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As you Sow, so you Reap
#WritcoStoryPrompt43
The scandal could ring the death of his career. The naked woman in his bed lay with unseeing eyes staring at him. He stood over her with a knife in his hand and no memory of who she was or why he had killed her.
He stood frozen for what seemed to be an eternity. It was getting late for his interview and the press guys were expected any minute now. He had just been elected the new Mayor.
People of the city had stopped expecting a clean background from politicians. But giving an interview the next day of your victory, with the lifeless body of an unknown woman in your bed, was too much from all standards.
He had worked way too hard to reach here.
He had defied all odds.
He had back-stabbed a lot of people to be in this place.
But the stab wound on her chest was alien to him.
He peeled his stare from her bloodied nakedness and started looking around. Why was everything that happened before a blank? It was unlike him.
The sudden knock on the door shook him to the core. He dropped the knife splattering a few droplets of blood on the ground and his feet.
"Sir, News Nation people have arrived. They are waiting for you."
"Okay..errr...I will take some time..."
He struggled to form words and let them out of his mouth.
"Sure, sir. I will keep them busy and serve food till then."
Now that he had returned to his senses, he quickly picked up the knife and headed to the bathroom. He placed the knife on the slab next to the basin, and turned on the tap. Splashing water on his face made him feel better. He could think more clearly now.
He washed the blood off the knife, took a towel and came out. He had to clear the scene one by one. He wiped off blood from the floor and his feet. He threw the towel in his gym bag.
It needs to be disposed off separately.
He headed to the closet that was 10 feet deep and cleared out a cabinet to make space for the lifeless human in his bed.
He went to the bed, picked up the female and headed to the closet. He closed the door after placing her at the back and covering her nakedness with clothes hanging in the front.
He had to take a bath. There was blood on his hands again. Before heading to the bathroom, he forcefully pulled out the blood stained bed sheet from the bed and threw it in his gym bag. There were blood stains on the mattress. He covered them with a fresh bed cover and headed to take a shower.
45 minutes later, he heard another knock on the door. Krishna, his cook, was knocking on his bathroom door.
He is inside my room!
Panicked to the core, he turned off the shower and pulled another towel from the stand.
"What is it, Krishna? I am coming out. Please leave my room."
"Errr sorry sir, they are waiting for you. They have had lunch. I just came to inform you."
He could feel the nervousness and guilt in Krishna's voice due to his cold and abrupt response. He shared some nervousness with him. And that made him feel guilty himself.
Or was that guilt for something else?
"Sorry Krishna, I am coming down in 5 minutes. Please close the door behind you and don't let anyone enter."
He came out and put on a khadi kurta with white pyjamas. His political look was completed by a khadi waist coat.
He decided to step out of the room. Unfortunately, there was no way to lock the room. He called one of his bodyguards, Shakti, and asked him to guard the room not letting anyone inside.
Coming downstairs, he realised there were three people from News Nation awaiting him for two hours now. He could feel mixed vibes of anger, frustration and relief coming from them.
"I am sorry to keep you waiting this long. I wasn't feeling too well."
Apology from a newly elected mayor surprised the guests. The journalist gave a hint of a smile and asked if they could begin the interview.
"Sir, congratulations on your landslide victory. Seemed like people of Kharagpur are fed up with the same set of goons running the office. You happen to be the youngest Mayor of the city. What would you like to tell the people of your city?"
"Firstly, I would like to thank each and every one who believed in me. Whether you voted for me or not, I am your servant elected by you, for you, from amongst you. I was born in this city and know it inside out. People here can be as sweet as jalebi, or as bitter as karela. Depends what you serve them."
The journalist smiled at his culinary remark.
"Sir, the crime rate against women in Sitapur has gone up in the past 5 years. They are being used physically and left to die. Every politician before you has had a skeleton in his closet. What are your plans to combat this situation?"
The question was a normal one by all standards, but obviously threw him off guard. The growing crease between the eyebrows of the journalist made him realise that he had started sweating profusely.
He had to remain calm. Else, he risked giving away more than he could afford. He recalled what his father had told him a couple of years ago and recited it.
"Errr...women are like mother nature. You get what you give. You reap..."
An image of the naked lifeless body flashed across his eyes. This time, he saw, rather imagined the dead woman looking at him and smirking.
"Umm..sir?" The female journalist sitting in front of him tried to jolt him back to reality.
"Huh...yeah, so I was saying you reap what you sow. I..errr... promise to build stringent laws to fight growing number of crimes against women in our city. I have two sisters. Just like them, I want every woman in our city to feel absolutely safe even if they venture out in the night alone."
'Obviously away from someone like me...' his thoughts had gone astray.
He could sit no more. He was sweating profusely now and his head was spinning. Without saying a word, he got up and went to his bedroom. Locking the door behind him, he crashed on his bed and passed out.
Downstairs, the journalist looked at her two assistants and decided to leave as there was no point waiting anymore. The trio was both confused and furious at the same time.
They came out of the mansion. Outside the gate, she asked them to head to the office without her. The moment they left, she pulled out her phone and speed dialed someone.
"Sreeja, how are you?"
"How do you expect me to be, Ramya? He won. After ruining my life forever, he had all his dreams come true."
"Agreed. But I just turned his dreams to nightmares."
"What do you mean?"
"Shakti uncle and I will avenge you, my sister. We have sowed the seeds. But he will be the one to reap the sorrows. I just visited him. He is as ruined as you were. He will never think of defaming any other woman who dares to stand against him."
"What have you done, sis?"
"I am about to pull out the skeleton from his closet."
Ramya hung up with a smirk and made the next call to give an anonymous tip to CBI.
