CHAPTER 13

Larry had got up early.

A sound sleep had refreshed him and he was less anxious to know as to what had happened yesterday.

Because he had returned safe and had decided not to take up a job with the help of Rakesh\'s friend.

Only to hear about the fear and panic of his mom was pending.

\'Let her finish the works. Let her think and feel the relief. Let her take her own time and decision.\'

She will tell. Sooner or later. Why should I force her?

Now I have to go and meet Rakesh.

Let him not worry unnecessarily.

And he shouted out: â€œI am going out mom. Will return soon.â€

â€œWhere are you going?â€

â€œTo meet Rakesh.â€

In a moment, terror took hold of her. She could not speak. Her face got drenched with sweat.

But Larry was not there to witness the fit of depression and horror.

Shall I alert him? Tell the truth?

She was to call him out, but her own voice refused.

Then another thought struck her.

\'If I say it, He will go and challenge the fellow. That is certain. But if I don\'t Say, he will meet him as usual. When he will realize from Larry\'s behavior that I did not say it to him, probably he will not take revenge upon my child.\'

And Larry today felt that it is the first time he is going to meet Rakesh as a grown-up man. Not as a mere boy, but as his equal.

Because he had gone to the far away city alone, successfully located the friend of Rakesh and settled the issue in his own way.

Took the decision himself and his mom approved it.

Did not do what the friend dictated him to do.

If Rakesh is not there, I shall say it all to Lilly. As a joke.

And she will laugh to her heart\'s content when I will explain the last scene of the drama.

And then and thenâ€¦ will it be \'the next time\' she proposed, suggested by pressing my hand?

If not a rain, at least a hot, cool drizzle was enough to please him.

Such a nice lady.

He reached the house and all his jovial mood vanished in a second.

It was spontaneous.

And without any obvious reason.

The house seemed to have wrapped itself in a veil of repulsion.

He could almost touch it.

Seeing the door closed, he raised his hand to knock, but then he heard sounds from inside.

Strange sounds as if those who were inside are suffering from too much pain.

Or from extra-ordinary pleasure?

He knocked at the door lightly, but the sound was drowned in another noise.

A thud like sound. As if something fell down near the door.

And he doubted that he heard a soft moan.

Of Lilly?

He knocked and pushed the door and it opened into a repugnant smell of violence.

Rakesh looked at him angrily.

And Lilly lay in a corner, like a bundle with redness at its centre.

Rakesh was furious at the person who opened the door. But when he saw that it was Larry, fear crept into his mind. He was afraid already that Lilly was dead or mortally injured and now Larry appeared as another source of fear. He believed that Cathy has said everything to him and he had come to avenge.

When Larry saw the pitiable condition of Lilly, he decided that Rakesh had killed her. Sorrow and anger competed in his mind to express itself first and anger succeeded.

He moved menacingly towards Rakesh. Anger had made him blind to the reality that he was no match to Rakesh.

But fear had made Rakesh weak for a moment. He took a step back and raised both hands as if to defend himself.

Larry gripped his hand and said in a voice, burdened with rage:

â€œYou â€¦you devilâ€¦.â€ He then heard a moan behind him and knew that she is not dead. â€œYou beat her like this? I won\'t leave you.â€

Rakesh was adept at handling such situations and his withdrawal was only a temporary set-back induced by the unexpected appearance of Larry, whom his confused mind accepted as the herald of oncoming danger, which an offender always feels in the presence of the offended, meeting him the first time after committing the offence.

But he recovered soon.

\'So he is ignorant of what happened yesterday.\' He thought. \'He is horny of this bitch. Now come and I will teach you a lesson or two in fighting.\'

â€œWhy the hell you interfere, you son of a bitch? It is between me and my wife.â€

â€œBut you have no right to hurt her.â€

â€œThen who has the right? To you, horny bastard? Now I understand why you were wandering around this house like a puny puppy.â€

Larry\'s face went crimson. His heroic manner died down and he found himself as an intruder between a wife and husband. And the accusation of Rakesh, being a fact, made him unable to speak.

â€œWhy you are silent, you beggar?â€ Shouted Rakesh. He saw Lilly moving her hand a little behind Larry.

Larry could not answer. He was not accustomed to such humiliation and could not withstand it or reply in similar language.

Moreover, the beggar-Shiva within him had woken up, upon being called by Rakesh and he was making Larry the helpless child, which he was once upon a time.

â€œI am afraid that she will die.â€ He said in a trembling voice.

Rakesh understood that the boy is not brave enough to stand up to him. The threatening voice has done the job.

And he was really infatuated with her, it seems.

However, he wanted to implant such a fear in the mind of Larry so that he should go all weak at knees in his presence.

