PASSIONATE ONE-NIGHT STAND
A Deadly Date – Story of a Fiery Romantic
Encounter
Short Fiction
By
VIKRAM KARVE
From My
Creative Writing Archives:
One of my
earliest short stories – “Conscience”
– passionate romance – story of sleazy ‘one-night stand’...
Do tell me
if you like it.
PASSIONATE ONE-NIGHT STAND – a short story by Vikram Karve
I waited in anticipation.
I was overcome by tremors of trepidation.
I secretly hoped that he would not come.
But he did come.
He arrived right on the dot.
Sharp 10 o’clock at night.
It was exactly as planned.
He said nothing when he entered.
The moment I recognized him – I started to
tremble.
But he did not seem to notice.
He turned around – as if he had forgotten
something.
Then he took two quick steps – and he
bolted the door.
Hoping to conceal my emotion – I began to talk
– talking also helped me gain my composure.
I said: “Please be seated, Sir. Would you
like a drink?”
“Whisky and soda,” he said.
He loosened the knot of his tie as he moved
towards the sofa.
He sat down and gave me an appraising look.
I took my time getting up from my chair –
taking care to make my movements deliberately slow – in order to hide my fear
and nervousness.
I walked towards the fridge.
My back was turned in his direction – but still
I could feel his eyes piercing me.
Soda, glass, opener, ice-bucket and a bowl
of peanuts ready on a tray – I opened the liquor-cabinet.
At first my hands instinctively touched a
bottle of cheap whisky – but then I hesitatingly picked out a bottle of the
best premium whisky.
After all this was a first-class client.
And maybe this would be his last drink.
Let him enjoy it.
I carefully set the loaded tray on the
table in front of him – and I sat down on the chair across.
I poured him a stiff drink – and I opened
the bottle of soda.
“Put lots of ice,” he said, in a commanding
voice.
And then – as an afterthought – he added,
“What about you?”
“No,” I said, handing him the glass, “I
don’t drink on duty.”
“Duty…?” he laughed – and he looked me in
the eye.
He took a sip of the whisky and closed his
eyes with a gesture of fatigue – as if waiting for the whisky to caress his
brain.
His was not an unpleasant face.
In fact he looked quite handsome.
“Without any effort I could go straight to
sleep,” he said – with his eyes still closed.
Then – suddenly he opened his eyes – looked
directly at me – and with a mischievous smile – he said to me: “Ah – but there
is plenty to do tonight – isn’t it?”
“Yes indeed…!” I said to myself, “there was
plenty to do tonight.”
In my imagination – I tried to visualize
how I was going to do it.
The man shifted on his seat – took out a
wallet from his hip pocket.
He stylishly extracted 10 crisp red coloured
1000 rupee notes – and he put the 10,000 Rupees on the table in front of me.
I did not pick up the money.
“It’s okay,” I said, “There is no need for
you to pay me. The treat is on the house.”
“Who said so?” he snapped an angrily.
“The person who sent me here,” I answered.
“What else did he say?”
“That you are a very special guest.”
“And?” he asked.
“He said that I should be very discreet –
and that I should not even breathe a word about you to anyone.”
“And will you…?” he asked.
I paused – and then I said, “It’s okay. You
can trust me.”
The man smiled – and then he said, “Take
the money. I always pay for everything. I am a man of principles.”
Suddenly – I could feel the venom rising
inside me.
A ‘man of principles’…?
My Foot…
Hypocrite…
That’s what he was.
A Bloody Hypocrite…
Where were his principles when he had
killed my husband and concocted lies that it was a gruesome accident?
Where were his principles when he quickly
disposed off my husband’s body at sea – into the Davy Jones’s Locker – buried
into the deep at the bottom of the sea?
Murderer…
Bloody Murderer…
That’s what he was.
An unscrupulous mendacious murderer…
And tonight he was going to pay for it.
Everything was in my favour.
I had recognized him.
I knew who he was but he did not know who I
was.
For him – I was just a nameless face – a ‘one-night
stand’.
Yes – for him I was just a ‘one-night
stand’ – to be used, discarded and forgotten.
Though he could not possibly realize it –
it was he who had reduced me to this.
And now he had unknowingly walked right
into my hands.
“Is it enough?” he asked, pointing to the
money on the table.
“My normal rate is 50,000 – and some happy clients sometimes pay me even more than a Lakh for a night…” I said.
I wanted to embarrass him – for I had
glimpsed into his wallet when he took out the money.
I picked up the 10,000 rupees from the
table – tucked them in my blouse – and I said, “But after all – you are a special
guest – so I will give you a discount – as I told you earlier – the treat is on the
house – so I will consider this as a tip – and even if you did not pay – it was
okay.”
He smiled – looking intently into my eyes
for a few seconds.
Then he gulped down his drink – he got up
from the sofa – and he came around the table and stood behind me.
I sat still – waiting for his next move.
He put his hands on my shoulders – and he said
matter-of-factly, “Let’s go to bed.”
When I woke up – for a moment – I could not
imagine where I was.
The silence was so intense – that I could
hear my heart beating.
The room was not quite dark.
The door of the bathroom was partly open –
and I had left the bathroom light on.
