The Life Of Myra - Chapter 12

I remember Madhumita's update. She is attending a musical event tonight. I open Facebook and check the address. I know what I have to do.

I check on Mayank once before leaving. He is fast asleep in the bedroom. I tip toe out of the house, with everything I need stashed in my backpack.

The event is scheduled at Roopam hall in Worli at 7 pm. I drive around aimlessly for a while before heading to the venue. Driving aimlessly is one way of clearing my head and focusing on what I need to do.

On reaching the venue, I park my car, and check Madhumita's Facebook timeline again. As expected, she has checked in to the event with 4 friends. I check their names, and I am glad Anish is not here. I go and check his profile. There is no update from him, so I can safely assume that she is alone tonight. Good!

I wrap my scarf around my head, hoping that it will make me inconspicuous, and hide my face just in case she sees me.

I enter the huge hall, which is utterly dark, the stage brightly lit with colourful lights, and various multi-coloured spotlights rapidly focusing and un-focusing on the stage.

A man, dressed in electric blue overalls with huge golden buttons, arrives on the stage, and there is a huge uproar of hoots and shouts from the audience. The man has his hair parted in an extreme left side parting, patted so firmly with probably gel that they look like a flattened cloth tied across his head, and the hair in his pony tail are bright red. I cringe at the sight. How can people idolize someone like him, I wonder.

The man strums the strings of his electric guitar and there is another uproar in the audience.

I look around. The light from the stage now illuminates the people around me, or may be my eyes have now adapted to the darkness, and I can see most faces. But I can't spot Madhumita anywhere. This is going to be difficult. I wont be able to spot her in this sea of faces.

I sneak out of the hall and try to think this through. I don't have a plan B. I had just hoped I would find Madhumita right away, and I could keep shadowing her till I found her alone.

Then it strikes me. The washroom. She will definitely go to the washroom at least once. That is enough for me.

I step out of the hall, nearly getting crushed by the excited and exhilarated people jumping up and down to the beats of the guitar man. I look around and spot the girls washroom. The washroom is next to a fire exit. I go and open the fire exit door to find that it opens directly in the parking lot. I can see my car parked not far away. This is great! I walk back towards the washroom, looking around carefully to see if there are any CCTV camera's around. There is one but it faces the opposite side. Just before I enter the washroom through the main door, I feel a movement behind me. I turn around sharply. Did someone just round the corner at the far end of the corridor? I wait, holding my breath, for a few minutes. But there is no one. I must have imagined it.

I walk inside. There are five small cubicles for toilets. I enter one and sit down on the closed lid of the seat, waiting.

Time literally stops when we wait for something. When I check the watch after what seems like twenty minutes, it is just two minutes.

I can feel the ground and walls of the cubicle vibrate from the loud rhythmic bass sounding from the hall. I palpate my pocket again, feeling the needle cap of the syringe in have stashed inside, the one I intend to incapacitate Madhumita with. This drug, when injected into her muscle will make her unconscious, but without killing or paralysing her, giving me enough time to drag her to my car through the fire exit, and then all the way up to my house. One of the perks of being a nurse practitioner is having knowledge and access to such drugs. And of course the skill!

I wait, holding my breath in my throat, heart fluttering wildly, ears alert for the slightest sound I can listen to.

 

After what feels like an eternity, I hear footsteps outside. I stop breathing, lest whoever is outside senses my presence. I peep slowly from behind the door to my cubicle. Its a woman, but not her.

I sigh and sit back.

Fifteen more minutes pass when I hear another set of footsteps, and my body stiffens as I strain to listen. I can hear two women talk, one of whom is definitely Madhumita. But how can I attack her with her friend around?

I keep breathing soundlessly, listening to their futile conversation about how this night is memorable and special. Well, I will definitely make it memorable and special for Madhumita, I think, smiling to myself.

Finally comes the moment I have been desperately waiting for.

Madhumita asks her friend to go ahead, she wants more time to reapply her makeup. I almost roll my eyes.

Once I hear a set of footsteps retreating, I wait for the sound of tap opening and water gushing out. I slowly open the door to the cubicle I am hiding inside. Madhumita is busy washing her hands. Her eyes are focused on the water and she doesn't glance up to see in the mirror where she might spot my reflection.

I have the syringe in my hand now, needle uncapped, ready to plunge it in her arm. I tiptoe behind her. There is one fraction of a moment when she senses me behind her, but everything happens fast. I plunge the needle sharply into her arm, and before she can come out of the shock and retaliate, I have injected the drug.

As she looks at me, the expressions on her face go from shock to anger to fear. In what feels like a couple of minutes, her eyes slowly unfocus, her knees give way, and she drops to the floor.

For a moment, I panic. I haven't thought out this plan through. Just really acted on a whim. There is no CCTV here but what if some woman enters the bathroom? What will I do?

I quickly go out and check right and left for any activity. I can hear the loud guitar and song from the hall, the entire orchestra, along with choruses from the audience. I thank the electric blue guy for keeping his audience hooked and stopping those ladies from visiting the bathroom while I am doing my job.

I go back inside and get Madhumita to stand, her arm around my shoulder, and my other hand around her waist.

It is difficult to drag an unconscious adult, and it takes me almost fifteen minutes to drag Madhumita all the way to my car. Pushing her heavy, limp body on the back seat is another Herculean task. But I manage, somehow.

The satisfaction I feel as I drive the car back towards my house is unparalleled. Now I have at my disposal, the woman who destroyed my life - the one who broke up my marriage before it could happen, and who destroyed what remained of my life by playing mind games with me. 

And I am going to take revenge. Just like Jigyasa does. I am going to make her confess everything. And I am going to record it. 

Jigyasa kills the woman. But I am not sure whether I have that in me. 

I park my car in front of my apartment.

Security guard comes rushing out.

"Don't park here madam. The building chairman screams at me if I allow. Please park in your parking," he pleads.

The idiot!

"I need to get my friend upstairs. She is drunk," I tell him.

He peers in through the back seat window and sees Madhumita splayed out across the seat.

He doesn't look very convinced but he doesn't say anything more.

He holds the lift open as I drag the heavy limp Madhumita inside and hold her steady till we finally reach my floor.

As I walk towards my flat, still carrying Madhumita with her hand around my neck, I can see the door to my flat fully open.

What the...did Mayank leave it like this?

Madhumita threateningly sways to one side and I have to hold her very tight to stop her from falling.

I stumble inside the living room, hoping I can place Madhumita on the sofa and then go inside and check on Mayank.

But once in the living room, I can't believe what meets my eyes!