Ralph walked through the corridor in a haste. He failed to notice the path which he was traversing, neither did he gave ears to the person who was blabbering endlessly about the paintings to him. Ralph was in the Louvre museum, but unlike many, his intentions were not to admire and learn about the priced paintings that adorned the walls. His was a quest, started way back, continuing still. His eyes searched among the many thousand faces that one single face which had turned away from him quite a few years back. Time had sped past but he felt himself glued in that past, unable to forget and unable to move on. Few minutes later, Ralph found himself in front of the most celebrated lady- “Mona Lisa”. The guide had taken a new momentum in his word shower but Ralph never heard any. “Where are you, my Mona Lisa?” He laughed silently, biting down the sound from his throat with his sparkling white teeth. “Let’s walk”, Ralph told the guide and turned immediately, only to hit some stranger. She had fallen down and Ralph doubted whether to spare a moment and help the lady. As he started to walk away, he heard the voice of the lady, cursing as she tried to get up. That voice felt familiar. Looking back, he saw the face of the young lady. It was her. Ralph felt a sudden adrenaline surge as he ran towards her and helped her out. Though he was in the quest, finding her was an accident. Accidentally, he had met her this day, just like the way it had happened a few years ago. He had held out his hand towards her once, long back and that time, she took it happily. Today, he held it out again but he knew that there would be no happiness for her.
They say that in all the movies, the story ends when the couples unite. But for Ralph, it had just begun……………
“Amanda”, she heard him clearly, his voice, a cold whisper. He had held her arm tightly, his fingers tightening the grip, while she struggled to stand up. She knew he had found her and that the run was over. All the while, Ralph was looking straight into her eyes. She saw in those, a gleam of joy, which fairly resembled the glow that she saw in the eyes of a predator after it captures its prey. “Anything wrong, Sir?” she heard the voice of the guide who accompanied Ralph.” Your work is over”, Ralph answered him, still not turning his face away from her. The very next second, she found herself being dragged out of the museum.” Leave me, Ralph”, she pleaded, her voice exuding the consternation that she felt the moment she knew it was him. he continued walking, pushing aside their way through the large crowd, moving out of the museum, turning through the narrow ally and finally ending the journey in a way side inn.
“All you had to do was be my wife. I loved you, I cared and I provided everything”, he retorted that echoed inside the room she was pushed into. Ralph closed the door with the back of his leg and stood in front of her. His six foot and well-built gigantic posture was enough to frighten her soul and already shivering mind.
” Leave me, Ralph. I know you love me but too much of love and your obsession is choking me.”
” And if I leave, then what?” he switched his legs, “Can’t imagine you with any other man, dear”, he knelt down and ran his fingers over her sweaty face. He wiped away the small beads that formed near her eyes and behind her ear. Ralph adored her a lot. She was his queen, his alone and if not, then she belonged to none. Not even herself. She had escaped from him an year ago. And today, he found her again. He mentally calculated the days she was away from him and wondered if she had been alone or with anyone. The very thought made him stir as he felt a dark spasm of pain hit his nerves. He moved behind Amanda and knelt closer to her. He knelt down and smelt her long luscious hair. “I Love you”, he whispered in her ears as he pulled out a paper knife and with a clean single move, slit her throat, while he held her closer to his heart.
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Amanda jumped out of the rocking chair on which she sat. It was 1 am in the morning. She did not know when she had fallen asleep but it had only been an hour. An hour, long enough to give her that terrifying night mare. She knew that her dream could turn out into a reality if she really tried to escape from there. She had thought about it once but never had the courage to execute the plan. Even if she had, the result would have been the same that she saw in the dream. He would hunt her down and kill her. Love was such a poisonous feeling too when in excess. She looked around her home but….. It was not home any more. More of a dungeon where the captivator held his captive, fed it, showered it with love and care. But the captive always felt caged. She was free but still chained. Ralph had stopped loving her the normal way long back. The feeling had rather changed into an addiction for Ralph and it reflected in his behavior. She had felt it in her nerves when he started to be over protective and possessive, slowly pushing her out of her friends’ circle, away from the social getaways and finally choking her up with his total act of ownership. She had tried to talk but went vain. The file suited for divorce was a total disaster as Ralph had the money and power. The case flew like a small piece of dry leaf in the wind, slowly dissipating and dissolving in the thin air. He had threatened her and then apologized, beaten her and then pleaded for forgiveness. One act of repentance from him, was he admitted the fact that he had gone psycho and started taking the medication. But Ralph never let her go, will never be. Amanda knew she was afraid of him. The fear overruled the hatred and she felt perplexed at times. All she wanted was to escape but Ralph was everywhere. Even in her dreams, he had been successful to keep her caged.
