Author's POV 

— Set inside Kriti's jail cell, a few months after the incident.

The cell was cold.

Not because of the concrete walls or rusted iron bars,
but because of the stillness—the kind that crawled under your skin
and stayed there like an unwelcome breath.

She sat on the edge of her prison bed.
Back straight. Hands on her lap.
Eyes blank. But not empty.

There was no scream. No sobbing. No apologies.
Only silence—so thick, it felt like grief had grown legs and was pacing the room.

Kriti Sharma. 25. Teacher. Prisoner.

The newspapers had called her names.
Some shouted "Murderer."
Others whispered "Monster."

But no one had asked her why.

She hadn't spoken during the trial.
Hadn't hired a lawyer.
Hadn't looked at the cameras or the crowd or the judge.
She had only looked down—once—
at a small, crumpled photo of a two-year-old girl in her arms.

Her younger sister. Her everything.

That photo now lay tucked inside the sleeve of her prison blouse.
Faded. Torn at the corner.
Like all things that had seen too much.

Her fingers trembled sometimes.
But her heart never did.

Because she wasn't confused about what she had done.
She was only waiting to be told what it would cost her.

Outside her cell, the world continued.
Inside it, she had frozen in the moment they called her guilty.
And somewhere between verdict and punishment,
the truth sat quietly with her—refusing to beg for attention.

And soon, he would walk in.
The lawyer she didn't ask for.
The man fate had sent into a story he wasn't prepared to read.

But for now, she sat still.
Like a poem trapped in a courtroom.
Like a scream waiting to be heard.

Chapter 1 will be posted on 17th July 2025 , 5 PM .