Free Arranged by the Stars by Kamy Chetty Page B

immediate reaction
was to pull back, but it took forever to make one motion of her
limb happen. The thing she touched made a groaning sound. A barely
human sound.
    It was hard to do
anything with her hands tied, but she tried rolling slowly onto her
side. The small enclosure was more like a mud…she tried to feel the
sides to see if it was a hut. Maybe a building? Her gaze went up to
the sky. She could smell earth. The damp earthy smell held a hint
of sea and fish. A thick, heavy curtain of darkness covered the
enclosure.
    Another sound from her
companion. “Are you okay?” she asked.
    As her legs stretched
out, she realised there wasn’t much space in this dungeon like
cell. When she kicked out at the end, the edge started falling
in.
    She was in a grave. About
to be buried. Alive. With a stranger.
    “ Stop it.” A
female voice. Weak, but audible. Indian. Posh. “You will bury us
alive.”
    “ Thanks for
the newsflash, but I already figured that out.” Ash couldn’t see a
thing, but she knew there had to be a way out.
    The moment that idiot
tried to take hold of her, she knew they were amateurs. Who would
send low life thugs to kidnap her? It’s not as though Kieran would
pay millions for his pretend girlfriend. They got it so
wrong.
    “ Would you
stop it? The more you fight it, the smaller you make the grave.”
The know-it-all stranger said.
    Ash dragged out a slow
breath. “How long have you been here?”
    “ Two days.
Unfortunately I tried to kick my way out and ended up with a
smaller living space.” She sighed.
    Her voice was pure-bred
university trained. Maybe Oxford? She had to be smart, so what was
she doing here? Not that it mattered because right now Ash wanted
to go home. Even if it meant the real home she had waiting for
her.
    “ What are you
thinking?” the stranger asked.
    “ The fate I
have waiting for me, pales in comparison to this current
situation.”
    The girl coughed like she
was clearing her throat of mothballs. “We have all the time in the
world. You can pass the time by confessing your sins. Tell me yours
and I’ll tell you mine.”
    “ It’s not a
great story although sometimes I wish it was.” Did the girl next to
her have to contend with an arranged marriage like many girls in
their culture? Like herself. “Most girls have a story that’s
similar and I don’t think I’m special. We all have to make choices,
I am sure you do too.” Marriage to Alok wasn’t the worse choice.
She’d known him for a lifetime, and although he was as boring as
filling sugar containers in a restaurant, he was safe.
    The kick to her shin
didn’t hurt, but it showed curiosity. “You make no
sense.”
    Ash’s eyes closed as she
tried to picture Alok and his perfectly combed black hair. With the
neatly pressed kurta, he wore every day, and his moustache that had
to be measured with a ruler every morning, Ash could see her future
laid out for her. “I am going to marry a very nice man and live a
very stable life.”
    If she was, why was
Kieran filling her thoughts?
    Her companion laughed.
“Is that it? Did anyone tell you, that sometimes you could be a
drama queen?”
    Ash nodded. “Miss
Tasmania told me that once. I never paid much
attention.”
    The voice next to her had
a sombre quality. “You’re weird.” She let out a huff of air. “We’re
not getting out, are we?”
    It hurt when she sighed.
“I don’t know. I’d settle for knowing who these goons are and how I
can get out.”
    The girl moved. “Drug
dealers. They were stealing from the clinic I worked in.
Unfortunately to feed my habit, I was helping them. I changed my
mind, was going into rehab, they didn’t like the change in plans
and so threw me in here to rethink my decision. They aren’t exactly
the hospitable kind.” She coughed again.
    Ash couldn’t see anything
that looked like a water bottle around her so she could help the
girl. They hadn’t let her keep her purse. Not that it would have
mattered, aside from