He was running into the woods. He was panting heavily, terrified as he can hear the commotion getting closer to him. Within fractions of seconds he thought may be he couldn’t make it but still nothing deterred him. He kept on marching ahead with all his congregated might. All of a sudden he felt something unwelcome around his throat. He was choking, couldn’t say a word, couldn’t move his limbs. He was possessed by something with a face as dark as death. And he woke up to a cold winter morning though he was sweating profusely. He recalled that that day he needed to go out for lunch. He was confused if he should accept the invitation but then something in him told him to not break the routine. He has never declined her invitation ever. Amidst multiple voices speaking in his head, he felt asleep again.
His mum woke him up, “Beta! wake up. It’s 11 am now. You don’t want to be late for the lunch”.
“Mum, I am very tired today. I’ll go some other day”.
His mum frowned, “Rohan, she is like your elder sister. You know how much she loves you, right? She will really feel bad if you don’t go. Anyways, you will be leaving tomorrow for your college”.
“I have few engagements elsewhere, mum. If possible I’ll go”, he said in an annoyed tone of voice.
“Ok fine. She was really hopeful about meeting you in your this visit. You don’t come to home that often now-a-days and whenever you come you have no time for people who love you. U have changed, Rohan”.
“Fine, I’ll go”. He was getting paranoid with the conversation. He took a shower to clear his mind and left for her place.
She was delighted upon seeing him. She served him lunch in her bedroom and asked him to start.
“Where is Srinivas?”, he asked.
“Of course he isn’t home. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you”, she said playfully.”You start having your meal, I’ll go check with my in-laws if they need anything. They will be sleeping now”, she said and left.
He couldn’t eat much. So many thoughts were running through his mind. Something in him was laughing and mocking him. He felt some sudden cut-throat suffocation. Finally he stood and prepared to leave when she entered the room and latched it from inside.
“What? Are you leaving?”, she enquired.
“Well! umm.. Yes I was just..”. She didn’t let him finish and pushed him on the bed. She unhooked her bra and unbuttoned his shirt.
“Sameera di, stop it right now. I am planning to stop all this. I don’t like it”, he said with a stern face.
“Oh is it so? Then why do you come every time I invite you for lunch?”, she said with eyes full of lust.
“Coz of my mum. She really loves you. She thinks you are her bestie”.
She started laughing like a monster. “Really? For your mum? You think I am gonna buy that? Sweetheart, I know the man inside you. You love it too, so, cut the crap and do what you are good at”. Her words came in like a flurry of acid on his heart burning it out of life. He tried to resist his libido but then she unzipped his pants and he succumbed to his desires like always.
That night he went on a flashback again. Sameera was right. He never went to her for his mum, the devil in him took him there always. He felt so used and tortured. It’s been more than 5 years to this now. Every time her husband would go out of town, she would invite Rohan for purely sexual desires. Initially it was something new to try but now it has become a burden. A baggage that is just growing heavier day by day and crushing him beneath it. His soul was wounded and was trying to cry out for help but alas! he couldn’t. He felt choked by the bogeyman in him whose venomous tentacles had entrapped him. He was poisoned by his own desires but still hoping for the day when he could break free and run through the immense expanse of green fields again, leaving behind all hurts and pains and touch the sun crossing the darkest of clouds to uplift his drowned soul again.
