Deadlock For Eternity

I peeped into the room and saw her watching inane TV daily Soap. My mind buzzed with confusion. She should not be here. Something was horribly wrong.

“Can you stop spying on me, please? It’s creepy” She called above the TV noise. I came out of the shadows and stood in front of her.

“This is creepy? “I stared at her in disbelief “And you just sitting here watching TV is not creepy?”

 “What is creepy about it?” she responded ignorantly.

“You are dead! We shouldn’t be having audible conversations” I crashed into the sofa. It’s not every day that you talk to your dead wife.

 “Stop being absurd, I am not dead” she waved her hands off in the air like I was talking rubbish, the way she dismisses my every opinion on everything.

“There is a body in our backyard to prove that” I paced up and down, trying to figure out what was happening.

“Maybe you imagined it” she suggested reluctantly “Like a wishful dream” her lips curl into a taunting smile.

“I did not dream it. I killed you. I mixed the poison in your drink and you drank it and yet you are here… why?” I pressed my temples in frustration.

 “Maybe you did not mix the poison all the way, like the way you never mix the sugar in the coffee ....” Her sharp eyes criticized me.

“I mixed it well” I gritted my teeth at her.

“Then maybe you killed someone else. You used to mix up simple things like the grocery list” She loved nick picking my faults.

“No ,I think you are just a dead Spirit” I tried to make sense out of her existence.

She looked at me amused “oh really, what makes you think that?”

“You are walking through the walls and vanishing in the thin air at wish. You are dead” I eyed her irritated.

“Did you try to pass through the wall? Maybe we both are dead” she suggested teasingly. But a small part of me panicked. As ludicrous as her theory seemed to be, I had to check it. I looked at the wall in front of me and headed straight towards it. With a bang, I collided right into it. The laws of physics still applied to me.

She chuckled with evil ring in her voice “Oh you are so gullible”

” You need to go” I bellowed.

 “Go where?” her brows furrowed in confusion.

“I DON”T KNOW” I sighed in frustration “Don’t you see any bright light or something.. just walk towards it..”

“I won’t see that until my last wish is fulfilled” she morosely floats through the wall into the kitchen.
  “Last wish to rob me of my inheritance? Well, too late for that isn’t it?” I grinned at her.

“Is that all you ever thought about me?” Her eyes were filled with hurt “My last wish was to have one romantic night to reconcile our marriage. But you used that very same night to coerce me into death”

I just chuckled at her patently false emotions.

She sighed “Well believe what you want, I don’t see myself going anywhere until I get my last wish”

I stared at her exasperated. I wouldn’t want to live with her spirit for the rest of my life. It was best to just get over with her last wish.

“Fine! Let’s carry on with your last wish. What were we doing last night before….” I tried to recall last few minute before she choked to death.

“Before you killed me?” she completed my though plainly” I was about to give you a surprise”

“A surprise?” I eyed her watchfully.

“Yes, It’s under the bookshelves” she pointed towards the wooden rack. A small gift wrapped box sat hidden between two books. I opened it to find a beautiful watch I had been saving for long.

“You were looking at it when we went shopping last time, so I saved for few months and got from my savings…”her eyes were sad. Guilt surged through me. Had I rushed things to a point of no return? Did I really ruin my chance at a happy marriage?

 “Don’t be too sad. At least I am getting my last wish now. Let’s have a toast to our tragic love story” She smiled and raised an empty glass towards me. I filled my glass with a drink.

“Be careful, Don’t use the same drink you served me..” she said. I felt my heart ache at her concern. I made a fresh glass for me and plopped few ice cubes into it.

“You always liked the ice” she looked at me lovingly. I could not say a word. She still remembered everything I liked.

“To the love, we could never mend..” her sad eyes locked to mine and I felt myself longing for her, wishing for her to come back alive. I sipped the drink and felt something wrong. The air was closing down on my throat. I collapsed on the floor suffocating while she stared down at me with a cunning smile.

I opened my eyes with the view of her staring out of the window.

“What did you do?” I screamed at her in horror as I saw my body lying down. I was dead.

She smiled” Oh I see my bright light honey. I got my last wish. You are finally dead! “

“NO! How could it be? There was no poison in my drink”

“Yes, but there was in the Ice. You just did not take it the other night when you killed me. Or else it would have been you who died first “

I looked around in panic”Why don’t I see the bright light. Where should I go?”

“Oh you need to fulfill your last wish for that”

“But my last wish was to have you back in life..”

“Well then, it’s a deadlock for eternity honey”

She smiled and melted into thin air.

Note: This is a story written for a 1000 words short story competition. 

Priyanka mathur