Page 64 of Wicked Trap

The bastard must have kissed hundreds of women. Why else would he be such a good kisser?

She scowled at the thought. Shaking her head to push away the unwanted jealousy, she stepped inside her apartment.

She reheated the previous day’s dinner leftovers. As she sat down to eat, the rain picked up in intensity. She watched with an uneasy feeling as lightning lit up the sky.

She hated the storms. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she focused on other things to distract herself. She tried to finish her dinner. But each lightning strike followed by rumbling of thunder made her jump and caused her stomach to be queasy.

She left her dinner uneaten. Clearing up the dishes, she hurried to her bedroom.

She changed into her nightclothes. Keeping the lights on in the bedroom as well in the living room, she slid into her bed. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. Slowly, she slid into an uneasy sleep.

***

Tanvi woke up to loud shouts.

Rubbing her groggy eyes, she sat up in her bedroom. It was dark and raining heavily outside. Her mother said there was a storm expected that night.

Although Tanvi was scared of the loud noises of the storms, her mother comforted her saying storms were natural, and there was nothing to be scared about.

“Shh, you are safe, my love,” her mother soothed her often.

Why isn’t Mamma sleeping next to me?

Tanvi’s mother always slept next to her during nights when there was a storm. But during the past week, her mother slept next to her instead of with her father. Tanvi loved holding her mother’s big stomach where there was a baby inside. Tanvi’s little brother or sister was expected to come out in one month.

Tanvi was excited because she would then have someone to play with.

But she didn’t know why her mother was suddenly sad and angry. She saw her mother crying a few days ago and shouting at her father. Her father tried to console her mother, but her mother still seemed upset.

Tanvi frowned when she once again heard shouts coming from outside the bedroom.

Suddenly, there was a loud scream.

Tanvi’s heart thudded. Apart from the loud thunder outside, it was utterly calm outside her bedroom.

“Mamma?” she called out.

Pushing her blankets away, she got down from her bed. She opened the bedroom door, and it was dark in the hallway. The only light came from the lightning flashing outside the windows.

“Mamma?” she called again.

There was no response. Holding the railing of the staircase, she carefully went down the steps. She jumped as the thunder continued to rumble loudly in the sky.

When she reached the last step, her foot touched something. She didn’t know what it was.

It was only when lightning flashed and the living room lit up, she saw what she had stumbled on. It was her mother lying in a pool of blood.

Tanvi woke up with a gasp.

Her vision was blurred, and there were tears in her eyes due to her recurring nightmare.

As her vision cleared, she noticed it was dark inside her room as well as outside. There must have been a power outage due to the storm. Thunder continued to roll while lightning flashed in the sky.

Her heart thudded when she heard something outside her bedroom. It was as though someone was trying to break into her apartment. She knew she might be imagining things. But she heard the sounds of someone standing outside and trying to open the door.

Did those men follow me home?

Maybe she was just imagining things. But she knew she couldn’t stay inside her apartment like a sitting duck. With her heart thudding, she reached for the cricket bat she kept next to her bed. Holding it in a firm grip, she got out of her bed.

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