That evening she hurriedly exited home from the backside door, unmindful that her husband was not at home. Defying her age, she rushed and managed to reach the confessional just before the priest was about to move out. What she had to confess was the same every week. She had bad mouthed her husband every day and night, abusing and accusing her husband of a thousand things.

Her behaviour could be due to her being over-possessive of her husband or excessive love or whatever. Anything in excess, be it love or alcohol or even prayers, would only give a negative effect. She looked and behaved as a very normal, likeable lady to all except to her tormented husband. The problem could have found root decades ago. In early days when most marriages were arranged marriages, it so happened that some marriages weren’t between fully consenting minds. Though they manage to get on well even for a long period in their married life, that doesn’t last as the devil of unfulfilled desire that was lying dormant in the archive of their mind becomes active. Unable to go back in time, frustration sets in, marring the present and the future. Such sick minds dredge up old hurt and dig out new dirt.

While returning home it started to rain, which was getting heavier. Yet, she stepped in first at the shrine near her home, where she regularly met her prayer group of the neighborhood who told her that as the electricity board had shut off power due to the heavy breeze, pumping of water has also not taken place. Only then she remembered that she had not fetched drinking water that day in the morning and there was not a drop remaining at home. She said this to them. They volunteered to bring her some food and water after the rains subsided. She entered from the open back door but didn’t latch the door from inside as she expected her neighbors to come later with food and water; they generally entered the house through that door. She started undressing to change her clothes and wondered how the night dress that she had left at one end of the clothesline had moved a little further away making it a little difficult for her to reach it with the cot blocking the path. How was she to know that her husband had returned home to collect his cell phone which he had forgotten to take. How was she to know that her husband had then deliberately altered the placement of the night dress on the clothesline. He was a carpenter who regularly took measurements required of his work. His calculations never went wrong.

While stretching herself to take the night dress, placing her right knee over the cot as a support, her knee pierced through the aged ply of the discarded cot with the pressure of the stressed weight. She got stuck there half-naked and she could not extricate herself. She cried out for help which got drowned in the sound of rain. She prayed that her neighbors come soon with food and water that was so kindly assured, but that was not to happen as it was raining relentlessly, with thunder and lightning to boot.

The husband who had set out to go to a neighboring district had to forego his trip as the long-distance bus service got canceled due to inclement weather. He returned home, the second time after he had set out, and rang the doorbell. When there was no response, he thought he would check whether the back door was open as his wife oftentimes used to keep it open and would forget to latch it from inside even at night. He went in and saw his wife trapped in the cot, moaning with face down. She was actually screaming but the voice was not coming out. Fear and helplessness overpowered her, leading to dirtying the place with urine and faeces in her struggle to extricate herself.

Many a time when he was harassed and mentally tortured by her for no genuine reason, there was an urge to kill her which he had at all times controlled with great difficulty. This had been going on for over a decade. He thought cruelly that God is punishing her and he should not save her. He was actually killing her indirectly which began with the calculated push of the night dress down the clothesline. He very well knew the bad condition of the cot that had seen their good days. His mind was wavering whether to forgive her, be kind with her, the sexual exploits with her on that cot flashing in his mind, and even pitying the way she was struggling, but stuck to the crime of not rushing her to the hospital to save her from death. He wanted her to die and die painfully in revenge for the untold sufferings he was subjected to by her for no solid reason. Such was the anger that had welled up in him over the years. He was blinded that he was actually committing a crime. He slipped out of the house without putting out the light, the extremely heavy rains helping him not to get noticed while entering and exiting the house.

The body was found dead the next day. The house was sealed by the police till the autopsy report was received. No external injuries were seen and the death was reported to be due to multi-organ failure. It is anyone’s guess how long she would have suffered struggling to extricate from the cot before she breathed her last with no one around her. The earlier nights she was cruel to her husband. That night it was her husband’s turn to be cruel. Nature seemed to have allied with him in the execution. An ally can turn into a foe sooner or later.