The Promise

The hand of the speedometer entered the green zone marked ECONOMY as he entered the 10th Main road.

“Just one more left turn”, he thought.

He remembered the kiss they used to share every morning.

Now it has turned into a mere cold smile.

“It has been 9 days now” he thought, as the brakes of his car brought it to a halt exactly in front of the gate.

He didn’t exactly remember how it started.

All he remembered was her saying,

“You’re starting to get on my nerves Ethan”.

And words had come out of his mouth too. “Yeah, you too. My life has become a living hell”.

He cursed himself for saying that.

He opened the gate and glanced up to the balcony. The image of her standing with a cup of coffee, waving towards him, flashed in front of his eyes.

"Gosh, I miss that so much", he thought.

He opened the garage door, parked the car.

“Why isn’t the garage light on?” he wondered.

Forgetting things is his quality, not hers. It seemed strange to him. But he didn’t mind. “She can do that, or anything. She has the right”, he told himself.

Kate used to do such things. She loved playing pranks on him. Like serving cold food right out of the fridge, like hiding his glasses, like giving him an already wet towel. And as soon as he frowned, she’d laugh, put her arms around and tell him how adorable he looked.

“How am I even surviving without talking to her?” Ethan wondered.

“Were they right about it all? That soon the love would die, and we’ll be stuck with each other?”, he thought.

He rejected it and pressed the doorbell. The sound of cuckoo echoed inside. Now, any moment, she’d appear, the best sight for him.

and make it up to her, he wanted to rekindle their love.

He pressed the bell again and wondered what was taking her that long.

“Maybe she is asleep upstairs."

Maybe she has her earphones on."

Maybe she went to the market."

Maybe she left him...”

He didn’t wanna guess anymore. Possibilities cluttered his mind.

He took the key out from his bag and unlocked the door.

He found that the floor mat was not in its place, rather it was flung aside to a corner.

“She never does that”, he thought.

A creepy feeling engulfed him. 

“I’m home.” he announced. The sound was absorbed by the darkness.

“Kate. Where are you?” he called out loud.

The thought of her leaving made him feel pathetic, a chill ran down his spine.

"Kate, are you home? Kate… KATE...”

His call turned into a screams as he ran upstairs. He came into the drawing room and switched on the light. Found her purse on the floor, wide open. The centre table was moved to a side, and the flower vase had rolled down onto the carpet emptying the fresh orchids she had bought yesterday.

He lost the ability to think and hurried into the dining hall. The dim light was on. He found the jug on one side of the table without the lid.

And then he heard something breaking under his boots. He looked down and found the broken glass lid and it's scattered pieces, the biggest one had something on it. He picked it up and looked closely. It was blood. And then he saw smudges of blood all over. The trail had gone inside the bedroom.

The weirdest, darkest and scariest thoughts clutched his heart and stopped it from beating. His knees seemed gone, he felt as if he’d collapse. 

But somehow he gathered strength and went into the bedroom.

It was dark, but he heard the shower. The bathroom door wasn’t locked and light peeped out from inside.

“Kate, are you alright? what happened?…” he opened the door and there she was.

She was sitting on the floor, under the open shower. Her knees up to her face, holding her feet tightly. As if she wanted to be as far as possible from something scary. Her gaze was fixed on the opposite wall, oblivious to her surroundings. Her white shirt was half red with blood smudges. Even on her hands.

Water seemed to wash away her tears. She looked shocked, cold and pale.

“Kate, what happened? How long have you been here?” he said as he turned the shower off. She was unperturbed.

He bent down and sat beside her,

“Kate, look at me!” he shouted.

She turned her gaze towards him. He had never seen her so fear-stricken. Her eyes were red and swollen. Tears came out constantly, washing her kohl, forming a line along her cheeks. Her lips were trembling like her hands.

“Kate, love, what happened?”, Ethan asked.

He took her hand, they were ice cold.

She clutched his hands tightly, as if she wanted them to get cemented.

She placed her face on my chest and started crying uncontrollably.

“She was so happy, Ethan” she said, words were hindered by her gasps.

“It was her second date. She said she had found the right guy. She...she had almost crossed the road. But then she came back, hugged me and thanked me for setting them up.

And then...then the truck…it was coming too fast. She turned but couldn't... couldn't stop herself in time...

She died holding my hand Ethan...”.

Her crying worsened. He took her other hand, it was blackened with blood residues.

He understood the reason, and the blood stains. They were her friend’s.

He pictured the scene and was shocked himself.

He thought about how Kate crosses the same road everyday to get to her office. He closed his eyes and didn’t want to think any further.

He hugged her tightly, she was still trembling.

“Kate, love, stop crying. It was an accident. There's nothing you could've done”, he wanted to console her.

But words can’t always heal as much as they can hurt.

He took the towel and wiped the blood off her hands.

“Come on baby, you’re cold”,he helped her up. She was still sobbing.

She clutched his shirt, almost ripping the buttons. Ethan looked at her calmly.

“Promise me Ethan, you’ll be with me always. Promise me, you won’t let anything happen to us”.

Her eyes were showing the fear she felt by the thought of losing him.

“Death is certain, but it's out of our control” he wanted to tell her, but he could not.

Ethan closed his eyes for a second. Sometimes lies are what we need to survive. At times, the truth should remain unsaid.

“Ethan?...” she called.

“I promise Kate, I promise", he replied.