The Unventured Passions Book-2

Crawling Nightmares (3)

The chamber was dimly lit, and an ominous aura enveloped the scene as the golden flames danced a dangerous tango, toying with the fate of the two figures standing, locked in a menacing confrontation. Raimoti's breaths were a rapid symphony of anger and disgust, her fury palpable as she faced Shashi Chandra's intoxicated gaze, which leered at her, attempting to unravel every crevice of her slender frame. His unsteady steps staggered towards her, clutching a pistol with an unsettling intent.

Fists clenched in seething rage, Raimoti's voice trembled with emotion,
"You bloody monster! What have you done to this child?"

Shashi sneered, attempting to comprehend her accusation before letting out a callous chuckle, mocking her concern for the young girl lying seemingly lifeless on the bed.

"She's your new best friend, isn't she? Like that Mukto bitch?" Shashi taunted, trying to provoke a reaction. Yet, Raimoti stood her ground, refusing to flinch even an inch.

"You killed her!" Raimoti screamed, and in response Shashi stretched his hand to touch her face. Raimoti dodged his touch, her anger spilling over. Swiftly, her palm met Shashi's jaw in a hard thrash, defying his advances.

"Ugrrrr! You whore!" Shashi responded, by pressing the pistol menacingly against Raimoti's chest, and his grip on her arm tightened, causing her to cry out, attempting to break free to no avail.

"Ahh... Leave me." Raimoti screamed, trying to push him aside, but instead she felt his grip tightening further.

The moment was indeed menacing. Raimoti's passionate thirst for revenge had guided her to right the wrongs inflicted on her childhood friend, and then the following incidents had escalated that emotion, momentarily blinding her to the imminent danger, driven by the heart-wrenching fate of the child bride. And as result, she had confronted the monstrous man without regard for her own safety.

"Let me go, Shashi, and perhaps you'll live!" she defiantly asserted.
"Though I doubt you deserve it after killing so many innocent girls! Chhii!"

Shashi, however laughed in response, showing no remorse for his heinous acts.
"Leave you? Indeed!" Shashi continued to push Raimoti with his body making her walk backward, their steps reaching inside the wedding chamber where the young girl lay seemingly dead.

"What not have I done to get you? From sheltering your fugitive father to tackling those red necked police... What not?"
Shashi shoved her onto a couch making her fall on her back. Raimoti balanced herself against the soft seat. The cold metal barrel of the pistol was now traveling down her body, trailing south her midriff to her abdomen, and for the first time that evening Raimoti felt a sharp pang of terror.

"You don't deserve to live!" Raimoti's teeth were clenched. "You murderer!"

Shashi laughed at her threat and spared a careless glance at the naked girl lying lifeless on the blood strained satin bedsheet. He, however, was rubbing his chest with one hand, and breathing heavily.
"She was a bloody slave, her father sold her to me..." He spat the words and pressed the pistol firmer to Raimoti's belly.
"And so are you... A slave, and now you'll fulfill my wish... My long awaited wish",  a cruel grin etched on his face.

Fear finally gripped Raimoti as the cold metal of the pistol touched her abdomen, threatening to taint the pure soul brewing inside her, and the thought pierced her with terror. She shuddered visibly, not at his words, but at the pressure of the pressed pistol, retracting her body further backward into the softness of the cushion.

An angry frown appeared on Shashi's face, and as he retracted the pistol from her abdomen. Raimoti quickly moved away, preciously crutched her belly, breathing slowly, as if to calm herself, or calm someone...
Shashi couldn't think anymore. Maddening rage took over him. He grabbed Raimoti's cascading hair mercilessly and made her stand up on her feet.

"You dirty whore! Whose sin are you carrying inside?" he bellowed,his eyes fixated on her belly, twisting her locks with sadistic pleasure, causing her to clench her teeth in pain.

"Let me go, or he will send you to hell!" Raimoti whispered, the pressure of the pistol against her spine making her voice tremble.

"Who?" Shashi mocked, inviting her to reveal the name that supposedly threatened him.

"Your doom!" Raimoti's voice grew stronger, and she felt the pain intensify as the cold metal pressed into her tender skin.
"Your death." She exhaled.

"My death?" A loud fit of monstrous laughter reverberated across the room, making the air inside smell sinister.
"Call him... " He continued to laugh and he now dragged her by her hair and made her fall on the carpeted floor, right beside the destroyed bridal bed. Raimoti shuddered in real terror.
"Or, better... " Shashi stood tall over her, saddling at her feet, pointing the pistol at her, as with the free hand he started to unbutton his silk wedding trousers.
"Or better... Shout his name when I fuck you, and that bastard baby hard!"
He grinned like a monster and Raimoti took a deep breath before closing her eyes, before summoning all her strength to scream a name,

"Satyaaaaa... Saaaatya-kiiirthhhh..."

A few seconds of measurable silence, before they both heard the door opening with a loud bang, and before Shashi could fathom anything, the room echoed with a sudden yet piercing sound of a gunshot, and instantaneously a searing pain ripped through Shashi's spine.

"What the...!"
Just a gasp, a gasp was all that came out from his throat before he collapsed down on the floor, his thick scarlet blood soaking the carpet completely. And before closing his eyes for a final eternity he saw a feminine figure looming on his body, her hair tied up, her eyes looking right through his soul, calm, benevolent, he thought, and then another figure joined the visual, long wavy hair, and a shining gold pin dangling from the nose.
"Muk... Muktaa... "
The devil from hell had sent his deceased wife to torture his soul for an eternity. Shashi exhaled last with that shuddering thought before closing his eyes forever.

The air was thick with the acrid scent of gunpowder and blood. The sound of the gunfire was still ringing in their ears, and Raimoti threw herself in Mahamaya's arms, the latter tying her readily in a comforting embrace.

"He... He killed the girl... " Raimoti's voice broke, as her arms clasped the woman for some solace. Mahamaya kept patting her back.

"Maha didi, I..." Raimoti struggled to find the words.

"I had warned you, this wasn't a good idea," Mahamaya replied, tenderly caressing her hair, not complaining but soothing her into comfort, letting her settle down for a moment.
"Raimoti... " She paused and smiled to herself.
"Boumoni...", She called her, and Rai gasped in surprise at this unexpected endearment.
"It's time." Maha held Rai by her shoulders and made her stand upright.
"The police have come... Minutes away may be." She adorned a brave smile on her face.
"Don't you want to meet him? My brother?"

Raimoti nodded her head, first slowly and then in an hurried urgency.
"Where is he?"

"Basement, holding the base... Come quick." Maha turned to leave, but then something made her stop to turn around. Her eyes were on Raimoti's now, fixated on her abdomen.
"Does he know?"

Raimoti didn't answer, and Maha didn't have the luxury of time. She ran out at once, and behind her was Raimoti, as her hurried eyes failed to see the dark silhouette of a very known figure, an old man, quickly slithering inside Shashi's room seconds after she left. The old man too, missed her sight by a thread of a chance.

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