps Kumaresan had told someone about his plans to move there, and they had now come to kill her before that could happen. Virichipalayam was a good town. It was the kind of town that welcomed everyone. None of this would have happened had they gone there straight after their wedding. Why hadn’t Kumaresan thought of that?