As I turned – I saw him lying beside me.
I felt a sudden flush of passion.
It was after a long time that I had made
love to a man.
I had really enjoyed it.
I yearned for some more.
But I quickly controlled my feelings – and
I carefully observed the sleeping man.
He breathed steadily – like a man immersed
in deep sleep – fully satiated.
But I had to be sure.
“Hello,” I whispered near his ear.
No answer.
He was dead to the world.
Very slowly, very silently – I slipped out
of my bed.
I carefully bent down near the bedside
table.
I unplugged the two-pin electric plug from
the socket on the wall.
Then – I carefully coiled the wires around
the base of the table-lamp.
I picked up the table-lamp in both hands
holding the plug carefully.
I stood for a while – looking at the man to
see whether I had disturbed him.
His breathing was as regular as before.
I took a couple of tip-toe steps and halted
– took a few steps more and waited – and so on – till I reached the bathroom
door.
Then I quickly went inside – and I locked
the door.
I yanked out the wires from the table-lamp.
Then – with my teeth – I removed the
plastic cladding from the open ends – exposing at least two inches of naked
copper on both the wires.
I smiled to myself.
In my hands, was a weapon of death – a set
of coiled wires – one red and one black – long enough – a two-pin plug at one
end – and the other end was exposed – naked.
I retraced my steps – tiptoed – leaving the
bathroom light on – and the door a bit ajar – so that I could just about see
slightly.
I put the plug in the socket.
Then I uncoiled the wires – carefully
holding one wire in each hand – a few inches away from the naked exposed copper
– my hands apart.
I switched on the electric switch with my
left toe.
Then – I got on the bed – and I slowly
advanced on my knees towards the sleeping figure.
The man was lying on his back – sleeping
soundly.
He seemed dead to the world.
Soon – he would actually be dead.
I decided to aim for his eyes.
Simply thrust one live electric wire into
each eye.
Hopefully – death would be instantaneous.
The electric current would flow through his
brain and kill him on the spot.
Even if death wasn’t instantaneous – at
least he would be knocked unconscious – and blinded – and then – I could take
my own time to finish him off by shoving the live wires deep into his eyes till
his brain got roasted.
I steadied myself – and I moved my hands
slowly.
The live wires had almost touched his eyes –
when some invisible force seemed to have grabbed my wrists.
I froze.
I felt a turbulence of conscience.
It was as if there were two brains inside
me.
One brain pulled my hands back and said: “I
don’t want to be a murderess. What do I gain? If I kill him – then what’s the
difference between him and me? What about his family? Why should I make them
suffer for no fault of theirs? And maybe what he officially said was indeed
true – that it was just an accident – like he had reported…”
The other brain desperately urged me to
kill him and pushed my hands forward, saying: “Revenge! Vengeance! He deserves
it…”
“An eye for an eye – a tooth for a tooth –
do it now – kill him – fast…!” I said to myself.
And slowly – my hands started moving
forward.
Suddenly – the man started turning.
I panicked.
In my panic – as a sudden reflex action – I
instantly pulled my hands back.
In the confusion – the live naked electric
wires touched.
There were sparks of electricity.
And then – there was total darkness.
Short Circuit - the fuse had blown.
My blood ran cold.
It was pitch dark – and I felt scared.
There was no movement from the man.
Instinctively – I guessed that the man had
turned over on his side – his back towards me.
I tiptoed to the bathroom – retrieved the
table-lamp – kept it on the bedside table – and tucked the wires underneath.
Then I lay down on my bed – as if nothing
had happened.
The centralized air-conditioning was still
on – but the bathroom light had gone off.
It seemed that only the local 5 Ampere
light fuse had blown – but I did not know where it was.
I had muffed up a golden chance.
The man was lucky to be alive.
It was his sheer luck!
But I knew I would have to try again to kill
him.
I would have to keep trying – again and
again – to kill him – for he did not deserve to live.
Maybe – I could try some other technique of
murder.
And with these thoughts – I drifted off to
sleep.
When I woke up in the morning – I saw that
the man was still fast asleep.
Dawn had broken.
I opened the window – and let the sunlight
in.
“Who’s that?” he asked – startled –
adjusting his eyes to the sunlight.
“It is time for you to leave. You must go
away now,” I said.
I walked towards the sofa – picked up his
clothes – and threw them to him.
He dressed hurriedly.
Then he quickly walked to the connecting
door between our rooms.
He opened the door.
At the door he paused for a moment.
Then he turned towards me and he said:
“Good Bye, Mrs. Morris. They told me that you would kill me. I came to find
out. But killing isn’t easy. Yes – killing is not easy. You can take my word
for it.”
With these words – he left my room –
silently closing the door.
I sat in dumbstruck silence – a deathly
grotesque deafening silence.
I never saw him again.
I never want to see him again.
In my entire life – I have never felt so
scared as I felt at that moment.
And when I think of that horrific one-night
stand – a tremor goes up my spine – a deadly electric shiver vibrates throughout my whole body – and I resonate with fear.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve
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© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Disclaimer:
This story is a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the stories are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright Notice:
No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.
Copyright © Vikram Karve (all rights reserved)
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