It was dark all around when he opened his eyes.

He was tied to a big boulder that was four times his size in the corner of a dark, dingy room. His hands were tied behind him in iron chains. His legs were bound by ropes and tied to the rock. He was unable to move even an inch. The room was misty, cold and had a pungent, stale smell that he remembered. He didn’t know where he was.

At the corner of the room, he saw the tinge of a dim red light. From that light, she emerged. He saw her coming and knew that she was the reason for his predicament. She was the reason for his miserable locked up condition. She was the one who had bound him and chained him up.

“It is you, again!” he remarked, resigned to his situation.

“Yes, it’s me, who else, my dear?” she said with a villainous grin.

“Why are you doing this to me?” he howled.

She walked towards him making a tic-toc sound of her high heels. It was deafening in the silence.

She came closer to him and stood next to him. She looked beautiful in her red dress. She was the ultimate seductress. She held his face in her two fingers and lifted it up, so that he could see her in all her beauty. So often in the past had he held her close like that. But that was in the past.

Today he turned his face away. He did not want to see her eye to eye. But she pulled his chin back.

“Why? Why are you doing this to me?” he yelled again, at the top of his voice.

She lifted her finger and put it on her pouting lips. “Lower, lower.. SShhhh.. Don’t shout,” she said.

“How can you ask such a question? Don’t you know?” she asked, anger and hatred on her face.

“What harm have I brought to you? I just want to end this. Please leave me alone,” he pleaded.

“How can I leave you alone? I love you more than you ever did. And now I love you even more,” she said, moving her slick fingers through his hair and on to his lips. “I thirst for your love, for the touch of your hands, your lips. How can you end this?” she said.

“No.., No…., No,” he shouted. “Just leave me alone, please, I pray of you,” he folded his tied hands.

She held his face in her hands and squeezed his cheeks.

“How can I leave you alone, my dear?” she asked. “We go back a long way,” she said.

“Yes, that’s true, but times have changed now,” he implored. “I have a wife, a son, a family. They love me and I have to take care of them,” he reminded her.

She threw her arms up all of a sudden and stood up in anger. She slapped him in a surge of anger.

“Family, my foot. Wife, my foot. We have loved each other from much earlier. Much before any of them came into your life,” she shouted. “And now you want to leave me? Traitor!!!” she yelled.

He now looked at her eye to eye. He could see the blood in her eyes. She was bent on taking her vengeance. She wanted her revenge and she wanted it now. She was determined to get back at him.

A wave of fear passed through his spine. His lips quivered with trepidation.

“For long, I tried… both…But it is not ..umm.. possible anymore. I have to .. err.. choose. I have no.. I don’t have.. umm.. any option,” he cried out aloud.

He looked around for a way out. He wanted to run away. But his legs were tied. His body was bound. There seemed to be no door to this dark room. Where will he run and how? There was no way he could escape. She laughed aloud looking at his predicament.

“Desperate to run away from me, eh?” she asked him with a sly smile.

“I have tried so many times. But you don’t let me go. Why don’t you leave me?” he begged again.

She came closer to him. She went behind the stone and came back in front of him from the other side. She circled around him twice in silence. Wherever he turned his head, he saw her.

“You loved me so much,” she said, softening her voice. “All you wanted was me. Before anyone else. Those were the good, old times. And now, you want to run away,” she added with a touch of lament. He saw a ray of hope. He saw a thaw, a crack. Maybe her rage was slackening a bit, he thought.

“I have no choice. I have a family. I love them and they love me,” he said again, hoping for some sympathy. But it only lit the smouldering embers of her wrath again.

“Enough…,” she yelled. “Enough of this family nonsense,” she cried. “It is not for your family that you want to run away from me.. It is for yourself. You can’t stand me anymore,” she said.

He hung his head in shame. He stared at his feet and then glared at her slender legs. Then he closed his eyes. He didn’t want to go down that road again.

“Please, Please. Untie me. Leave me alone,” he made a final, desperate cry.

He saw her walking towards him. She had a knife in her hand. She came closer to him with knife in hand. He tried to move, sensing danger to his life.

“No, don’t kill me.. No,” he shouted. “I want to live, please spare me,” he shouted.

She came closer towards him.

“I will not kill you,” she said. “But I will not let you live too,” she said with cold vengeance in her voice. He started shivering in fear. She moved even closer to his face.

“I will untie you, but not without a parting gift,” she said, and put the knife on his neck. 

He shouted at the top of his voice.

“No.. No.. Help. I want to live. I want to live. Don’t kill me,” he howled with eyes closed, and suddenly he realised that his hands were untied. His legs were free. The room was filled with white light. He wondered if he had lost his life and reached heaven. “No..!!” he shouted.

“What happened?” he heard a familiar voice and found himself wobbling. It was his wife shaking him. He opened his eyes in shock. He woke up in cold sweat.

“Did you see a dream?” she asked, feeling his hot, sweating forehead. He looked around rubbing his dreary eyes, confused.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“You are at home,” his wife answered.

He saw the clock on the table. It was 4.30 am. Next to the clock was his medical report. He was not sure how long he had to live after being diagnosed last evening of cirrhosis.

In the corner below his bed, the bottle sat emptily smiling in peace with her revenge taken. But tomorrow is another day.

***

Ranjit Kulkarni‘s work has appeared in Literary Yard, Indian Periodical, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Potato Soup Journal, Setu Journal and a collection of short stories is expected by the end of 2021. More details about his work can be accessed at https://www.ranjitkulkarni.com.