5-6

Jessica was now clear that the woman who sits beside her has lost her sanity and indeed she is confessing her crime to her. She couldn’t take it anymore. She abruptly stands up and looks at Anvi,
who was looking at her “I have to go now my mom will be worried about me, I told her that I will come back before evening. Your story was funny. I get pranked a lot. Guess I got today also. By the way nice to meet you.”

“Sure. Likewise.” Anvi smiles.

Jessica storms up from the place hitting several people on the way so she kept saying “sorry” under her breath. Once she was out of that place, she thought about what just happened. Should she
believe what she said or it was indeed a stupid joke. Why didn’t anyone call her once if she was his wife? There was no solid evidence that the things she was saying is truth. But something in tells her that she was telling the truth.

After some minutes walking in a deserted lane, Jessica came to the conclusion that it was a stupid prank and she fell for it. She was angry and felt like punching that pretty woman in the face
that she made a fool out of her. She looks at her phone and sees several missed calls from her mother and few from her work place. The clock says it’s 5:45 pm and the sun is starting to set in the
west, from in-between the trees. The road she is walking is covered in fallen leaves and each side of it there’s big trees covering the whole sky. This place in Kolkata mainly used for grave lands. Two sides of the road are graveyards.

Jessica enjoys the light breeze through her hair and thinks about what she will tell her mom. In that moment she hears someone’s footsteps behind her. When she looks behind her there, she is￾in black dress, tied up hair and a little smile in her face which seems so innocent but looks evil at the same time- Anvi.

“What are you doing here?”

“You forgot this.” She shows her Jessica’s hand bag, which most probably she left in that bench when she ran up from there.

Jessica takes the hand bag from her hand. “Thank you and sorry you had to come all this way for returning this.”

“No problem.” Anvi says in a soft voice.
“umm okay then see you again
sometimes.” Jessica says with a smile and starts walking. After walking some steps, she again looks back, Anvi was still standing on that spot looking at her blankly.

“That wasn’t a lie. You are the one who told me lie Jessica.”

“What!?”

“You said you were Jhon’s Colleague. But he didn’t work in any office, he had his own business which he stopped doing for last 2 years.”

“Look I’m sorry, I was here for my uncle’s funeral but somehow, I ended up in your husband’s funeral. It was a dumb mistake.”

“But it wasn’t a dumb mistake by my side. It was all a plan.”

“What do you mean?”

                                ***

Next morning…

“Jessica, come here look what they are showing in the news.”

“Coming, Maa...”

Jessica’s mother increases the volume and Jessica can hear from the washroom the reporter saying-

“There was a body found in the south side of Kolkata near the graveyards. It’s body of a woman in her 30s, who was in her husband’s funeral. Her relatives are saying they saw her last at 5:40 leaving
the funeral saying she needs some fresh air and never returning. When they searched for her, they found her body on the road and called the police. The cause of death can be excessive blood loss. A
cutting mark is found oh her neck which is supposed to be from an un-sharped knife. According to the records her name is Anvi Biswas. We will keep you updated with this murder case…”

Jessica looks at sink, red blood mixing with water looking like a wine going into the sink and then disappearing. Jessica cleans the knife and touches the point of the knife with her finger tip. Who says
it’s un-sharped? She thinks. Beside the sink there’s a diary which reads

“It’s November 2013. I killed the café manager. She wasn’t even looking at me when I put that poison in her coffee. She took my order with that grumpy face and then said “Your order will be
ready in some moment.” With that annoying voice. I think about how her dead body would look cold as she was when she was alive.”

“It’s July 2015. I killed that man on the subway. It wasn’t too tough getting a date with him. After the boring date I was confirm that he’s a serial woman harasser. And as anticipated he took me in a dark alley and started touching me without my consent. I pulled out the knife and slitted his throat. He was dead. I took his money and gold chain so it would look like a robbery. A usual robbery that always happens in this big city like London.”

“It’s February 2016. I killed Rebecca. That bitch, she thought she can steal others’ man and go away like this? I put poison in her drug. No one will doubt anyone. It’s just another drug addict dying from overdose. At least there’s a less shit person in this world.”

“It’s May 2017. Uncle is dead. Mom called me today said he died of heart blockage. I wish it was me who killed him. I wanted to see him die in font eyes. I wanted to see his eyes that were
always disappointed at me. They would’ve been grown in size with amusement when I put that knife
through his body. I wanted him to see my eyes which were more disappointed in him than his were on me.”

Jessica dries her hands and takes a pen and starts writing on a new page.

“It’s May 2017. I killed Anvi Biswas. What a woman she was. She made me surprised. She talked just like I think it was like listening to my own brain speaking to me. “Am I that stupid?” I remember her words. That’s how I feel. Am I that worthless? That you can get away with hurting me? No. Everything has a consequence and the people I killed deserved it. I didn’t want to kill Anvi. But she attacked me because I was the one who knew her secret. But it’s a shame she couldn’t see herself in
me, like I did in her.”

“We all have thoughts of killing someone at least for once. Some people control the urge and some people can’t.”

                              ****