© Ishita Nigam Garg
The scandal could ring the death of his career. The naked woman in his bed lay with unseeing eyes staring at him. He stood over her with a knife in his hand and no memory of who she was or why he had killed her.
He stood frozen for what seemed to be an eternity. It was getting late for his interview and the press guys were expected any minute now. He had just been elected the new Mayor.
People of the city had stopped expecting a clean background from politicians. But giving an interview the next day of your victory, with the lifeless body of an unknown woman in your bed, was too much from all standards.
He had worked way too hard to reach here.
He had defied all odds.
He had back-stabbed a lot of people to be in this place.
But the stab wound on her chest was alien to him.
He peeled his stare from her bloodied nakedness and started looking around. Why was everything that happened before a blank? It was unlike him.
The sudden knock on the door shook him to the core. He dropped the knife splattering a few droplets of blood on the ground and his feet.
"Sir, News Nation people have arrived. They are waiting for you."
"Okay..errr...I will take some time..."
He struggled to form words and let them out of his mouth.
"Sure, sir. I will keep them busy and serve food till then."
Now that he had returned to his senses, he quickly picked up the knife and headed to the bathroom. He placed the knife on the slab next to the basin, and turned on the tap. Splashing water on his face made him feel better. He could think more clearly now.
He washed the blood off the knife, took a towel and came out. He had to clear the scene one by one. He wiped off blood from the floor and his feet. He threw the towel in his gym bag.
It needs to be disposed off separately.
He headed to the closet that was 10 feet deep and cleared out a cabinet to make space for the lifeless human in his bed.
He went to the bed, picked up the female and headed to the closet. He closed the door after placing her at the back and covering her nakedness with clothes hanging in the front.
He had to take a bath. There was blood on his hands again. Before heading to the bathroom, he forcefully pulled out the blood stained bed sheet from the bed and threw it in his gym bag. There were blood stains on the mattress. He covered them with a fresh bed cover and headed to take a shower.
45 minutes later, he heard another knock on the door. Krishna, his cook, was knocking on his bathroom door.
He is inside my room!
Panicked to the core, he turned off the shower and pulled another towel from the stand.
"What is it, Krishna? I am coming out. Please leave my room."
"Errr sorry sir, they are waiting for you. They have had lunch. I just came to inform you."
He could feel the nervousness and guilt in Krishna's voice due to his cold and abrupt response. He shared some nervousness with him. And that made him feel guilty himself.
Or was that guilt for something else?
"Sorry Krishna, I am coming down in 5 minutes. Please close the door behind you and don't let anyone enter."
He came out and put on a khadi kurta with white pyjamas. His political look was completed by a khadi waist coat.
He decided to step out of the room. Unfortunately, there was no way to lock the room. He called one of his bodyguards, Shakti, and asked him to guard the room not letting anyone inside.
Coming downstairs, he realised there were three people from News Nation awaiting him for two hours now. He could feel mixed vibes of anger, frustration and relief coming from them.
"I am sorry to keep you waiting this long. I wasn't feeling too well."
Apology from a newly elected mayor surprised the guests. The journalist gave a hint of a smile and asked if they could begin the interview.
"Sir, congratulations on your landslide victory. Seemed like people of Kharagpur are fed up with the same set of goons running the office. You happen to be the youngest Mayor of the city. What would you like to tell the people of your city?"
"Firstly, I would like to thank each and every one who believed in me. Whether you voted for me or not, I am your servant elected by you, for you, from amongst you. I was born in this city and know it inside out. People here can be as sweet as jalebi, or as bitter as karela. Depends what you serve them."
The journalist smiled at his culinary remark.
"Sir, the crime rate against women in Sitapur has gone up in the past 5 years. They are being used physically and left to die. Every politician before you has had a skeleton in his closet. What are your plans to combat this situation?"
The question was a normal one by all standards, but obviously threw him off guard. The growing crease between the eyebrows of the journalist made him realise that he had started sweating profusely.
He had to remain calm. Else, he risked giving away more than he could afford. He recalled what his father had told him a couple of years ago and recited it.
"Errr...women are like mother nature. You get what you give. You reap..."
An image of the naked lifeless body flashed across his eyes. This time, he saw, rather imagined the dead woman looking at him and smirking.
"Umm..sir?" The female journalist sitting in front of him tried to jolt him back to reality.
"Huh...yeah, so I was saying you reap what you sow. I..errr... promise to build stringent laws to fight growing number of crimes against women in our city. I have two sisters. Just like them, I want every woman in our city to feel absolutely safe even if they venture out in the night alone."
'Obviously away from someone like me...' his thoughts had gone astray.
He could sit no more. He was sweating profusely now and his head was spinning. Without saying a word, he got up and went to his bedroom. Locking the door behind him, he crashed on his bed and passed out.
Downstairs, the journalist looked at her two assistants and decided to leave as there was no point waiting anymore. The trio was both confused and furious at the same time.
They came out of the mansion. Outside the gate, she asked them to head to the office without her. The moment they left, she pulled out her phone and speed dialed someone.
"Sreeja, how are you?"
"How do you expect me to be, Ramya? He won. After ruining my life forever, he had all his dreams come true."
"Agreed. But I just turned his dreams to nightmares."
"What do you mean?"
"Shakti uncle and I will avenge you, my sister. We have sowed the seeds. But he will be the one to reap the sorrows. I just visited him. He is as ruined as you were. He will never think of defaming any other woman who dares to stand against him."
"What have you done, sis?"
"I am about to pull out the skeleton from his closet."
Ramya hung up with a smirk and made the next call to give an anonymous tip to CBI.
© Ishita Nigam Garg
