The Vagabond

Knock, knock, knock

The tapping on the door grew louder and louder. The sound was irritating and it was not letting her concentrate. She had to hide all the documents before She opened the door.

The room was in a mess, with paper strewn all over.

“Sanjana, open the door.” Now they had started calling her name.

“If you do not open it, we will break the door.”

She could hear the panic in his voice.

“No, I do not want to see him.” She reflected. She was trying to find a way to stop this relentless knocking. She looked at the window on the other end, and jumped 10 floor down.

She screamed loudly, and woke up with a startle. All drenched in sweat. She realised this was a dream.

She had been having this recurring dream since last month.

Each time, She would wake up with a similar ending, with she trying to end her own life.

The noise She had created had woken up Amir too.

He looked at herb annoyed.

“You stopped taking your medicine again!” He spoke in an irritated tone.

“I forgot. It was a busy day and I was too tired when I came back home.” Sanjana said with a stammer in my voice.

The reason was that medicine made her dizzy and she would not remember later what she had done after having it.

He picked up his pillow and went to the other room to sleep.

She was scared.

“Why couldn’t he just hold and comfort me?” She murmured to herself.

She tried to sleep again in vain. She knew that now she would keep tossing in her bed till morning.

The next day too would be ruined. She would keep dropping in the office and then would become a talk of the town again.

She kept thinking of that dream. Did it have any meaning? What was it that she was afraid of ?

As the sun creeps in slowly to usher a new day, Amir gets up to find her sleeping.

“Are you a queen or a princess? Who will getup and prepare for my breakfast and lunch?” He says and gives her a kick in her stomach.

Sanjana gets up confused and in pain. She realises she had dozed of thinking about that dream. Slowly, she gathers herself and walks towards the kitchen.

She dreads another blow from Amir. The last time he had pushed her in anger and her head had kept pounding for days in a row.

She prepares his breakfast and lunch and hurriedly gets ready to go to work. Satisfied, that she is getting ready, Amir leaves for his office.

Sanjana has different plans for the day. She pretends to go to office otherwise he might hit her again. As soon as he’s gone she locks the door from inside. She searches for the bag she keeps seeing again and again.

An hour goes by, she finds nothing. By lunch, he would call her office to check on her. So she only has few hours more.

She decides to give a last try and looks for it in his personal cupboard. She trembles with fear thinking of the last time she had done it. That time she was just married a month and she had thought to tidy it. He had thrashed her with his belt and locked her in her room without food for 12 hours.

She gathers courage, and finally finds the bag he is so possessive about.

What she sees, leaves her stunned. She is married to an imposter. The bag has his identification documents acquired over the years. His vault is full of money.

It’s now or never. He must have called her office and on not finding her, would go to first her office and then come here. She takes money and ornaments she finds in his vault and she decides to flee.

He misses her just by a few minutes. He tried to call her father.

“The number you have dialled does not exist. He has never let a woman fool him. How could this one run away. His minds starts racing. He goes to his room and finds money missing.

“Oh, so she did dare to sneak a peek in my vault. And she found out about me too.”

He gives a shaky laugh.

“You, woman! You will love this chase now.”

“You are too dangerous to be left alone now. I have never understood women. Have got so many of you in my pants till now,and all of you are the same idiots. You look for love, those sweet talks and you fall in for whoever says the right words.”

“My mother fell in for my father, a fellow I never saw. And then drowned in misery, never even bothered about me, and went to graveyard herself.Come babe, I am coming for you.”

Sanjana knows she’s not safe. She knows she’s not safe. She takes the train to the only other town she knows.

He knows her too well. He’s already there, ready to strike, get to her latest victim.

She spots him, knows she can’t let him do this to her and to the others whom he will pursue later.

She thinks of how his father had always come home drunk and left her mother devastated.

“No more, she decides.”

She strikes him before he can. Her revenge for her mother, and for every other female she knows is over.

She goes in search for her next victim.