My Untitled Story- Prologue

Tuesday, 17th March, 3 A.M.:

A sudden sound woke her up out of slumber. She failed to recognize the sound. Was it the sound of the bronze flower vase kept on the side of the sitting room window or was it the miniature bronze horse? She thought. She was certain it was the sound of metal hitting the floor. She could only imagine that the window must have been blown open by a strong breeze and she was enough tired to forego the idea of getting out of bed to check it out. She had had a troubled day of work at the office today. She deserved a peaceful night’s sleep at least.

But her brain could not resist the curiosity. Although she started dreaming as quickly, her dreams were muddled up possibilities of the source of the sound. With each possibility, her mind labored to justify it, otherwise reject it and shift to the next possibility. But she slept nonetheless, at least for an hour. But it was not peaceful. She restlessly turned from side to side and threw her arms and legs wildly as one would do in the event of a migraine attack. Ultimately she was awake once again, but this time not because of a sound. Her bladder felt as if it would explode. This is what commonly happens in anxiety. One tends to perspire and breathe in short gasps. She tried to justify again. But she could not understand the cause of her anxiety. It was obvious that she felt it only sub-consciously, in her dreams. Was her sub-conscious trying to warn her about some impending danger or was it just another after shock she felt as a child if she would watch a horror movie before retiring to bed. The brain has an amazing and relentless ability to imagine beyond causality and reality. So was her mind making up illogical stories generating unnecessary fear? She thought yes, that is the only possibility considering the fact that she was fearless. Working as an attorney for more than 12 years, implicating the likes of thugs and politicians, film stars and businessmen, she had come to believe that she had seen every aspect of the dark side of the human psyche. She understood everything and you fear only that you do not understand and so she was fearless.

She labored out of the luxurious bed. The velvet cover over the comfortable foam mattress pulled her back. She strained to pull herself out of bed. Once she was standing, she felt her urge to urinate intensify. She rushed to her restroom at lightning speed. Once she was able to ease the pressure, her mind cleared at once. She was totally awake now. She came out of the restroom and moved in short silent steps towards the sitting room. When she neared the door, she spread her hands out to locate the light switch. Though she had lived in this house for about 3 years and was well acquainted with it nooks and crannies, somehow she was unable to effortlessly spot the switchboard. She was clearly nervous. Her thin and graceful fingers lingered all over the wall in a vain search. Finally they came across the bottom left edge of a photo frame. Instantly she knew her reach was well short of the switch. She remembered the framed photograph of her mother and her brother when her entire family had gone on a holiday to Simla when she was 10. Memories of the holiday started flowing in her mind. The extreme cold, she had not prepared herself for and got fever. So her father had stayed back with her while her mother and brother had gone out to play in the snow. How she wished she had not gotten ill. She missed a chance to rejoice with her family, but she had little idea that her family would not be together for long. Her parents separated a few years later because of a dispute over financial matters. At least that is what everybody was told. In fact, it had been more of a conflict of ego for her father, the more successful and sought after lawyer before getting married. After the alliance, things drastically changed. Her mother gradually rose up the stairs of success and fame and overpowered her husbands influence. The result was what one expects. They got divorced and the question of the custody of the children was raised. Because the daughter was more attached to her father, he obtained her custody while the son went to her mother. They quickly shifted base to Mumbai doomed never to meet her family again.

The sudden disintegration of her family left a long lasting impact on her. She hated her mother and missed her brother. Her father immersed himself in alcohol and not soon enough, died of liver cirrhosis. Although it was profession that separated her parents, she had a deep admiration of the profession. She ended up herself being an attorney. All this while her mind wandered, her hand lay still on the wall. Suddenly she regained her senses and released a depressed sigh. She bended forward and extended her hand to the right edge of the frame where the switch was. With a nervous gulp of the saliva that had built up in her mouth, she shuddered and switched the light on.

The sensation of the pure white radiance of the fluorescent lamps relieved her of the anxiety. She immediately felt tranquil at the sight of the room. It was as though a child deprived of its mother for long had been granted the sight of the mother. The touch, the smell and the warmth of the mother’s bosom has the greatest hypnotic power. It made her feel so secure that even a bullet fired from point-blank range would not harm her. She eyed the room from top to bottom, left to right and noticed that the window was indeed open and the bronze flower vase, which she had nestled with fresh daffodils, lay on the floor with the flowers littered around. She went up to the window, closed it, arranged the flowers in the vase and switched of the light heaving a sigh of relief. A sight of the wall clock frightened her. It was 4.30 AM and she had to work early today. She rushed to her bed. As she lay on the bed, she felt a sudden shiver go down her spine. Suddenly she realized how lonely she was. There was no one on the face of the planet who she could call in emergency other than the police. It is not like this everyday. Sometimes she would bring home a guy and make love to him. This Friday was particularly memorable. She had met a young man in a disco, full of youthfulness. They did not sleep the whole night.

