Maya Memsahib

Maya lived all alone in her two storied flat ever since her husband departed in a civil strife. She often went for shopping at market place in order to replenish herself with adequate food and vegetables. Her sole need was good food for which she often wrote short stories for a local daily. Although she had rented out one room to a bachelor working in factory yet the income was meager.

That day in the clear day light the burglars had forced their entry in her absence. On returning from the market she was surprised to find all the windows and shutters wide open, although she always made it a point to check each one of them. A cold sweet drenched her and she began to tremble, sat down holding her head in her hands, thought should she inform or else…

She clearly remembered that she had gone shopping after her maid Tara had left. She walked slowly into the hall that had been totally plundered, leaving no article in place. There was a sense of confusion over her writing desk, where she spent most of her time reading and writing, thinking about life. All the rooms had been ransacked. She was thinking that she must reprimand Tara the very next morning for such a monstrous piece of negligence, when depressing thoughts gripped her and she sensed an air suspicion.

She informed the inspector on phone about the burglary. He arrived within no time and they both along-with assistant searched the entire house for the intruder. He began to look for finger prints, while the constable examined the door locks whether they had been tampered or not. Finding her tragedy struck they offered her tea and by now she had gained enough confidence and composure to meet the new challenge of life.

Inspector was asking a lot of questions when suddenly Maya remembered that she had not seen her tenant ‘Tarun’ for quiet a few days. She grew suspicious and told every detail about him. They approached his room door which was found locked from inside. On repeated knocking there was no response from inside as if there was nobody in there. The police broke open the door with the help of some neighbours.

And what did they see was beyond anyone’s imagination. He lay dead on the mattress. “Perhaps it was the overdose of drugs which had killed him”, said the police inspector, when they found some injections and drugs lying in the drawer of the table. No hand written notes worthy of suicide were found by the body which was later sent for postmortem examination.

The stench of the dead body suggested that he might have been dead for atleast two days. The old lady was terror struck by now and didn’t knew what to do when some body advised her to not to stay alone in the flat for a few nights. She was shattered after this nightmarish lifetime experience she had at the fag end of her life.

The inspector insisted Maya to remain with some close relative as he sensed some foul play and there could be a threat to her life too. Then he asked her to try to check out what was missing by the next day. One by one all left and it was again silence which prevailed in he huge house which echoed strange sounds now. She was all alone once again.

A visibly shaken Maya held herself closely and tried to say something but couldn’t. She felt as if there was no one on whom she could depend and rely upon. It was perhaps a bolt from the blue and something which she had never expected. A pal of gloom descended on her and she was lost in her old memories when Rakesh, her husband would come home from office, carrying loads of things in basket. Now that her basket had grown heavier with every step of the way home.

Keep smiling & Happy Blogging!

http://www.writingcampus.com/user/554

Technorati Tags: Stories

Vote Result

Score: 0.0, Votes: 0