Sarah and I, the Goan baker couple were happily married for the last 10 years and it was our romantic dinner night till Sarah said, “John, I need a divorce.” She was trembling while saying this. Everything was fine a moment before she said this. I never thought our tenth anniversary night would take this turn. It was indeed a beautiful night for the rest of the world. The untouched champagne was still in the glass and so was John’s heart. Sara was sitting in our favourite restaurant, opposite my table, all in tears.
“Wh–why Sarah? You shouldn’t be joking about such things? It was all so perfect!”
“Perfect for you.”
“What do you mean? Did I go wrong somewhere? Is it because I cannot get you pregnant yet? We decided on adopting right?” I was baffled.
“I killed somebody. I will surrender after our divorce.”
“Killed? Who did you kill?” Well, I asked her after taking a long pause because her first sentence was not really expected, but the last one was way beyond my imagination. I was in a deep shock.
“I have killed my boyfriend.” It obfuscated me to the other level. A girl, who was my wife, ditched me with someone else. I could not answer any question my brain threw at me. “Why did she do that? Was I not enough? If she did not love me, why did she not tell me straight away? If she loved somebody else, why did she kill the man? What was she talking about?”
“I love you a lot……..” She paused a bit and started to sob. “I killed him for us. But the guilt is unbearable. He was forcing me to marry him.” She started crying hard. I gave her water. My hands were still trembling, I was nothing but a puppet of my subconscious mind at the moment. She started to take a sip from that glass.
When she controlled her emotions, she continued to talk. “Please I beg of you, please let’s part ways otherwise I will kill myself too.”
“Why did you kill him if you loved him over me? You should have killed me instead if you anyway were up to a murder.
“Because I love you.” She was still sobbing.
“Sarah, why did you do this?”
“I don’t know. It just happened automatically.”
“Sarah, I am not getting it seriously. Talk about something sane.” She was looking very tense to me. So I continued, “Sarah, where is the body?”
“I put him in the trunk in our basement.”
I was still in a dilemma. “What was I supposed to do? My wife was a murderer- such a spine chilling thought I ever had in my mind. She had ditched me. But she killed him for me. Did she love me to the extent that she could kill a man she crushed on? But why did she love someone else other than me? We had no time, the body had to be disposed of. Maybe I should first help my only love to get out of this mess and then think of how our relationships and us.”
I decided to go back with her. We both were trembling to death, she was sweating heavily on the chilled winter night.
“How should we get rid of this?” I asked Sarah.
“I don’t know. I will surrender.”
“No. Wait. Take me there.” I had no idea why on earth I was purposely putting myself through this for my deceiving wife.
Petrified me started to follow Sarah to the basement. She took me down to the trunk covered with old dusty rugs. As she began, unveiling the rugs that covered her crime for time being, I could not gasp but stare at her, my beautiful wife had turned into a brutal murderer.
“Inside. He is lying.” She started to cry again. The lock had to be opened, the handle had to be picked up for me to see who had touched my wife’s soul apart from me. She seemed too weak to do that. Her guilt seemed to have pulled her strength down.
“Where shall we dispose—him? Let’s burn him in the hind bakery!”
“We cannot do that. The helpers will come anytime soon to make the pao for the day. Think something else.”
“Wait! What if his family complaints about him being missing?”
“He lives alone with his wife! I’ll somehow show his co-workers that he left for abroad permanently.” Well, there were people like me in this world, who lived all alone before their lovers found them.
“Why did you do this? Why why why?” I was numbly uttering the same thing again and yet again.
“John. I regret it. I am extremely sorry. Please forgive me. I know I’ll never be able to forgive myself. Hope at least you will.”
“I– I don’t know what to say. Shall we get rid of this first? Let’s bury him in the side garden before the dawn.”
“I’ll get the tools. Thanks, John.” She leaned to kiss me. I never felt the kiss, my mind had my body against all my happy hormones. We had a long scary task to perform.
I slowly started to move inside the basement. The room was pitch dark with just dispersed light rays from her mobile torch which she used to guide me down to our own basement that actually had good light sources. Criminal minds hate brightness around, I felt like one today. The torch made a spotlight on the trunk.
I opened that trunk. And got shocked to see the known truth – a handsome man who was killed in his 40s, around 6 ft 3 inches was curled up to fit inside the trunk. I was wondering why Sarah did not kill me instead. I would have been in a better place than where I was standing right now.
“Ahhhhhh………” Someone hit me on my head from behind. I turned around with a sharp pain in my spine. I was shocked to see Sarah standing with a rusted rod in her right hand covered with the blood of her legal husband.
“Why?” I asked her in a trembling voice.
She came closer to me and said, “Because, I love you. I don’t want you to see me marry him.” The man who I thought was lying all lifeless in the trunk had come to life. Before I could utter a word, another hard-hit came on my forehead.
I fell to the ground. I was dying. The last thing I saw was my love witnessing my death in the arms of her lover with soft smiles on their face……
2 Comments
Amazing Samiksha. Too good. 🥰
The story was mystery indeed. Could not make out till the end that why she killed for Love. Nicely written 👍