TREMORS

" You’re the most beautiful and delicate woman I’ve ever seen. ”

This very compliment from him melted her heart into a sweet puddle. She tried hard not to blush but in vain. The heat was already creeping up on her cheeks. She lifted her eyelashes and stared deeply into his eyes. She could see appreciation glinting brightly in his eyes.

He smiled, displaying his pearly teeth, adding, ” Your cheeks match your red dress and enhance you even more. ”

Now this was way too cheesy, wasn’t it?

She rolled her eyes to show her boredom but deep down, her heart was doing summersaults. She reminded herself that it was too soon to feel so strongly. She has not even told anyone about him and anyway, men behave nicely in the beginning, there’s nothing new in that but her heart had its plans of defying her rational thoughts.

She thought of mumbling a thank you and getting down from his car but he held her hand. He held her hands and ever so slowly, brought her hands closer to his lips, maintaining an eye contact all this while.

All of this was just too much for her to handle and as if his lips touching her hand was a trigger, she immediately pulled him in for an urgent kiss. One thing led to another and before she knew it, they were upstairs in her house, cuddling skin to skin after a heated session of passionate lovemaking.

Her brain was fogged with too many thoughts.

’Is it too soon? Am I being too gullible or is he the one ?′

She fisted her palms in order to stop her mind from fretting over everything. She tried to hold her thoughts in order to enjoy the present moment. She scolded herself for being so edgy meanwhile the man next to her appeared to be calm as his breathing was rhythmic. She thought that he has fallen asleep and in order to confirm, she looked up from his chest towards his face but to her surprise, he was wide awake.

Though he appeared to be calm, there was a distant look in his eyes, similar to that of being zoned out. The way she felt her heart pulses accelerating was alarming.

′ Now that we’ve been physical, is he going to abandon me? Was this his motto since the beginning? Am I a fool?′

She cursed herself for being so naive. She should’ve seen it coming from miles away. Her social awkwardness and the bullying that she had gotten in high school had downplayed her confidence. She never believed that she was beautiful enough to be loved and that’s why she avoided dating as much as she could. Now that she was throwing herself into the poop, she should have been cautious. Her attachment to this man was now playing against her and she was seconds away from crying.

The other rational part of her was consoling her that it was fine and she should at least talk to him and she decided to do that because honestly, that seemed better than crying. Collecting every ounce of self-confidence, she whispered slowly, “Hey!”

He jerked immediately and looked down at her, followed by a ‘huh’.

She found the reaction a bit too much but nonetheless, she tried her best to smile and asked, ” What are you thinking?”

He smiled and dropped a kiss on her forehead and instead of answering, repeated her question, ” What are you thinking?”

Oh, how she wanted to say each and every thought of her out loud but like any sane person, she didn’t. Instead, shook her head and cascaded her eyes downwards. He was a well built man and his defined chest was speaking volumes about it. She couldn’t believe that this man who was perfect in every sense had loved her a few minutes back. His forehead kiss had calmed down her bit still, it was overwhelming.

It was a sweet intimate moment that she was experiencing and yet, she felt all alone in this world. She was again ready to drown in self pity but he rescued her by asking, “I want to take you somewhere. Do you fancy coming with me?”

All her anxious thoughts turned into bewildered ones. Was he being serious? After a romantic date and the follow-up, he wanted her to take out at this odd hour of the night? She was about to say no but she could imagine her friend’s advice of ‘loosening up ‘, ’ bring more fun-loving’ and so on and so forth. She thought for a second and decided to gulp down her fears. She said yes and wrapped the bedsheet around her to go to the washroom in order to get changed. She heard him chuckle behind her that even made her smile at her own stupidity of covering up.

After throwing a basic white top and a black jeans, she came out. She smiled looking at him as he had also put on his clothes. On top of it, like a proper gentleman, he held her overcoat in his hands. She turned around as she saw him coming towards him, anticipating that he would make her wear the coat.

Before she could even spread her hands, she felt a tightening around her neck and it was a matter of seconds before she started gasping for air. It was all too sudden for her to understand anything. As a reflex action, her hands went to her neck and she felt a rope. Within seconds, it dawned upon her that she was being strangled by him. In the meantime, he looked down at her, watching her face turning absolutely red and he had to admit, it was a painful sight to behold. Yet, he had no choice. His heart broke but still, he kept tightening the rope. His breathing had turned heavy yet to let her have a peaceful death, he spoke, “I’m sorry to do this to you, but if not for this, you’ll be having a more painful death. ”

And after struggling for a few minutes, he saw her eyes rolling back and hands going loose, conforming to her death.

A lone tear escaped his eyes when he saw her lifeless form. In a broken voice, he whispered, “She spares no one.”