She managed to sleep finally. She snored ever so lightly but even in sleep she was so poised and pretty that any man would go weak in the knees. Two eyes stared at her beautiful body in the dim red ambience of the night lamp. Her long and waxed legs peered out of the chiffon lingerie. Her hair lingered all over her pout breast. He knew his job. His orders were specific. Kill the girl and make it look like a case of robbery. He was a master of his trade. With more than 80 murders to his credit, he was never ever convicted, or even accused for any one of them. This ensured that he could charge a hefty sum for his impeccable technique. He sometimes even amazed himself with his presence of mind. But all his previous assignments involved groggy old men or filthy gutter slimes. Never in his life had he touched a woman and now he was to kill one! What fortune, he thought. The moment he had seen the photograph of his next assignment, he knew it would be entertaining to say the least. And now he was there, ready to make the kill as silently as possible but he could not. How could he break a bottle of wine without sipping it once? He felt his heart palpitating and his intensions weary. His mind was in confrontation, to kill or not to kill. Finally it decided upon the mean, to enjoy and then kill. But he must be careful not to alert any neighbors. He slowly went up to the bed and sat down just behind her back. He slowly brought his ear close to her face and heard her breathe. Once he ensured she was fast asleep he took a deep breath starting from neck to her thigh and smelled her generously. He felt mesmerized by the beautiful mixed odor of deodorant, talcum powder and skin cream, but to his untrained nose, it all felt like the smell of her sweat. He could not resist any further and felt a deep tingle between his legs. His trembling fingers slowly reached for the lace of her semitransparent night gown and untied it. Immediately the silky garment slid off her soft and smooth skin like a landslide, exposing a major part of her body. He stared in unsaid admiration of her perfect beauty. He silently thanked the all mighty for creating the most beautiful of all creatures and bestowing him with this destiny.

He was in two minds as to where to begin. He was too excited to be slow and at the same time too cautious not to wake her up. In his pleasurable dilemma he did not realize how quick time was flying. At last he readied himself to jump on his prey, ignoring all possibilities of a struggle and noise. He could not resist any further. He rose up and unfastened his mud stained pants. He looked at his unkempt and hairy lower body and compared it with her flawless perfection. He released a dejected grunt and wondered if he even deserved her. But all his life he had learned to steal and snatch whatever he wanted. So he once again placed himself on the comfortable mattress next to her so that his body touched hers and he felt something similar to adrenaline flow through his blood. He could feel his entire body shaking vigorously and warming up unexpectedly as if he had fever.

His tryst with sex was ended prematurely by a sharp and monotonous sound he hadn’t heard before. He immediately realized it was an alarm and sat up startled. The sound as well as the sudden motion woke her up as well. She was not alarmed at first but when she turned her head around, she was shell shocked. A loud shriek escaped her mouth and it frightened her assassin. In a desperate stance, he searched for his knife but he could not find it. He recalled having kept it in his trouser pocket and now he stood there naked. Without worrying about his disappointing appearance, he quickly covered his face and made a strike. She moved at the right instant and started to run. The closest place she could resort to for hiding was the restroom. So she rushed into the rest room and closed the door. Once she felt herself secure inside the restroom, she could stop and think. This guy must have entered through the window and why was he naked? She was stunned as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her night gown was gone and she felt helpless. But within no time the door flung open. The weak polymer door was nothing in match to the masculine physique of her assassin. He was still naked but had a knife in his hand. The knife was of a peculiar design and it gleamed in the light of the restroom. She knew it was her end. There was no was of escaping the room without confronting the assassin. But she would not resign. Desperate times call for desperate measures and she channeled her entire energy in a final try. She gushed toward the door. But she was no match to the assassin. He caught her in his left arm while he held the knife in the right.

She would not dismiss herself to him. She knew death was near and her eyes couldn’t blink. She tried desperately to get out of his grip but failed. Finally she managed to speak. ’Why do you want to kill me?’ she said. He did not reply. Receiving no answer, she screamed for help. Then she managed to say ‘why do you want to kill me? What have I done?’ Through his mask, only his blood red eyes could be seen. His eyes matched hers and she stared at him endlessly. His eyes gradually overpowered hers and her body became limp. The assassin was pleased by his victory. She had gone into some sort of a trans. He contemplated on his last chance to redeem the pleasure he was deprived of. Finally he removed his mask and eyed her full body. A frail smile leaked from his stern lips. He laid her on the floor and licked her to the face. Then he smacked his lips as if satisfied. His lips parted again and said ‘May your soul rest in peace’. Then with a swift movement of his wrist, he slit her throat.

At first, no cut was visible and only her body jerked. Soon after, a thin red line appeared across the neck and blood started oozing out. Her face remained still, expressionless. Her eyes stared to infinity. Her mouth opened as if to breathe and her chest began expanding and contracting out of sync. Soon her entire body began shaking vigorously and the white marble floor became blood red. After a few minutes her shaking reduced and her breathing ceased. Blood still flowed out denoting that the heart was desperately trying to send oxygen to the brain. Without oxygen, the brain stops functioning after a few minutes. Once the blood flow rested and her body became totally limp, her assassin who was observing her convulsions, bent down to assure she was dead. Pleased to see the subject terminated, he smiled at his own frivolousness. He exited the restroom and dressed himself. He performed his next task of disseminating her house. Once he was through, he gave one last look at the dead body. Then satisfied, he exited her house through the same window, which he left open. As the subject lived on the first floor, he had no problem getting to safe ground. Then he sneaked out of the neighborhood unnoticed. He climbed into his car, a white TATA sumo. Once inside he kept his knife aside and cautiously removed a transparent coating on his fingers that prevented any finger prints. When it was all removed, he took out a mobile phone and made a call. A dominating ‘Hello?’ resounded from the other end. The assassin said in a muddled voice ‘Mission accomplished. Target terminated.’ The voice replied ‘Good. Come back to base and receive your reward.’ ‘Thank you’ he replied and hung up. He pulled out the keys, started the engine and drove away from the scene of the crime.

My Untitled Story- Abstract

A mysterious lady comes up to meet the local police investigator. He is amazed by her revelation. According to her, she would be murdered in one week and gives the exact date and time of the event. She even claims to know who wants to kill her but has no proof for conviction. How can anyone be convicted for a crime not yet committed. The cop gets involved under cover in her safety trying to prevent any murder. But the murder actually takes place at the same date and time. Now it is up to the cop to uncover who the actual killer is.