Hellow

“Hello…”

“Hello?”

“Am I speaking to Mr. Shivraj?”, the lady spoke in a non-friendly manner.

“Yes, Who is it?”

“Hi Sir, I am calling from NPFL Financial Services. We have a great plan…”

Shivraj disconnected the call and kept driving. It was a dark night but every now and then, you could see the lightning in the sky. He wanted to reach the bridge before it starts raining.

The phone rang again. This time, it was a new number. Shivraj tapped on his Bluetooth headset to answer.

“Hello?” A male voice came from the other end.

“Hello…” Shivraj replied but his eyes were fixed on the road.

“Am I speaking to Mr. Shivraj?”

“Yes… what is it?” There was a hint of irritation in his voice.

“Sir, I am Vivek and I am calling from the NPFL Financial services…”

“Aree bhaai, I don’t want any plan!”

“But sir…”

Shivraj disconnected the call again. He looked at the backseat. His wife, Sandhya was lying in the back seat. Her curls was covering her eyes. The car had now reached the bridge. Shivraj stopped the car. He bent back to tuck the curls back. Her hair was the best thing Shivraj loved about Sandhya.

How calm and beautiful she looked. He thought. Just the way she looked at their wedding.

Suddenly, the phone buzzed.

Shivraj looked at his phone in the car’s glove compartment. There was a voice mail. He tapped on his headset again. There was loud breathing on the other side. Someone was panting.

“Hello Shiv? Shiv? Where are you? Please come fast. There is someone in the house. He is going to kill me!”

Shivraj’s face froze. His heart was pounding. It was Sandhya’s voice. He quickly looked behind. She was there, lying safely like a leaf.

Shivraj’s lips were tight and he could almost hear his heart beating. He pressed the earbuds into his ear. There were heavy footsteps.

“I don’t know what to do shiv… please come back fast… there is no network.. shiv..”

Someone was moving about the house. The footsteps were getting louder and so was Sandhya’s breathing. “Nooo… leave me. Please.. somebody help. Shiiivvvv….”

Shivraj’s face was now dripping with sweat. The voices were fading and he was trying to listen as much as he can. He kept looking at the rear view to see his wife.

“Who are you?” Shivraj heard Sandhya again.

“Please leave me… “I will give you the money… just leave me, please…” There was no answer from the other person.

“Aaah…” Someone fell down with a thud.

“Why are you doing this?” Sandhya’s voice was trembling with fear.

“Because I love you.” It was a male’s voice. There was a gunshot a few seconds later.

Beep. Beep. Beep. The voice mail ended.

Shivraj sat there. His hand on the steering wheel. His eyes still stuck on the mirror. A tear rolled down his cheeks. Shivraj wiped it off with his cold hands. He grabbed his phone from the glove box and deleted the voice mail.

Now, there was no voice, only the river gushing below the bridge. Shivraj took a deep breath and got out of the car. He opened the back door and bent over Sandhya. He carefully held her head and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“Because I love you..”

He then dragged the body out of the car and threw it off the bridge. He then reached his pocket and took out a photo. It was Sandhya kissing a man. Shivraj looked at the photo for a while and then tore it slowly into small pieces.

“Because I love you..”

He kept repeating.