Yakshi , 1

 Yakshi , 1

Ashi turned the key in the heavy mahogany door and walked slowly in, in a slightly wayward tread. One inside, she casually flicked the light on. As darkness receded from her living room to be replaced by bright white light, she had second thoughts and switched the lights off. The heavy crimson & gold curtains were drawn apart and the room was now dimly illuminated through the windows by the reddish skylight that frequently occurred in coastal Kochi Sky. She took a moment to enjoy the darkness, it's anonymity, its sinuous seduction.. Smiling to herself, she started to tiptoe across the wooden floor, towards the tall French windows. This was a sensitive maneuver, since she had to avoid disturbing any of her opinionated flatmates, who were used to changing their sleeping places frequently, and without prior information.

Despite her best efforts to be discreet, she was making substantial noise as her designer heels tick-tocked and made the wood boards creak every time they descended. Feeling a bit adventurous, she untied the flimsy shoulder strings that held up her modesty. She felt a rush of sexy as her white satin gown slipped away to her ankles and was duly bid adieu to as she kept walking towards the windows. She was wryly aware that there were four other persons in the house any or all of whom might be awake..watching in careful silence. She had reached the windows to look down and away, the palms swaying gently in the midnight breeze, the thatched roofs of fisherman's huts, the silver brown sands glistening in the skylit night, and the waves of the infinite sea. The waves, tonight more than on other nights, rocked rhythmically back and forth, under full and willing control of the moon's gravitational pull. Ashi, too, felt the waves inside her rock back and forth, more assertive, more opinionated, and horny as hell, this moonlit night

Ashi stood next to the glass, taking it all in,hypnotized, for what felt like an hour when the absurdity of it all suddenly struck her. She was standing next to a full glass window wearing nothing but her flimsy lingerie, heels and some junk jewellery. Anyone could see her in this State . Perhaps someone should. There could be people in the courtyard of her apartment complex below, but that was 7 floors away and it was past midnight in early-to-bed Kochi. The people in the fishermen colony could, theoretically, but it just looked close from her vantage point, in reality were 2 kms away. Her apartment mates could, for sure, but she was comfortable in her skin with them, no issues there. So, flash we shall, tonight, to the world and anyone who is awake and looking in her direction shall be rewarded!

She gingerly reached her left hand behind her back and hesitated a moment, the way a rookie soldier hesitates before pumping his first bullet into another human's flesh. She sighed and took in the moment and then solitude of this pre monsoon , muggy Kochi twilight. She unclipped the single hook that stood between her excited heart and the sleeping wolves of the world. In this moment, she felt a wave of liberation as the layer of man made norms slipped away to make way for a real, organic, holy, naked connection with the world around her

As her bra made its way to her ankles, charting a slow, laborious path on the slender, athletic body, she jumped in surprise as she felt warm, hairy skin rubbing across her left ankle.

This started a mayhem that quickly spun out of control. As she tried to piece it together later, she did remember saying hello to Guru on her way from the entrance to the windows. He must've followed her quietly and lay at her feet, waiting for the right time to express his love. When he did, however, she had forgotten about meeting him earlier and reacted reflexively, jumping up startled & surprised. When she landed, though, it was on his tail and he let out a bloodcurdling yell that woke up all the others who promptly appeared out of the dark corners of the house to see who was murdering their brother. Not to save, not to intervene, but only to watch now & chat later about. Suddenly stunned ,and concisely concious of her nudity,  Ashi lost her balance and fell right on Guru, crushing him to an early, unfortunate , hazaar painful demise.

She quickly threw on her shorts & t shirt, and rushed the lifeless body of Guru to the vet, who, after making noises about being woken up late at night by irresponsible spinsters, pronounced the cat dead on arrival. Ashi, who had been caressing Guru lovingly this far, lost her cool and frantically slapped the poor cat across his face, getting a response that befit lifeless wood. She looked around the clinic and noticed an rudimentary electroconvulsion machine, typically used on post heart attack humans, that gives a one in 10000 chances of recovery. She did remember that the vet's wife was a cardiologist and might have kept this machine just in case someone insisted on it. She grabbed the terminals and flicked the switch before the vet could react. 2 cruel shocks later, Guru was still as dead as he had arrived. In a last ditch effort of despair, she put her mouth on the cat's and blew hard while squeezing his chest, over and over in patterns of 3,2..1!! The torture went on as Dr Varyar warily looked on wearily from behind his thick spectacles, his 2 decades of experience smirking at the futility of what this foolish woman was trying to do. He sighed and took out his billbook , messily scribbling night call charges, in addition to the regular visiting fee on the cheap pink paper. He calculated the total , first mentally and then again on the dusty Casio calculator, before he finally signed off.  Voila! The cat coughed and feebly stood on his feet, shaking itself from side to side.

Dr Varyar adjusted his glasses, and watched in rapt amazement as the now resurrected cat walked away in a dignified limp with his caretaker, the notorious neighborhood witch. Dr Varyar , the serious vet,  tore the bill as he found  his way to his equally serious car. 

-Shankar