Satya – Part Two: She Conspires to Kill Me

Kalpana has conspired to kill me, and her brother, Manas, is her major partner in the conspiracy. I’m sure of it because I heard them plotting against me. We had been to Manas’s place because of some festival (I don’t remember what it was). I woke up in the middle of the night to find that Kalpana was not sleeping beside me. I heard some murmur from another room. The siblings were talking about something. I went closer to the wall and then listened to their conversation.

“Satya has not been treating me well,” Kalpana sighed. “I don’t want to, but I have to stay with him.”

“No one is forcing you to live with him, Kalpana. You don’t deserve him! How many times have I told you that he has a darkness in his heart and that he’ll turn your life into hell? Yet, you don’t want to leave him?”

“Yes, I was wrong. You always said love had blinded me. How did I use to reply? Better be blinded by love than see the things that do not exist.” She sighed. “You were right, Manas. You read his personality better than I ever did.”

“So, what’s stopping you from leaving him? I’ll help you prepare the divorce files. Get him to sign them, and you’ll be free.”

“Satya will never sign those papers.” Kalpana sighed. “He will never let me go away from his life.”

“Is there no other way?”

“Okay. I’ll help you.”

My heart pounded fast. I was drenched in sweat. Should I run away? How? I had to go through Manas’s room. They would not leave me. Would they come to me after their conversation ended? The thought took my sleep away.

Later, when Kalpana came in, I lay in the bed and pretended to sleep. I had hoped that she would complete the job there, but she held my hand. I froze. Her touch was gentle, but my skin crawled. Was this tenderness—or was it the calm before the kill?

“I’ll never fall into her trap,” I promised myself.

---

But I failed to keep my promise. This evening, I was reading an article about a company when Manas entered my room. He shouted, “What are you doing?”

I turned my laptop towards him and said, “I’m looking for a job.”

“Really? You don’t remember what you did to Kalpana? How can you remain this calm after making her cry?”

Except for that one day—the one I already told you about—I can’t recall any other fight with her. But maybe we did. Maybe it slipped through the cracks of my memory. Or maybe it never happened at all. But maybe we did fight. I remember saying, “You and your brother want to kill me, and I can’t trust you.” But I don’t remember when and where I said that. Was it a dream? Or did it happen in real? What was wrong with it, though? It was the truth. Their truth!

“You don’t need to hide anything from me, Manas.” I said, “I know what you intend to do.”

Manas hesitated for a moment. Then he picked up the laptop and hurled it at me. I dodged it, but he kept throwing pens, notebooks, and bowls that were on the table. Luckily, nothing hit me. I pushed him hard and ran away. His white-clothed goons tried catching me, but I was too swift for them. Kalpana, Dad and Mom also tried stopping me. I flashed past them, too.

I ran with no plan, no destination—just away from the house, away from the trap. But where could I run when my own family was hunting me?

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