The Teak Forest

Chapter 4

Pavitra

He just smirked at me as I continued cussing him, the tears in my eyes dried up and were replaced with anger.

"Good job, Veera, You've stopped the tears," He complimented himself. "I can tolerate a woman cussing at me, but can't bear a woman's tears right?" He laughed.

"Get up," He got up and offered me his hand. I turned away in disgust, and he closed his hand into a fist as I rejected it, he bought a stick from somewhere and told me to hold on to one side while he held the other, He took the lead and I followed him.

Why is he helping me? Didn't he try to shoot me like five minutes ago? Why did he look relieved when I woke up? Am I just imagining things?

It's evident that he's mentally disturbed but what happened between him and my husband?

After slipping and twisting my legs multiple times we reached the bottom of the cliff I jumped down from.

"Can you climb?" He rolled his sleeves and looked at me, his dark brown eyes trailing down my body, I quickly tugged my yellow scarf from his neck and wrapped it around me. "Your legs look fine," He turned back to the cliff and looked up. He shook his head and turned toward me.

"Are you going to shoot me?" I asked, but he ignored my question and walked past me, He jumped into the water and reached the other side of the bank where the tall banyan trees were. He took out his small knife and began climbing the tree.

He returned after a few minutes with a rope made out of the prop roots which didn't look like it wouldn't take up that high up.

"Wait," He said in a threatening tone, he started climbing the rocks slowly.

"What if I don't?" I shouted at him.

He ignored me and continued climbing, I waited around for a few minutes. I don't know why I stayed put when I could've run away. But deep down I knew there was nowhere to run except dying and I failed miserably at that.

He returned a few minutes later. "We need to go now, or it'll start raining soon," He tugged on the rope "Hold," He threw me the end of the rope. "Step where I step," He held the near-side of the rope and started climbing.

He climbed more slowly than before, constantly checking on me to see how I was doing. The rock was way too slippery the waterfall seemed to have sped up a hundred times more and the sound of gallons of water was getting too loud. It sounded as if fifty elephants were marching toward me.

He offered me his hand several times when I slipped but I declined. There's no way I'm going to be helped by this monster again. The texture of the rope began to change and so was the rocks, they felt pointy and sharp in some places. I hit my toenails multiple times and shrieked, fortunately, he didn't hear any of it.

After, what seemed to have been an eternity we reached the top, he didn't give me his hand to climb up this time, seems that he had learned his lesson. I placed my hands on the grass, Oh! I've never felt this grateful to touch the ground and pulled myself up.

I took a moment to catch my breath.

"The mountain goats don't dare to look down, why did you jump like a fool," He asked me.

"Why did you save me like a fool?" I shot back.

"Even the crows wouldn't have been able to find a piece of you," He ignored my question

"Then why did you try to shoot me?" I asked. He squatted next to me, face to face.

"You were destined to die in my hands, But some fool changed it," He said frustratedly.

"Pray...Pray if you believe in God," I said, he turned toward me, his eyes narrowed, and he pressed his lips into a line.

"I will be the cause of your death, No one can change what is written," I snarled at him. He smiled demonically his laughter echoed through the forest, then he straightened his face.

"I'll be glad to die if a beautiful woman like you will be the cause of my death,"  He joked, As he got up, it started raining, heavily. He stretched his arms out and welcomed the rain. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the pleasure of the rain falling on his face. I used to enjoy it too. But now it felt revolting.

I looked around for something that would help me to fight him, and conveniently enough, I found his gun lying on the ground. I advanced towards it slowly, trying not to wake him up from whatever he was feeling.

As I neared the gun, he spoke up.

"Don't even think about it," He said calmly, "Are you going to shoot me behind my back?" he turned towards me. Even though it was raining, I could see his bloodshot eyes like it was clear as day.

"Are you a coward like your husband?" He stepped towards me.

I quickly scooped up the gun and aimed at him. He freezed in his tracks and gave me a smirk. I pulled the trigger and then I blacked out.