The Truth Through Her Eyes

Murder

>Image for the book cover is borrowed from Aligna's Deviantart page. 

This story is quite different compared to my other two. I don't really know what made me to change my genre, but I hope it does well. Read, comment and vote people!

And enjoy the story!

*amma- mother

attai- respectful way of saying 'mother-in-law"

|-x-|

 "Run Nandita! Hurry and take Meena with you!"

"You must come with us! I can't-"

"You must. I have to check on amma. Now go!"       

The slim woman slipped out of bed and hurried next door into her daughter's room as her husband went down the hall. Her heart was racing, and her palms were sweaty as she grasped the small bronze door knob. How had these people gotten in? Why hadn't the alarm system gone off?

She couldn't even begin to bring herself to imagine what happened to her mother-in-law who was staying in their guest bedroom. An aged woman she was, confined to a wheelchair but still so full of life. She prayed she was all right, that nothing had happened to her. She twisted the door knob and went in.

Her little girl's room was done in lavender, all the plush animals stacked neatly in one corner. On the child-sized canopy bed Meena was asleep, apparently not having heard the sound of shattering glass. The girl's short curly locks were in disarray against her pillow, the beautiful eyes closed, lashes resting against her round cheeks like fans. She was to take Meena and run. That was what her husband had instructed her to do.

Just as she was about to step in and rouse her the sound of a gunshot echoed through the house. Nandita's heart skipped a beat. Was it her husband? Or her mother-in-law? Or had someone simply fired the shot to flush them out of hiding? She looked back at her sleeping child's form. With a breath, she closed the door as softly as she could and crept back down the hall. The landing was empty, nothing was out of place so she quietly went down the steps and turned into her mother-in-law's room.

The woman was asleep on her side, her back facing the door. Relief flooded through her and she went to wake the old woman. Her relief was short lived. As soon as she knelt on the bed, she felt the wetness on the sheets. Raising her hands, she saw the red stains of blood flooding the white linen. Her scream caught in her throat and she grabbed the woman's shoulder to turn her around. The bullet had passed into her forehead, forcing the blood to leak through her mouth and nose. The second had pierced her stomach.

"No...attai..." sobbed Nandita. Where was her husband? Before she could blink, another gunshot blasted upstairs. Nandita's blood ran cold. Had they found Meena? Abandoning the dead woman she ran back upstairs. The sight on the landing froze her numb.

"We thought you had escaped," one of the men said, laughing at the sight of her appearance. His disgusting mouth was filled with paan and tobacco stained teeth.

"Or rather, thought you had the common sense to," cackled his partner.

Behind him lay the crumpled form of her husband, lying in a pool of blood.

"Oh God! No!" Nandita ran to her husband's body. She took the bloody face on her lap, staining the already blood-soaked nightgown she was wearing. This was not happening. Her husband! He had been alive not more than a few minutes ago.

Her eyes widened as she realized her stupidity. She had left Meena alone!  Had they already killed her? She was a child! Did these cruel men know no mercy? Or perhaps Meena had heard the commotion and managed to slip outside? Even better, managed to find a discreet hiding spot where they couldn't find her? All these thoughts formed in her head, accompanied with the image of her daughter lying on her back, her lovely light brown eyes open and unseeing as a steady umbra of blood formed around her.