Love And Lies Are Red

8

He was knocked out of his wits when he saw her all blood-smeared and a live dead body lying beside her. Arshia's pupils were as small as the amount of thoughts in her head. She pessimised her whole future and felt the cold numbness climb up her body. Minute by minute.

As soon as he was going to speak, she leapt on him and they both fell on the ground. She put a finger on her lips to indicate him not to make any noise.
"There is no one around, I've checked all areas. Don't worry. Calm down, it wasn't your fault. I know", Abhimanyu whispered to her and cupped her face. She clung to his chest such that she felt the air around her carried the echoes of her darkest deed a while ago. He looked at the dead body of Nuthvik and wondered how similar he had made her feel with all those harsh words. She'd put up that face of kindness till the last minute until what was destined, happened. Their first resolution was to dispose the body as soon as possible.
"Or let's report it to the police", he said.
"Don't bring movie logics here. You know every policeman of my town knows about me. It would worsen matters for that sake", Arshia said in a sore voice. He nodded, and then sharing a pair of gloves with her, dragged Nuthvik's body out of the cave-like place.

"I will have my torchlight on for you. Keep dragging him out of here, while I shall check if the way is clear", Abhimanyu instructed her. Arshia's still gaze at him turned his throat dry, as is meaning to kill him too. He wondered how the murder happened when it was pitch dark inside the huge cave. Nuthvik would have probably tripped on her foot and fallen down, while Arshia chanced upon this to secure her win over him. It was more of a defensive impulse than any intentional malignance making her commit a crime. They packed his body inside one of the piles of gunny sacks kept at a corner. They stopped for a moment under a large droopy tree.
"It would be dawn till I get this done, and I want you home fast", he said.
"I am fine here, I don't want you to clean up all alone, for the mess I created", Arshia said, holding his hand. Her soft touch gave him some energy to walk a few distance more until they reached his car. They drove a lot of distance in a short span with full speed, and then threw Nuthvik's body in a swamp amidst tall trees in a dense jungle on the outskirts of the town, a little away from a torn signboard stating one should not enter that danger zone. They were too dangerous to do anything, specially both of them together.

~

Her eyes were wide open in that night. Everyone was sleeping, and there was no food left for her in the fridge. She tiptoed into her room and shut the door slowly. She even feared the clink of the latch and thus, left it as it was. They went to sleep by 10 p.m., and she must have returned home at 2 a.m., so if they were to bombard her with questions the next morning, she would say she returned at 10:30 p.m. This was sorted, but the fact that now she was a murderer would never settle in her mind, she knew this. While the buzz of crickets kept her awake almost the whole night, she realised that there was no guilt in her for killing Nuthvik. A tear drop trickled down her cheeks and her chest shrank inwards, squeezing her heart, as she felt that she was a traitor in love. Her love was never true for him, and the gene of compromise was present in her too like her mother. She tried not to think of an another man when her very boyfriend had passed away. Something felt empty within her in Nuthvik's absence; after all, he was her first love and they had marked together many significant moments. The emptiness was suddenly compact with Abhimanyu's thoughts. This was weird because she herself couldn't fragment her tangled feelings about Abhimanyu, Nuthvik and the murders.

~

4:00 A.M.,

The small rectangular clock attached on the wall said, but she had just started to yawn. She was pondering about the effect of killing someone on her mind. It felt like she did it on a regular basis, or perhaps her worst days had made her devoid of any feelings left in her heart for anyone.
Except Abhimanyu, she thought. And her breathing got irregular with a strange excitement. She stopped inhaling altogether when she heard the door creak. Before she could turn impulsively, Pragati's voice made her further still.
"Come in, she's asleep", her aunt whispered to someone. Arshia's brows quickly furrowed with a negative inkling.
Why were they in her room at such an odd hour? Were they planning to KILL her?
She grasped the blanket over her head tightly, as if it would save her any from getting chopped by an axe or such. Her toes were cold like ice and she tried her best to stop them from trembling.
"Check there!", Pragati said, as Arshia saw a boy beside her fumbling through her books. Her body was stiff as if equipping mere air around her for safety. When she carefully peeped a little from her blanket, she saw it was Shravan.
"I don't remember where I kept it, must have gone with her books", he said. Pragati gave one hardly on his head and indicated him to speak low. He nodded.
"You know it's important for your qualification as a candidate!", Ghanendra grunted in a whisper. Shravan could literally pee there, the way his anxious hands worked like a fan about some lost documents.
"How could you be so careless to mix it up with her materials? What will I tell Mr. L. K. Murugan, that my son cannot stand for being an MLA? You have to join his party soon in two months. I lured him with my business just to secure your position, but you turned out to be an ass..", Ghanendra was a bit loud that he did not realise, but Arshia got to know a lot more than needed.
"No ruckus here please, she might get up", Pragati pointed at the so-called sleeping Arshia.
"Must be in a dire pain, this bitch, because her boyfriend has been beaten good by me. It was the only option to never let this girl seek any help from anyone", he spewed about her.
"Or shamelessly get pregnant like her mother did when...", Pragati couldn't complete her sentence as Shravan cut her off with the found papers in his hand. While Arshia kept hanging from that sentence which remained incomplete. Why would Tasha's pregnancy be shameless to them? Could it mean that she had an affair, or Arshia had a third sibling? There was a lot hidden.