A Mid Summer Nights Murder

Summer nights are hot, humid and are always filled with a cacophony of people, of people moving around, cursing the electricity distribution company, of signs and groans when their fans stop working.

In this thickly populated section of the city, above all, one can always hear the think rumbling of traffic. Trucks, rickshaws and tuk tuks. People moving around. People.

Tonight is nothing special. Just like every other night. Same humid air. Same loud rumbling. He lit a cigarette, walked out of his shabby room and climbed out to terrace. He thought to himself that it is still hot. He took a pack of cigarettes from his pajamas, too one out, tucked between his lips. His left hand fished a gas lighter from his left pocket, lit it and brought it closer to the cigarette. Smoke filled his lungs and then he slowly blew it out. He found a place on the terrace railing where he sat and watched smoke climbing up.

Dad yelled at her on top of his lungs. Mom was crying. She ran up. Up to her terrace. Tears of anger and helplessness flowed down her cheek. Her left arm ached from the beating she just got. She wanted a lot of fresh air. She tried to rationalize what her father did to her. She would do the same thing if she had a daughter and she heard from a neighbor about a kiss her daughter shared with a boy from her school, but what greeted her when she reached was the loud rumbling of traffic, people yelling at each other, mothers cajoling their kids to sleep and from nowhere. She then saw the light in a distance, in one of the terraces of adjoining buildings, someones face and then stench of tobacco filled the air.

He lit another cigarette. He must have lost count of how much he smoked since he came up. Checked his pack. One more is left. Must have been 2 or 3 hours since he came up. He checked his phone.

She tried to calm her mind. The sounds she heard helped her. Among that she heard something different. Must be coming from the adjoining building. She walked close to the building, as this piqued her interest. Sounds of passion. This made her blush, they were talking to each other, she could hear this. She leaned in closer.

He knew he was fighting a lost battle, may be in a minute or two, may be she might be on the edge too, her sighs have grown louder, her moans more seductive.

He thought about his life, where could it have been if he had taken different decisions. May be I should have continued my studies rather than taking up a job 6 years back, was it six or 7. He took another drag of his cigarette. May be my life is like a log in a river, but the only difference is a log cannot make choices. He laugh at the fallacy of his example. He took another drag, his finger got burned. Bad luck, he thought to himself and flicked the cigarette.

She edged closer on the railing. She could hear someone moaning now and low grunts.

Something fell on her, but she didnt give much attention and then 5 seconds later she squirmed in pain as the cigarette stub burned her back. She turned around in reflex and accidentally unsettled a flower pot which tumbled down 3 stories.

She was almost there when she heard a sudden crash and thought to herself “Shit he is home early” which she accidentally blurted out, to which he said “What” and pulled himself out, before she could say anything, he was frantically running around for a place to hide and then she saw him opening the window and jumping out.

He got up from his place on the railing. He kept a mental note that he will need that one last cigarette he had the next morning.

She stayed touched her back and wondered what happened and walked down the stairs entered her flat, was not brave enough to face her dad again. Went straight to her room. She didnt opened her door when her mom knocked for dinner. She was fast asleep.

She frantically searched for a place to hide his clothes and heck, his phone lit up. Switched it off and dumped it all in a cover and hid it behind the cupboard. She listened for a calling bell, which would ring after an hour or so. She crawled into night dress and climbed down the stairs and started arranging dinner for when he comes from office. Calling bell rang, she peeped through the peephole and saw her husband with covers in his hands. Must be groceries. She opened the door for him. He walked in and noticed that she is smelling of the new bath soap that he had bought the other day. He complimented on how she smelled to which she presented the most beautiful smile. He then proceeded to tell the commotion outside there apartment where a car had rammed into their apartment because of driver lost control. Apparently there was a flower pot involved.

She woke up next day. Her father was still furious. Her ears avoided her fathers scalding remarks on how uncharacteristic of a girl she had become, instead she listened to her mother ranting remarks about there cat which hasnt showed up for its dinner yesterday night or today morning either.

He smoked his last cigarette from yesterday while he sat on the European closet and wondered about where his life would have been. He thought about the cat that usually visits him. Animals do not plan their life. Again he laughed at the fallacy of his example. Animals are not as intelligent as humans are.

Outside people when to great attention to avoid certain section of road where a cat was plastered to the road. The road soon filled with people and fleas.