TWENTY FIVE
As soon as Sanjay and Imran were caught, Urmil and Navya had returned to Urmil's apartment from police custody. They were instructed not to leave the city.
Navya hugged Urmil and thanked for saving her life.
"I will take your leave now…" She looked at Urmil with tears in her eyes.
"What would we do with our cursed lives, Navya?"
Unable to answer, Navya walked towards the door in a depressed mood.
Sanjay would definitely be there after her with the death warrant in his hand.
Urmil and Navya listened to each other's story.
So many more girls are there in this vast world... who deserve better lives but weren't able to!
Though Navya cried a lot in despair... hope, faith, love everything was lost for her... Urmil's eyes only erupted fire which had absorbed all the tenderness off her.
It was about two in the morning and Urmil was not asleep.
She got startled by the sound at the door.
It was time, Sanjay was there.
Urmil moved to her bedroom and closed the door. Urmil clasped her hands in remembrance of Mother Mary, Mother Sebastian and Patricia… she had never seen her parents.
She prayed for courage.
There was a knock on the door. Urmil held the sharp butcher's knife tightly and took shelter of the darkness.
The door opened soon and Sanjay appeared. He reached the switchboard to put the light on and the small room got lit up. The bed was empty, where did the slut go? Sanjay's eyes rummaged through the room. With a revolver in his gloved palm, Sanjay stepped towards the balcony.
Urmil came out from behind the curtain. The shiny knife was flashing in her hand... glimpses of revenge were there in her eyes.
Sanjay immediately turned around in response to his sixth sense.
He couldn't meet Urmil's eyes, they were flared up as Urmil raised her left hand and forbade him to approach.
She slashed the wrist of her left hand In front of Sanjay's confused eyes.
"You are here to kill me, Sanjay? I will not give you that chance. I myself do not want to live in this miserable world anymore. You are not punished yet but surely you will be... for your sins.
There is still time Sanjay, just rectify yourself."
Blood started dripping from her severed wrist, washing away all her wrong doings.
Urmil collapsed down on her knees then fell down slowly and closed her eyes.
It took a while for the shocked Sanjay to regain his lost senses.
Sanjay opened Urmil's cupboard and took packets of drugs and two pistols from the hidden locker and stuffed them in his pocket. He Pulled out a thin knife and pressed it against the bottom of the door to let the secret chamber appear which Urmil was unaware of. He collected some small things like ampoules, syringes and chits of papers with addresses.
The police will investigate and before that the goods were needed to be removed. He started searching Urmil's table-drawers, clothes-closet for any left out proofs the police might look for.
No one seemed to have seen him enter. They would not find his fingerprints either.
Sanjay pulled the hood of the jacket on his head, went to the balcony and went down through the rain water pipe like a thief.
… Mother Sebastian came forward with her outstretched arms but Urmil was unable to reach her despite her desperate attempts.
Urmil could visualize Mother feeding her, teaching her to play the piano, singing prayer songs along with her, with her eyes closed.
... Look Mother! I have been successful ultimately to break out of the shackles of slavery with my own life, I have been able to taste the real liberation… Urmil, your beloved was shattered with cruel blows, life had struck her with… but had at last found her lost courage.
Keeping an eye on Urmil's flat, Salman Javed waited eagerly in his car keeping an eye on her to lurk like a hunting cat.
The lights of the house went off and he too fell asleep while waiting.
The driver Ravneet woke him up and Salman looked at his watch shamefully. It was half past two early in the morning. The windows of Urmil's apartment were shining with light.
Was she awake… did anyone come to meet her?
The light went out after a while. Surely there were some disturbances, it might not be right to go alone. Salman called Dhawan of CBI and Dutt, the officer Incharge from the local police station.
Ravneet stepped forward and opened the door lock in a miraculous way.The four of them entered the flat at the silence of a hunting tiger.
The drawing room was dark. Ravneet switched the lights on to stead forward.
They started rummaging the apartment with extra care.
Salman entered the bedroom and looked for the switch board.
With shocking eyes, they found Urmil lying in a pool of blood on the floor. The veins of her left wrist were gashed. There was a blood stained, shiny knife in her right palm.
...Suicide…Murder? Salman knelt down and checked her pulse. He shook his head in despair. He was sad.
He arranged for an ambulance and sent the body for post mortem.
They left the apartment in Lal Bahadur Shastri Complex after sealing Urmil's flat.
