Missing dress
Sangita was carefully counting dresses. She was sure that she kept limited number of dresses in cupboard. She needed to count those dresses. She counted them properly. She remembered those dresses. She was always so careful about keeping stock. She felt so nervous when she noticed one beautiful dress was missing. Sangita kept searching for it in shop. Soon she began to call other store staff too. She knew that they might blame or taunt her. But she needed to find that one. She was so scared. She knew that if she didn’t find it then manager might take action on her. She began to call entire store staff. They all came. They pointed exactly same position regarding where she kept dress. Nisha “You came out with me. Then Security also checked us. So, no one can blame you!” Harish also came in her support “Don’t worry. We all saw you kept it in that cupboard drawer. Then Ravi began to lecture “Next time you need to lock that drawer.” Sangita immediately told “But that drawer doesn’t have key & we have locked entire store.” “Forget it! We must call manager first.” Sangita shivered with fear. Her husband Harish was carpenter. His earnings were nice but they depended on work. They were not certain about it. Her fixed earnings were precious. Harish was working so hard. She saw every time those marks on his hands. Harish kept getting exhausted too. Sometimes she wished only if she could earn more & tell him to work less. But she knew that he would never agree. He wanted best future for their children. They were working so hard to give nice education to their children but in classroom their children always remained kids from poor background. Sometimes she just wished to earn more money & get rich. She kept thinking that how fortunate were those people who had money. She looked towards other staff of shop. All were tense. Then finally Ravi called Manager & talked about missing dress. Manager was so angry. Manager came to shop immediately. Sangita was so scared. She was on verge of crying. But she knew that crying wouldn’t help. She stood up behind counter. One customer came. She gave artificial smile. She began to show dress. That customer kept trying dresses after dresses. They were not certain if that customer would buy. That customer was not regular one. But still they kept showing dresses with full dedication. Finally, that customer went out without purchasing anything. Sangita needed to put all dresses back. She was keeping them back when Manager came. Manager immediately called her. Sangita came & stood before him. He began to ask questions one after another. She kept answering. Manager was asking her different questions some of them were insulting to her but she didn’t care. She just didn’t want to land in Police station. After those questions Manager decided to watch CCTV. They all sat with Manager & they were shocked when they saw Shop Owner’s wife enter in shop at midnight & took away garments. Manager kept looking towards her. That Owner owned many shops on floor. He was rich man. His wife couldn’t be considered a thief. Immediately Manager laughed & said “Oh! Madam must had done shopping & then forgot to mention. Make bill on name of owner & next time check CCTV before calling. If Madam take dresses just do billing. Okay?” They nodded. It was odd but they knew that Owner’s wife was stealing but then her husband would surely pay so they couldn’t complain. Sangita said slowly “There are different rules for rich & poor people.” Sangita was upset. But still she just kept nodding. She got blamed for mistake of that rich woman.
When Sangita came home she told all
to Harish. Harish looked tense. Harish “I really don’t like this. They could
have placed charges of thief on you without cause!” She began to laugh. “You
seem to watch too much of those dramas from TV. These things just happen inside
them. No one will blame me. Many staff members watch me & then we have CCTV
too.” Harish nodded. Still Harish added “I don’t like the way. I prefer if you
resign from job.” She felt so upset. She was planning to stop him from doing extra
work & she was not going to quit her job. She told him clearly “I am with
my job. I will do it. You don’t need to worry about it.” She was so nervous in
her heart. She knew that they were agreeing to do wrong thing. She knew that
they needed to report that woman. That woman might be wealthy but she was
stealing & it must be stopped. Sangita cleaned pots & planned for next
day lunch & dinner too. Harish was busy in helping kids with their studies.
Kids needed help with studies. They couldn't afford prestigious classes. They
needed to do it on their own. Harish was working hard throughout day then in
night before sleeping he helped children with their studies while she took job
of cleaning pots. Sometimes Harish also cooked but it was rare since he needed
to complete his work whole time. Her job was giving them such large amount that
she didn’t plan to quit it at all. She needed to ignore those issues. She kept thinking about that incidence. She
could still feel that fear in her soul. But then she began to feel convince
that it was single incidence. That rich lady would not take garments after
this. After all it was crime. That family would stop her. Sangita smiled
happily. Then she completed her work. She went to sleep peacefully. She told to
Harish “Don’t worry. I am sure that lady will not do crime again. After all she
is caught now her family would stop her.” Harish looked towards Sangita with
suspicious look. Clearly Harish didn’t like it. But still Harish nodded. Harish
said slowly “Honestly, I don’t like it. But I can’t stop you. I know we need
money & you like this job.” Harish wanted to stop his wife from going
there. But he couldn’t. He didn't want to discourage her career. He wanted to
encourage Sangita & most importantly they needed money. Sangita was earning
more than him. He was hurt somewhere heart about it. He was trying his best to
hide it but still in his soul he knew that. He decided that he wouldn’t stop
Sangita. He knew that he needed to support her. He smiled & said “Don’t
worry. I will talk with my friend who is cop.” She felt so happy. Harish
decided to discuss this with his cop friend. It was better to take advice from
Cop. Harish wanted to keep his wife safe. Harish knew that it was easily
possible that this mistake wouldn’t be repeated but still he wanted to make
sure that she was safe.
