Geeta and Saloni had always assumed this was a cautionary tale written by men for men. Only a man would imagine retribution wrapped in lust rather than just painful death. Only a man would morph a wounded woman into a hideous monster. Only a man would then, for the sake of phallic pride, attribute her with shape-shifting powers, so that the creature he’d lain down with over and over again was deceptively gorgeous. But what if, Geeta thought as she stood frozen near her front door, desperately trying to think of a plan, the churel was a cautionary tale created by women for women? If the natural
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