She put aside her thoughts and walked into the kitchen. In a single gulp, she emptied the water bottle.
She yearned for freedom. Although, still being his wife, there was no feelings alive in her. There was no parents to help: Ralph had helped her walk out of that orphanage, holding her hand, bound in the holy matrimony. Back then, she remembered being happy. Happy to feel that someone was there for her. But time do change things. Too much of anything is dangerous, be it love or even that care. And she is done with having too much.
Having made the choice, Amanda walked out of the kitchen, finding her way across the hall to the bedroom. The room was dim lit, the zero watt bulb burned in one of the top corner of the room. The A/C was still on and she felt the chilling breeze as she slightly opened the closed door. Leaning onto the wall, she watched Ralph, sleeping under the comfort of his thick woolen quilt. Watching him made her walk into those memories again, the good and the bad. She felt like a pendulum, oscillating between the choices she had and what finally awaited.
“Sorry Ralph”, she uttered under her breath as she silently trotted into the room. In her hand that she held behind, the sharp kitchen knife swayed as she shivered, and it sparkled under the quivering reflection of the dim lit zero watt bulb.
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Ralph sat in the strange and freezing cold room, staring the four walls. It was different from all the other places he had been up to. Back then, he had been honored at every places but here, the show was different. The four walls had four different faces. One side had a large cupboard, open one , filled tightly with a bunch of dusty files of which some were half eaten by the termites. The other side was bland but had stains, probably the blood spewed by many persons who were smashed on to it by these men. The third side had a picture board of not so beautiful faces, adorning the section. And there on the fourth side, on a wooden chair, sat him, the man in uniform who had brought him there an hour ago. On the table, Ralph saw the steel kitchen knife, stained with blood. Her blood. She who had walked in to take away his life had walked away alone, with him snatching away hers. He writhed inside, an act of self defense had cost him the priceless possession of his life. Now he was poor, a penniless pauper, having lost her. “ Why, Amanda, why? Why did you sit near me for long, long enough to woke me up. I was shocked to see you there, and the knife. Am I that despicable, Amy?” , he broke down.
The inspector watched the man opposite him, playing a series of emotions all over his face. His wife had attempted murder but the role switched. He had rushed in to the scene after the call he got from Amanda. The lady had confessed everything and told him that she is going to kill. But the moment he reached the scene, he saw a different picture. He had seen Ralph sitting there, holding a blood clad Amanda in his arms, the knife pushed deep inside her heart. And the inspector had grabbed him at the very next second itself before he could do further damages. But the lady didn’t survive. He saw her die but with a serene smile as if acknowledging the inspector for his late arrival. He saw Ralph in tears and an endless pain:The inspector had realized that Amanda had won the battle.
He knew that the guy could be spared. Ralph was a powerful man and the inspector knew it. But he also knew Amanda and her plight.
” What do you want me to do? I knew both sides of the story, Ralph. Hers and yours. Decide what you want. Either you could go to jail or we could bury everything up”, the inspector explained.Ralph said nothing but kept on looking at the inspector.
” Your call”, the inspector reiterated.
Ralph suddenly smiled. The same hunter smile that Amanda feared.
” You know, her body shivered a lot when I stabbed her. I doubt whether she was really in there, to murder me. For that, she could have done a lot easier. She could have increased the dosage of my medication or anything . But she chose the knife way. She chose the knife and then watched me sleep till it woke me up. But Why?”, Ralph let out a devilish laugh that echoed inside the station. The inspector felt a tinge of fear forming inside but struggled hard to not let his face showcase the same . The man was truly a psycho.
” You know I wish to be punished because I have killed my queen. But not here, not like this. “, Ralph suddenly leaned closer to the table. ” Amanda had smiled when she took her last breath. She knew that she had finally escaped from me- death had freed her. But No, not yet.”
The inspector clutched the gun attached on his belt tighter. With a swift move, Ralph grabbed the knife,” Here I come, Amy. Just could not let you go. Sorry it took a while to decide.” And just the way she had seen in her dream, all it took was one fine slit, right on the throat.
*******************************************************************durga
Scribbles of a caffeinated psyche 