I rang the bell. There was no familiar sound of the excited Payal of her that I love so much- the happy song of welcome that I receive when I arrive home after a long hard day at work.
Maybe she’s busy praying. I waited for a few more minutes before knocking again.
Still there was no answer. I was getting worried. She never was late in answering the door for me- she used to say that this was the best part of the day for her- opening the door for me in the evening. That’s why I don’t take the key to the home when I go to office, so that she has to open the door for me…
I heard some noise inside and a little while later the door opened. It was my beloved brother-in-law- I used to lovingly call him Popat.
“Popat! What a pleasant surprise!” I said and proceeded to hug him.
“I’m sorry… but I have… killed her… and I will… have to… kill you too…” he said with moist eyes and a bent head.
What! She’s dead! Dead! This must be a joke! Popat? And he killed her? Never! He loved her so much! In fact he had saved us so many times from those honour-freaks from the village! He gave us heads up hours before they could reach us and we’d run away-to find a new home in a new city.
He’s the only person we trusted from our past- the only person we loved from our village. Popat- and he killed her?! There was no way this happened…
I ran past him- inside the prayer room and found her. Her body lay motionless in a pool of her red warm blood… In the room of God, she was embracing tightly a picture of mine- and that happy picture of mine was covered in her blood and somehow I was still smiling in that picture- it was ironical. It was too painful. My heart hurt- it was getting heavy and soon I could feel the poisonous pain being pumped throughout my body and I… and I didn’t know what to do- the pain was too much…
