“Dimpy Dimpy, please save me”
I am able to hear him out loud, desperately uttering this word. The sound started to echo in the dark dense forest. His voice in desperate and danger seems crisp and clear and only coming from a very short distance. He kept shouting this word again and again.
I am feeling nervous; shaking from inside and my nervousness is clearly visible outside. I am trying to gather courage and run, as faster as I can. I am well determined, I will do right, this time. I am short of breath but I know I have to run as fast I can. While running, I am trying to pull up the red gown I bought for today’s special date. His charming and smiling face keep coming up in my mind. I can imagine him stretching his strong arms to embrace me tightly.
He never was a miser to showcase his feelings towards me. Unlike any other relationship, our relationship was always very good.
Suddenly the distant voice of my husband stopped. I tried to hear if something can be heard apart from the distant occasional cry of hyena and all unusual noises inside a dark dense forest. No way can he die, in my heart I believe he is still alive. I didn’t cry yet, and my courage lapsed. My whole eye is moist now and the tear started flowing out. There is no stopping of the tears and it’s very difficult to cry when you are short of breath too. I stopped. Trying to catch breath and rub tears off my eyes. It looks like it will not stop flowing even if I tried to stop.
After all, they are the tears of happiness. I was feeling weak, for so many years now and suddenly I felt strong. Finally, I am able to get rid of my husband. I am able to do right, this time. Killing him in well-planned fashion in an abandoned forest and running out from him is not a small task.
I consoled myself and tried to relax. I know it’s all over now. My mind kept running over for all the incidences so far, how I planned this for so many days now. How I tricked him to agree for a date night inside this jungle. How I managed to take him to this lake and how I managed to pushed him inside that water. Where only surety was gradual entangle by the vines and mud inside water. The more you struggle the more quickly you will go inside that water. There are no ways anyone can come out of it without help. When he got entangle inside, I told him I will come back with help and ran way. That poor fellow waited there in despair and finally died. It is not easy for a 5 feet 7-inch height Indian woman like me to kill a strong and well-built man of height 6 feet above.
When I was enjoying with these thoughts, the sudden realization made my heart stopped for a second. What if, my husband is still alive? What if, someone else had heard his voice and rescued him? What If, he found his way out to the surface or found something to move out of the water. I realised there is no way I can leave this matter here, I need to go back and confirm if he is still alive or not.
This thought actually prompt me to think about the crime I committed. I sudden felt my change of heart. What I committed is a murder, if he is still alive then it’s an attempted one. Is there a way I can still save him? If I find him struggling hard to survive should I try to help him or walk away from him again? In my sight, he is bad but he was not bad enough to be killed. Then I realised, I should go back not to check him out but if possible to save him up. He deserves another chance.
I started feeling nervous again. My whole body is now trembling from inside and again nervousness started showing clear visible sign outside. I am now trying to gather courage and run, as faster as I can. I again become well determined, I will do right, this time. I already ran a lot and running again is tiresome, I am now short of breath, but I know I have to run as fast I can. While running with the red gown I bought for today’s date certainly causing the interference with my speed. I tore apart that gown from below to speed up my running. His charming and smiling face keep coming up in my mind, the way he made when he want to hit me with sticks. I can imagine him stretching his strong arms to embrace me tightly, I used to grasp some breath and he determined not to release me till I almost choke to death. He never was a miser to showcase his feelings towards me, by verbally and physically abusing me as much he can. Unlike any other relationship, our relationship was always very good, for him and it was a living hell for me.
I am now back to the same spot, where it all happened. I know even if a small thought came to my mind to save him, my heart never wants to do that. I can find a log lying next to me. Somehow the log was always there. It’s like if, somebody fell inside this trap can be pulled out using this log. I took the log in my hand and I put the other end on my husband’s finger.
The only visible thing was my husband’s few fingers which probably tried to hold some vines desperately to save himself. The whole body had already submerged and gradually the last part was going down. I already noticed that due to his last act of despair, his ring was coming out of his finger while his whole body had already gone down. Somehow the body is stuck with the vine and finger with that ring. There is no movement so I can surely assume he is unconscious if not dead. His body weight is pulling him inside the water and the ring which is stuck with the vine is holding him from complete immersion. It’s the pull on the finger is causing the ring to gradually pop out.
I put the other end of that log on my husband’s finger, where the ring is coming out. The moment he had gone fully inside the water the ring stuck on perfectly placed at the end of the log. I carefully tilted the log up 45 degrees and the ring start coming towards my hand.
I already know how to hide this murder as it was perfectly planned and executed. I did right this time. I will wait for another 24 hours and go to police station to write complain about my missing husband. No one will imagine finding someone at the remote jungle, distant from the city. Even if they come they will not able to find his body as it’s entangled inside water and will never come up.
So what’s next, I looked at the recovered ring at my palm with a smile at the corner of my lips. I will find another suitable person who will be worthy enough for this ring. After all, I need to find another man who can be easily fooled, to murder. Tonight I found a new passion, for the time being, we will call it a hobby.
©Tapas Majumdar, Not for reproduction without Author's permission.
