... the lick of comfort....

".... do u have to leave?" asked Sarita looking at her workaholic husband with the most pleading eyes she could come up with.1

"Baccha... you know this deal is really important for our company.. if i get this, i might be considered for a promotion Sari "2

Sarita hated being called baby.. it always made her feel.. well like a damn baby! But she really wasn't asking for too much now was she. 3

'Married for only one bloody month and Mr Kiss Boss's Ass is already going on a overseas tour...'4

"But i don't want to be alone, this place is new to me... i get scared easy.. you know that.." she went on ".. what if someone tries to break in and kills me... don't you care about me!... Dev im talking to YOU!"5

She missed the urban life.. oh what she would do for a night out with the girls at Mumbai's latest 'Flamez Club'. Moving into the wilder side of Mumbai absolutely disgusted her. The tiny flats, the rowdy drunk road-side romeos.. the only consolation was Dev, but now that he was leaving what was the friggin' point!6

She tried everything, threatened to go to her mothers, run away with her x... everything, but to her everything, Dev had an answer. A calm and simple "im doing this for us... then we can get out of here and i can give you the life that you deserve"7

So off he went on his stupid plane with promises that he will call everynight.8

The first two nights alone freaked her out big time, the cat calls outside on the streets, the constant flow of drunkards and druggies. She was too afraid to even step out of her house, 'How the hell does Dev manage here alone...' she found herself wondering many times. But the calls from Dev calmed her down... then three days later.. the calls stopped, he was just far too busy.9

She managed to survive one more night... but the morning paper brought news of a womans death. The woman used to live right opposite her.....10

The newspaper made no effort in hiding the grusome way in which she was killed.... she had been raped, the reports declared, stabbed five times which killed her, but not untill her hair had been almost pulled out from her scalp.. the work of a mad man for sure.... but the strange thing was... her hands were missing. 11

Sarita ,no doubt as you would have guessed, was at this point shit scared out of her wits, she couldn't contact Dev.. he wasn't picking up his cell... so like any normal (Scared to death) woman... she simply bought a dog. Not just any dog oh no... the pet store guy had said this fella was very good to his master but would shred anyone to bloody chunks if the master only commanded. 12

Now she felt so secure with her rottweiler who took his command post under her bed, that she din't miss that bastard Dev one bit (or so she said to herself). 13

.......................................................................14

Two weeks had gone by and Dev had called once to say that it was taking longer than he thought... she simply asked him to fuck off and hung up. Now she was an independent woman! No longer scared! but was utterly bored! Time to get out and get a job. And a job she found... a wonderful fun job doing interior decorating.. now she could stay away from her, no, correction Dev's dilapitated apartment the whole day! 15

Coming home one night with her trustly rott (she named him Dev) she flopped on her bed after a hard days work. She had been ignoring most of Dev's calls and also the news reporting the increased number of handless victims. She was not scared now! She was a woman of Mumbai!.. street smart and secure with Dev her dog.She couldn't quite remember if she had locked the front door... she stuck her hand under the bed, felt Dev's comforting lick and dozed off into a sweet deep slumber.16

.....She awoke that night to the sound of 'drip, drip, drip'... 'damn!' she thought... fuckin Dev (hubby) has a bloody leak in his apartment. She flipped the bedside light only to realize that there was no electricity. Another string of curses erupted out for her x beloved Dev.  Blindly she stuck her hand under every tap and water outlet she could think of... nothing. She went back to bed and stuck her hand under the bed, felt the dog lick her hands... but no the dripping was driving her crazy... even Dev's lick din't comfort her. Again, another round of investigating... fumbling in the drak with the infernally maddening 'drip, drip' drip' to give her company in the pitch darkness.17

........ On enterin the kitchen she felt her feet slip on something sticky... infact it was a pool of something sticky and it was collecting under her sink cabinet....18

Cautiously.. she opened the cabinet door.... to find the severed head of her dog!.. its tongue hung loose and its upper lip had a slight curl as if it had tried to growl.. the blood was drippin ever so slowly 'drip, drip, drip'.... our brave Sarita wasn't so brave anymore...19

she screamed and ran out of the kitchen with one terrible thought gnawing at the back of her head. 'Who the fuck had licked her hand!?'20

.. She ran upto the front door where she stopped and read the message (before she passed out).21

Written in blood on her door which stood ajar, the harsh moonlight showing the grotesque message....22

NO 1 REPLACES ME SARI.. UR HANDS TASTED GREAT!.. WILL BE BACK FOR THEM LATER.. DEV!.23