Sangita began to get ready for next
day. She wanted to come early to check stock of clothes. She needed to count
them one by one. She began to admire them. She wanted to have those clothes too
but she couldn’t. It was not possible for her to have that type of clothes. She
needed to admire their beauty but she didn’t. She needed to control her
emotions. She must not have desire to own them. She knew that she was just
sales girl of that shop. But still she felt that desire. She told herself that
she was not going to take them home so they belonged to another person. She
carefully started to packing them & keep them in different categories. She
started to feel so uneasy. She looked behind. She felt as if someone was
standing behind her. She shivered in fear. She came early today. When she
entered in shop, she was alone. She didn’t have anyone else to as witness. She
felt so scared. She sensed that if rich lady came & took something on that
point. No one would be witness of her innocence. She was alone there. She
looked towards CCTV. She had those CCTV but still she didn’t feel any secure by
them. She knew that anyone could delete or destroy their footage. She felt so
tense. Then she suddenly sensed movement behind her. She screamed loudly “Who
is there?” Her colleague Ravi was behind. Ravi “What happened?” “Oh! It’s you.
I thought that lady might have come to purchase again.” “Purchase?” Ravi gave strange look. Sangita didn’t want
to say steal but then she sensed that she didn’t have much options so she decided
to say it. Sangita “I feel scared that woman might steal again.” Ravi nodded.
Ravi “Everyone is scared. We are not certain that they will not blame us. We
need to fix time & come together.” She nodded. So, after that all staff
decided a fixed time to enter in shop. It was odd for people but they didn’t
mind. They decided that they all would come at same time. If anyone came early
that one would wait. Sangita was so happy that everyone was taking precautions.
Their work was increased due to repeated checking but they didn’t mind. They
just wanted to count dresses. They didn’t want to miss any dress. Slowly everyone
got confident that all was fine. But after few days Sangita once again noticed
one missing dress. She was so shocked. She began to search in entire shop with
hope but entire staff guessed already that this dress was stolen like last one.
Ravi said “I will call Manager & do billing of this dress too. If Manager
want then he can come & check CCTV.” But Manager didn’t come just told them
to do billing of that dress. It was clear that this was going to keep happening
again & again. Sangita was so tense. When she came home, she felt so
shattered & angry. She didn’t want to tell anything to Harish. She didn’t
want her to quit job. But she was so scared. She began to get irritate by every
sound. She was screaming on children whole time. Finally, Harish came home.
Harish sensed that she was angry. But he was not expecting her to start hitting
their children on small issues. He was so shocked. He got angry & he
screamed on her “Why did you hit kids like that? How can you act like that?!
You are their mother.” “Because I get tired & your earnings are nothing.”
He was so shocked. He never expected her to talk like that. He knew that his
earnings were less but she never disrespected him like that. He felt so sad. He
didn’t say anything. He wanted to argue but he didn’t want any drama before
kids. He just went in far away corner. Sangita was changed. He began to regret
his decision of marriage. He knew that it was too late to change it. But he
never thought that his life would become this way. Sangita began to feel that
she was losing her control. She sensed that she was doing all wrong. She began
to cry. But no one was coming near her for counseling. She was all alone. After
that she began to lose her temper again & again. Even in shop she started
snapping on people. She began to sense something was wrong with her. No one
wanted to speak with her any more. When she returned home, every one tried
their best to avoid her. She knew that she was acting wrong. She needed some
help. Finally, she decided to talk with Harish. He was not interested at
beginning. But when she slowly began to explain. He slowly began to get
interested. Finally, he said “Maybe this is health issue? We need to do
checkup.” Sangita agreed. Next day she took vacation & went to hospital.
They checked everything. She went back to work. Still, she was angry & when
all reports came out, she didn’t find any physical issue. Then finally they
decided to go to Psychiatrist. She was little upset at Doctor’s suggestion at
beginning but then she agreed. She was so scared when she decided to visit. But
when she started discussing she felt relaxed. Finally, Psychiatrist advised her
to find new job. “This is happening since she is angry. A woman is stealing
before her & doesn’t get punished while she never felt she was awarded
enough for honesty.” After discussions Sangita decided to quit job. Soon her
anger was reduced. She didn’t try to find new job since she was so tense. She
began to stay in house. Harish & kids decided that it was better to adjust
in less money then damaging Sangita’s mental health. But after sometime
Psychiatrist suggested that she could do job. She found one job in small store.
She never had that anger issue back again. But she was careful about one thing.
She never visited that mall or shop in which she once used to be sales girl. It
was one place in which she always felt haunted as if it had some negative
energy around.
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