under the wraps

Feeling Is Optional

"SLEEPING ISN'T BAD IT PUT YOUR MIND IN AN IMMENSE PEACE BUT SOMETIMES EVEN SLEEP CAN'T SHUT YOUR BRAIN THOSE DAYS I WANT TO SLEEP FOREVER"

Prachi: "What? Don't tell me you never expected me to be a killer."

She placed the cup back on the table carefully, almost politely. Her face carried a look of mock surprise, the corners of her lips curved into a slow smirk—as if Vera's shock amused her.

"Well, it's not your fault," Prachi continued casually. "I worked for years on my presentation. It becomes easy when you're innocent-looking, beautiful, and a woman. People hardly doubt you."

She took a step closer.

"But you..."

She got up from her seat and bent down in front of Vera, resting on her knees so their eyes were at the same level. Her gaze locked onto Vera's with unsettling intensity.

"I expected at least you to be a little wiser. I thought you'd have some hint. You were selfish too—you used your grandmother for your own sake, and you loathed your father. That's why I left you back then. But you also started walking on the wrong path. Hell..."

She straightened up abruptly and walked toward the aquarium, her back now facing Vera. Colorful fish swam lazily inside, unaware of the tension in the room. Prachi watched them closely, observing how they rushed toward food, fighting each other instinctively.

Vera slowly came back to her senses. Her heart hammered violently as she searched for her phone with quiet urgency, her movements careful, calculated, desperate.

"In case you're looking for your phone," Prachi said calmly without turning around, "I already got rid of it."

She turned suddenly.

Vera froze again—caught red-handed.

Prachi walked back toward her, her steps slow, deliberate.

"You think this is my first time killing?" she asked. "Do you know how old I was when I killed my first person?"

She tilted her head slightly.

"Hmm... let me think."

Her lips parted into a smile.

"Fifteen."

Vera's stomach churned.

"It was my tuition teacher," Prachi went on. "She talked a lot. Always praised herself—how she became a teacher after all the stupid suffering in her life. She kept ranting and ranting."

She leaned closer, her eyes widening unnaturally.

"One day, she slipped from the stairs and fell."

She shrugged lightly.

"I swear, I didn't want to kill her."

Her eyes popped open dramatically as she said it, inches from Vera's face.

"But I wasn't unhappy either. She lay there on the floor. No one else was home. She was screaming."

Prachi smiled.

"To me, her screams felt like rhythm. And I wanted to hear them again and again... until they stopped."

Her voice softened, almost dreamy.

"And then there was this immense peace. That combination—rhythm and silence—I became addicted to it."

She paused, breathing deeply.

"And then came something even better."

She whispered.

"Fear."

"The fear in people's eyes during their last moments. They were afraid of me. I liked the power. The control. Holding their lives in my hands."

She straightened.

"She died in front of me, and I felt nothing. I was numb."

Prachi laughed quietly.

"No regret. Never. They were all trash—pathetic, suffering people cluttering the world. If you're suffering so much, die. Why go on making others miserable too?"

Her tone sharpened.

"People like you think the world owes you an apology. It doesn't. You're just scum."

She took another step closer.

"And I don't mind cleaning a little dirt off the earth."

Her eyes burned.

"Sleep isn't bad, you know. If you're suffering, close your eyes and sleep for the rest of your life. Pain ends that way."

She exhaled slowly.

"At first, I thought I was wrong. But in the end, I realized I was doing the right thing."

She smiled.

"They were biodegradable waste."

Her voice dropped.

"That's what my brother told me."

Vera: "Prachi... are you even in your senses? Do you know what you're saying?"

Prachi: "I'm damn well in my senses."

Rage flared in her eyes. She stood up abruptly, scanning the room as if searching for something. She reached one of the cupboards, grabbed the first vase she found, and smashed it onto the floor.

The sound echoed violently.

Vera clutched her ears, trembling. "Stop, Prachi—please—"

Before she could finish, Prachi turned toward her and sprayed something directly into her face.

— Vera's POV —

My mind goes blank.

There is a sharp, burning pain in my eyes. Everything spins. I don't remember when I stopped resisting. My eyelids feel heavier than ever, as if gravity itself is pulling them down.

I try to rub my eyes. My hands don't move.

They feel heavy. Useless.

They shake, but they don't obey.

I force my eyes open slowly.

My heartbeat drops instantly.

My blurred vision meets two eyes staring directly into mine.

And everything comes back in one flash.

The psychopath I had been chasing for months.

The girl I thought I knew since high school.

Or maybe... the person I never knew at all.

She sits in front of me, smiling.

Waiting.

She smiles wider when I finally open my eyes.

"Finally," she says softly. "You took less time than the others."