"Blessings from Heaven".

I had the perfect loving family, my friends were great and everything was working out well. You could say everyone envied my life for my family was well off, got along well and also devout believers of God. Some even said we were God's favorite, for we had everything and had lot of potential. I aced every exam I ever appeared, always enjoyed my life by getting whatever I wanted.

My parents were business owners and I was bound to inherit it, in that way my future is guaranteed. My mom was a University Professor of Literature and they both invested in several other businesses. Either I were to inherit the family business or not was not a concern for even without it I could live on my own. I had become independent at a young age as I began to tutor for my classmates by grade ten.

By grade twelve I moved out and bought my own house with the help of my parents. I was excited for College which was in a far city. I got into a prestigious College from the merit list. I registered myself for Literature in English as my honors. I had always been enthusiastic about fiction as well non- fictional books. I loved reading as well writing; be it articles, poems or novels or short stories. I had a burning passion for literature.

I had so much fun at College, won so many awards, certificates and medals and of course, cash awards included but that one didn't really matter because I enjoyed the exposure and criticism my works were getting. It helped me to get my next work better. In that way the constructive or negative criticism helped me sharpened my innate talent. I had a large friend group who truly cared for me and was always there for me.

I went on to University and got my doctorate degree from my Dream University. My thesis was on my favorite writer and I spend five years on my research and was finally able to get everything settled down. I applied for Professor position at several prestigious universities and was excitedly waiting for thier positive response. I was so grateful to God for having being so good to me and I was overwhelmed by his blessings on me and my family.

As I was waiting for the letter of acceptance from the various universities I had applied for the Professor position, something went terribly wrong.

My Doctoral Degree which I successfully thought I bagged, was supposedly regarded as sixty percent plagiarized and there were several charges of bribery against me.

Narrator: She was accused of having used unscrupulous methods by bribing the evaluators for her Thesis. Her doctoral degree was soon declared invalid. she had worked so hard for five years, consisting of back- breaking work, whole nighters, those visits and endless walks for research purposes had all gone down the drain.

Trying to clear her name, she called up several people she knew but they all were occupied with something or the other. She then decided to confront the Supervisor who had evaluated her Thesis. Why had her Thesis that had been considered the best and ninety percent original and the most creative at the time of her defense, now turned into sixty percent plagiarized and also unethical. Plagiarism hurts the entire Academic community and also questions the intellectual abilities and ethics of a scholar. She'd never stoop that low for she truly loved literature. But, did that matter?

As she was in this disturbed state of mind, she received a phone call from her dad who told her "Prepare yourself for this news, I'm afraid you won't be able to take it, have a seat or be somewhere safe first. Then he broke the news that her mother got into a serious accident and was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital.

She broke down as the words hit her...her mother is not okay, her condition not stable...'she might die' those words lingered on in her head.

She called her friends to ask for prayers but none of them picked her call. Then she just texted them instead. Before she could process her thoughts she had another call from her dad saying her mom had passed away. The doctors did all they could and they couldn't get the organ donors in time from anywhere despite not leaving any stone unturned.

She could no longer hold herself back as she broke into huge sobs, she cried like a mad person, wailing and hysterically weeping as her tears flowed unending. She didn't seem to realize she was standing in the middle of the University. People noticed her, and by now they are all aware of the news of 'Plagiarized Thesis', no one spoke a kind word to her. They were all sneering and jeering at her saying she deserved it.Two security guards then dragged her out of the University Campus and was locked out.

She had to prepare to go home for her mother's funeral, she packed her luggage and arrived at the airport. As the security guards were checking for the flight tickets she realized in a hurry she had forgotten to book a ticket. When she was asked if she wanted to book a ticket by paying an extra amount, she searched for her documents frantically. Only to find that she had also not brought the required documents.

She remembered that her friend had a private jet nearby so she called him up. He was a close friend and she felt comfortable to ask his help for, she would also look out for him.The phone ringed twice, thrice, four times, five, six, seven. She made several calls but it was all unanswered. Then she messaged him, emailed, all to no avail. She felt so alone and lonely as she realized that despite being so selfless and trying to reach out to others whenever possible. When it came to her no one seemed to care, she was always taken for granted especially now that things went downhill.

Now she didn't have a choice but to go back and take her documents and only then book her flight ticket. But the funeral she had to be there...she couldn't miss it. So had to take a gamble, she decided to travel as an illegal passenger in trucks carrying goods across the country. She had to give a lot of money to the truck driver and the assistant to convince them to take her with them. They couldn't sympathize with her condition nor would they believe her so- called 'sob story' of her mother's death.

Then as they neared every check-points the driver would let her down and she had to run hurriedly to catch up with them...she was nearly left behind several times. They were clearly not treating her well despite the huge amount of money they had received happily. She would have retaliated and taught them a good lesson but right then, she did not have the energy nor the patience to bother bickering with them. She just wanted to reach home to see her mom for the last time.

As they were reaching her town they insisted on letting her down, she was still far from her house so, she had no choice but to run like a mad-dog to reach the funeral in time. She run full speed but, her energy had all been exhausted by the previous runs, she no longer had money on her nor did she have anything to fill her hunger or quench her thirst. At this point the only thing that kept her going was the thought of not being able to see her mother for the last time. She had to reach in time, she had to... As she reached she was out of breath and looked like she was going crazy, in the process of running she had lost one of her shoes and her dress were filthy and reeked of the truck- smell.

As she saw the face of the person who gave birth to her, the person she loved & loved her the most... lying still in the casket, her knees felt weak and it gave away. She knelt down and broke into loud sobs uncontrollably, holding onto the face that looked so much like herself; all she could do was hold onto her and cry helplessly. She knew she was making a scene as she was the last to arrive, looking filthy and unpresentable but she didn't care for that was how she felt inside; 'Ugly and worthless'. She wished for time to stop as she stroke the hair of her mom; smelling the scent she fondly remembers 'faint and fading'. She run her fingers over her face with her mom's hand as she continously shed tears trying to get the affection so longed for, that she could now never get. Nevermore.

...To be continued......

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