Bugs Bite

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: A Chapter

It was a new day, a day for another major argument to erupt between Avish and his goodwife.

Radha halted at the door to her parents' bedroom, her hand placed on the knob. She had just come to say goodnight, but another heated argument was going on in there. A loud, raucous, scary one.

'No, Avish! It's not right!'

'Oh, you sick little runt, you-'

'Why don't you try to understand? There's Radha - at least think about your own goddamn daughter for a-'

'Aaahh! Why did I ever marry this bitch?!'

Her mother sounded crestfallen. 'Why did you ever marry me?'

If she heard any more, Radha would be sick. But her muscles wouldn't obey her. The angry voices of her parents kept coming.

'You know what's your problem, Avish?'

A frightening thud came from the room then, like an object had been slammed against something wooden.

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'You know what's your problem, Avish?' Preeti shouted. Sometimes, even goodwives lost their temper.

Avish banged his hand against the wooden table, and a splinter caught his flesh. Blood trickled out. He didn't care, he was going to die soon anyway. 'Tell me! What's my fucking problem?'

'You always want to be in control! You always think what you want! You do realize there are other people in this world, people who care about you! People who want you to be better than what you are . . . but . . you just wanna live in a hole you've dug for yourself, fine! I'm not going to make you crawl out! Least I can do is fill your bloody hole with dirt!'

Avish clenched his bloodied fist. The gash was deeper than he'd anticipated. 'And you know what your problem is, Preeti?'

She didn't utter a word.

'You're too fucking perfect.' And with that he stormed out of the room.

Outside, his daughter was standing with a stupefied expression on her face, ear against their room's wall.

Well, shit.

How much did she hear?

She heard. Every. Single. Fucking. Thing.

'Hey, hon,' Avish said, his chest paining. He had almost gotten used to it by now. 'You want to go to Wonky's today? Or - or should we watch your favorite cartoon, what was it?'

She's not a fucking kid.

The hell she isn't!

Radha's eyes travelled over to her father's hand, in which a length of wood, bloodied, was embedded. She shrank away from him.

'Hey, honey, how about . . .'

But she kept backing away, pushing against the wall. Avish saw her eyes, full of fear. The kind of fear kids show when they see a horror movie or something. He knew that sort of fear. He had experienced it. With his own dad.

She thinks I'm a fucking monster.

(you are)

Avish was to Radha what Dhruv had been to Avish himself.

A monster.

Incarnation of the Devil himself.

Avish had become the very person he had so despised. His life had been turned over its head. He realized how many fucking mistakes he had made. How he would give even his dick to get those choices back, show his dead mother-