The Other Side(38)

For the next two months, I did nothing but lay down a plan. No one heard from me during those two months, my only focus being Arti. I secretly followed her like a silent shadow every time she went out, kept a check on her activities and the wedding preparations. I zeroed in on the beauty parlour she frequented. The area had dense bushes surrounding the narrow path one had to walk to reach the parlour. The wedding day arrived and not wanting to make any mistake, I followed Arti right from outside her home in the van I had rented for the purpose. Her sister and a girl friend were accompanying her to the parlour.

After four anxious hours, Arti came out from the parlour accompanied by the other two. Looking at her, I temporarily forgot about my intentions and just stared at her unmatched beauty through the bushes. She looked so beautiful in that green lehenga, her skin glowed with all that jewelery on her frame- the glittering paayal in her feet, the silvery kamarband on her waist, the tinkling jhumkaason her ears, the slithering bindiyaon her forehead and the red bangles on her wrists.

Their loud whispers and giggles broke my trance. As they came near, I slowly shifted the small tranquilizer gun in my hand and took aim from the bushes. There was no way I would miss when the path was so narrow and the target so close. The dart hit her friend right in the neck and with a whimper she slumped down. Arti and her sister were walking a few yards ahead and thankfully, noticed nothing unusual.

The second shot caught Arti's sister right on her exposed waist, her sari hiding the small injection. As soon as the needle sunk in her skin, she bellowed like a cow and collapsed on the ground. I saw a worried Arti turn towards her and shake her unconscious frame. She soon started to fumble in her purse and grabbed her cell phone. At that exact moment, I jumped out from the bushes behind her and placed the chloroform sprinkled handkerchief on her face. After a momentary struggle, she fell right into my arms.

I dragged Arti to the van hidden behind the bushes. Three hours later, I carried her inside an old apartment in the less populated suburbs. I gently placed her on the bed and admired her beauty, which had multiplied manifold in her bridal attire. She was mine now and I could hardly believe that. I would marry her and the fact gave me boundless joy. Her shining skin, her fair colour



The Other Side

165 blinded my eyes. I touched her face with shaky hands, then her arms and then circled a thirsty finger round her belly. She was the purest form of creation for me and I would ensure she remained so.

I was afraid that she would run away from me once she woke up and so I decided to tie her limbs to the thick bedposts. I used a thick rope lying in the attic and proceeded to knot her limbs, checking and rechecking every twist of the rope on each limb.

“Just a momentary suffering, my love,” I whispered into her sleeping ears.

Hardly had I done so than Arti began stirring and twisting her delicate body. She moaned in a low delectable tone, her eyelids fluttering a little. The chloroform was losing its effect and for some strange reason, the butterflies in my stomach returned. I wasn't ready for the confrontation, not yet. I still felt as jittery as the first time I had tried talking to her. No, it would have to wait. I needed some more time to ready myself. Without thinking about anything else I fumbled for the chloroform bottle lying nearby, tilting it to the right where my handkerchief waited to soak in the liquid. Arti moaned again, trying to move her tied up limbs and her eyelashes seemed to rise. I shivered nervously, my hands shaking so hard that it was becoming difficult to think in a clear manner and in the process; half the bottle of the knockout liquid flooded the cloth. Arti opened her eyes, looking up towards the ceiling and without thinking about anything; I jumped ahead, slapping the handkerchief into her face with my right hand, while covering her eyes with my left.

I felt her struggle against my hold, her tied-up limbs disturbing the white sheet laid beneath her. It took all my force to hold the cloth in place till I was sure Arti was back to her dreamy state. I pulled back, heaving a sigh of relief as I dropped down beside Arti on the bed. I don't quite remember my eyes shutting down, my tiredness overtaking my attempts at keeping myself awake to look over Arti.

In that dreamy state, an inexplicable feeling usurped me, giving rise to horror as I witnessed a pair of gruesome blackened hands making their way towards my neck. I could feel my throat constricting as they closed in. The hands came together as they neared my face, red bangles on the wrists, their clanking sounded like someone ringing the death-knell on my grave. I choked, trying to breathe in large amounts of air as the hands wrapped themselves around my neck. My eyes bulged out as with inhuman strength they squeezed the life out of me. I willed myself to open my eyes and sat upright in the bed, gasping for air and wiping the sweat swimming over my forehead. Slowly I got down and looked out of the window. It was still dark outside, my wristwatch told me it was two in the morning. I tried the switches on the wall but no light came on.