â€œYou killed her.â€ He said. â€œI saw you kick her for not surrendering to your filthy intention. I won\'t leave you now.â€

And he hit the boy with all his strength, on the chest.

Larry reeled back unsteadily. The blow was so forceful that it emptied his lungs, making him gasp for air. He knew that his legs were losing all their strength. He tried hard to keep up the posture, but his legs gave-up and he fell down, his head hitting the shin of Lilly.

And the excruciating pain made her lose her armour of semi-consciousness and she cried piteously while moving her leg.

The noise pierced into the very soul of Larry.

He sat up and turned back to look at Lilly.

She was alive and moving. And she was sobbing, holding her abdomen with both hands as if in severe pain.

The red-spot on her cloth had widened and now it was a yellowish-red.

Rakesh looked at them. The pain of the scratches on his hand had returned with a vengeance. It brought forth the events of last evening at Larry\'s home.

Larry was looking at Rakesh with open mouth. Anger and fear rose in him simultaneously. His face changed colours.

Anger stayed behind like a dirty, shapeless moron, coughing now and then.

Fear stood in front, threatening to kill him.

Anger only looked at him when her moans were high and loud.

Fear stared at him constantly.

The sadist in Rakesh enjoyed immense pleasure in seeing both of them in such a condition. Desire rose in him to such an extent that he felt suddenly excited and wanted Cathy then and there.

But only her son was there and that too as an accomplice of the girl, who offended him in his own house, as if she was the master of the house.

He looked at her, thinking for a moment to unload his sadistic desire upon her, but she was beyond the level to satisfy the urge in any way and the yellow -red patch on her cloth made him avert his eyes from her.

So he turned to Larry and kicked him mercilessly, and it brought him a kind of pleasure and he wanted to fulfill it by means of crying out his lust.

â€œHow was it, man? Nice? Now remember not to look at her unless you have an immediate need of a thrashing. And do not forget to tell her that I forgive only once and the next time I will tame and take her in such a way that she will forget to cry.â€

He kicked Larry again.

Larry thought that the second â€œherâ€ too was Lilly. But he was terribly wrong, which he realized soon.

â€œYesterday, the bitch dared to scratch my arm with a tiny blade.â€ He showed the scratches to Larry. â€œAnd I just laughed. I liked it. The thrill of it. And, now she is going to enjoy it. I will take her to heaven. I will make her enjoy it so much that she will beg me to pee to wet her throat.â€

His eyes shone like flames, with excitement and expectation.

â€œAnd remember to tell her one more thing. The timid sucking of you is nothing against the vibrant attack of real man. And now get out and never look at this house again.â€

Inadvertently, he used the same words which Cathy had used to him.

Never look at this house again.

Then he remembered it and loved it as a perfect reply to her.

Larry got up. For a while all tenderness vanished from him, taking his pain too with it. They hid behind him in horror.

Now he forgot the fear and the concern for the safety of Lilly.

He forgot everything except the suddenly disclosed fact that his mom was attacked by Rakesh.

The anger, which was hiding behind like a moron jumped out showing its ghastly nature.

It was now growing beyond his control. It ate up the fear in him.

â€œI will kill him.â€ He decided.

He stood erect, like a compressed spring suddenly coming into action. The change was so fast and visible that Rakesh got aside in panic.

Larry\'s mind worked in a single direction now.

A weapon. I need a weapon.

He ran inside.

And as if arranged by destiny, a chopper was the first thing he saw.

Blood soared into his head, blocking all entry for future.

And past.

Only a blind present lived at the moment, liberating his entire black and wild emotions to make it an accident appointed by a still brain.

The chopper moved once, twice, thrice.

Warm blood hissed out like dirty water from a fountain searching for a missing head.

And since the chopper could not cut his mind, it waited there a moment, making a final wish for tuning up with Cathy\'s mind as early as possible and then vanished into the ever-existent ocean of energy for its reappearance in another form and level.

And the head looked up from the floor with a puzzled expression on its face.

Then the body slipped in its own juice, turned and danced a second and fell down dead.

It all took less than five minutes. The \'now-man\' became a \'non-man.\'

Lilly saw it all forgetting even to breathe.

A smell of horror and dead calmness engulfed her, determined not to leave her ever.

Slowly, consciousness returned to Larry.

The scene horrified him. And then a pure blankness took charge of him.

He came out and the chopper hit the door and fell down.

And he walked slowly, with his dress wet and red. He had forgotten Lilly, forgotten everything.

Then he felt cold and so he walked fast.

Destination undecided. Not even thought of.

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ADAM\'S SONS(English Novel - Chapter 13) By Krishna