You Did Nothing Wrong!

Suitcase in hand, you head to the station. You know running away is not right. After all, you did nothing wrong. You did not kill Aleena. She was just lying on the floor at the entrance of the house. You thought she had passed out after attending another of her crazy parties the previous night. You walked closer to see her and figured out that she was lying still. You shook her. She was not breathing. At this moment, you lost your senses. Instead of calling up the emergency helpline or police or even a friend, you just dragged her body inside the house.

You did not know what to do. You picked up her limp body clad in a pink striped crop top and ripped denim jeans. It was the same linen top she wore on your wedding anniversary about nine months ago. You stopped yourself from reminiscing about the anniversary and laid her on the bed. You noticed a strange smile on her face. You tried not looking at her. You just had no idea what to do. You kept telling yourself that there was nothing wrong that you had done. After all, you were in the house all night waiting for her to return. You just remember making that one call to her that led to an altercation. You were too drunk yourself. Aleena and you were going through a rough patch, hoping that one day things would get resolved on their own. Her frequency of late night outings went up and so did your pegs of whisky every night. 

You regret now coming to the station. You decide to go back home but there is something that is stopping you. You try to recollect what happened last night. You drank. You called her up. You had a heated argument. You drank some more. And then you went into the room. You woke up today at 8 am. Late by an hour. You picked up your phone. There were two missed calls. Both from Aleena. One at 1:58 am and the other at 2:01 am. There was also a text message at 2:05 am. It was again from her. You read it - Can you open the door please? I forgot to carry my keys. You locked your phone screen. Of course you were too drunk and too tired to have heard the phone ring or message beep or even the doorbell. You went up to the door. It was not closed surprisingly. Why didn’t Aleena simply get in, you think. Or why did her friends not wait for her to get into the house, you ask yourself as you stand at the station. You then look up at the train information screen wondering where should you be headed to?

You decide to go back home. You now feel stupid running away from the house for no fault of yours. You hail a cab and keep thinking if the police would have reached the house by now. And if the neighbours would have gathered as well. You reach home in 20 minutes. There is no police car. There are no neighbours gathered. You pay the cab driver and walk toward the house. 

You open the house lock. You see Aleena in her night gown, sitting in the living room, sipping coffee while reading a book! She looks at you and raises her eyebrows in curiosity, looking at your suitcase. You feel so foolish. You shrug your shoulders and give her a confused look before going to the bedroom. You drop your suitcase on the floor as soon as you look at the bed. There is a woman lying on the bed. How can Aleena be here too, you wonder? The same face. The same smile. The same pink striped crop top. You go closer to the bed. There is nobody now. You shake your head in disbelief. You begin to doubt yourself. You are not on any medication too. You take a deep breath and go to the living room. 

“Where were you going?” Aleena asks you this time.

“I don’t know!” you answer, sounding vague.

“Maybe we can go on a vacation,” she says.

You are taken aback by her reply.

She gets up from the sofa and comes closer to you, kneeling by your chair. 

“I have been thinking about us all night yesterday,” she says.

“Thinking about us... at the party?” You tell yourself in the head but do not say it aloud. You would like to make things work out too with her. After all it is just a rough patch that you both are going through after being married for nearly four years.

“I know last night was bad, we fought over such a trivial thing and then I went to sleep!” she says in a soft voice.

“You slept?” you ask her unbelievingly. 

“Yes!” she answers. “You kept on drinking and despite my asking you to stop... you didn’t, remember?” she continues.

You can not believe what you are hearing. 

“You were too drunk to remember, I guess!” she says with a sad smile.

You smile back at her. As far as you can remember you were alone at home. 

“Yes, I do not remember!” you say truthfully. 

“Ok, so let us actually go to a nice place next weekend! Let’s make this work out!” she says, placing her hands on your thighs. You smile. You bend down and kiss her forehead. She smiles and gets up to go to the kitchen to keep her coffee mug back.

You check your phone and run through the call log. There are no calls from Aleena this morning. You then go through your messages. There is no message from her either. You cannot believe this. You do not remember deleting any message or the call records! All old messages are still there.

Why was the day turning out to be so baffling, you wonder. Maybe you should stop drinking. But you are sure of all the events that took place since you woke up this morning. 

It is 6 pm now. Aleena comes to you. 

“Shall we get ready now?” She asks.

“Get ready for...?” You ask.

She looks at you worryingly.  

“Have you forgotten this too? We are to go to my cousin’s house for dinner...Saturday night ritual of taking turns for dinner, remember?” she says.

You suddenly remember but can feel your head beginning to ache.

“Can I skip it, please? My head is really hurting,” you say to her gently.

“Ok, but promise me you won’t drink tonight,” she says, looking at you pleadingly.

“Promise!” you answer. In fact you anyway want to keep away from alcohol, especially tonight. 

She smiles and goes to the room to get dressed. 

You finally decide to put the eerie events of the day behind and switch on the television, thinking of watching a nice movie. 

Aleena then comes out of the room and you look at her. You freeze! She is wearing the pink striped crop top and ripped denim jeans! She comes and kisses you on your cheek, before rushing out of the house with the car keys. You look at the key-holder nailed at the wall next to the entrance door and notice that Aleena has left the house without taking her set of house keys along.