Hungry Couple Revisited

Like always, the police team, headed by inspector Rabindra Narayan Khanna Chakraborty, could not prevent the crime. They arrived at the Chaterjees' abode moments after Rajath and Ayesha had sliced through the blue-eyed child. What could have been a case of kidnapping, turned in to a murder case because the head constable, Nakshatra, could not hold his bladder a while longer. A little while earlier, he had created a ruckus and forcibly stopped the Police Jeep to relieve himself, while urgently rounding up the area, following a tip-off. Not strangely though, he was convinced that the neatly cut body parts are better evidence than a traumatised six years old boy. And because of him, the Police now have a stronger case.

As is every organisation's wont, the district Police heralded the valour and bravery displayed by constable Nakshatra in tackling down Rajath to public, politicians and media. While once among the secure, secretive grounds of the department, he would be ridiculed and cold-shouldered by even old friends who believed his wooden bladder had cost a boy his life and a couple, their child. All this could not and did not deter or disappoint him for he knew that they will come around like they always have, forgiving him through a twenty-year long career of goof-ups. Besides, he did act bravely, and somewhat stupidly, in pinning down that violent Rajath alone while letting the lanky, uncoordinated inspector, Rabindra, handle the feline woman Ayesha. That Rabindra came through the scuffle with a lot of scratches and bites is not his problem.

Despite the exhaustion and the odd wound, he had insisted a return to the house along with the investigation party. What the team found was as strange as strange itself. The couple had been living a life as respectable as was possible in this dilapidated house; the floor was clean, although it was missing entire blocks in places. The remains of a mattress, what served as a bed, were made as properly as the rags covering it would allow. There was even a make-up box which had been used recently. The Chaterjees could have very well been a couple who had fallen on hard times were it not for the grotesque stench emerging from the kitchen. Roughened-up, as the team was, two of the members still could not hold back their vomit and puked all over the place, part of the liquid even landing on the recently cut-up boy's arms.

After the sick men were rushed out, Arnab, olfactory tolerance heightened by a lifetime of cooking fish, opened the fridge. The sight could make Idi Amin proud; a fridge stacked up with human bones and dripping with blood, probably human too. The top shelf was filled with skulls while the longer arms and legs occupied the lower shelves. Backbones were neatly cut in to two; perhaps they were too long to fit in any shelf. Even the egg slots were put to use by storing fingers and toes there.

As he took in the sight and comprehended the magnitude of the arrest, Nakshatra silently swore that he would not let them die easy. They will have to pay for what they have done. The court may take its course and deliver its verdict but until then, he will personally make the hungry couple's lives a living hell. The department was used to such practices to extract information out of detainees. There would be, however, no bargaining and hence no stopping this time around. 

Every day, for the next week, Nakshatra would get up early, go straight to the station and lock himself up with the monsters. One after the other, punishments followed like a schedule. First, they were hung upside down and beaten until he tired. Then they were suffocated alternately in a plastic bag for 3 mins. each. When they used to pass out, they were jerked awake by mild electric shocks. After forcing them to lick their lunch from the ground, with hands tied behind their backs, he spent the evening watching them shivering on giant ice blocks. 

His superiors silently agreed with his ways and turned a blind eye to the daily ritual. Nakshatra had been asked to take just one precaution; both the convicts should have their hands tied behind them whenever he left the cell. He was free to undo the cuffs and even some joints when inside the cell. On his part, Nakshatra followed it to the tee until the 6th day.

Nearing retirement, he had decided that this case shall be his absolution. This couple will be punished for every soul they had tortured and he will win some respect in the bargain. Through the cruelties meted out, Nakshatra could virtually see his colleagues melting and accepting him. The coldness displayed on the first couple of days was now lukewarm, if not outright warm. And this kept him going on through the pleading eyes, the desperate screams for mercy and the repeated begging to put a bullet through their heads. Yes, no colleague of his could stand all this and carry on imparting justice.

The requisite coldness was a rare quality. If only he had been a bit more careful or had that crucial bit of luck on his side, he could have retired very high up. For he was brave, smart and decidedly apathetic to criminals; traits that could guarantee success, but he always let things slip at crucial junctures. The bank robbery where he mistook the robbers as civilians, the drug-raid where he accidently sniffed a bit too much and passed out, letting the smugglers escape. After every such mess, his colleagues sniggered behind his back while his seniors denied him promotion after promotion.

Everything was going the same way as the past six days. So much so, that Nakshatra was a bit bored and wondered if he should introduce some new methods. It could be interesting to see their reaction. The couple had been trying fruitlessly to search for a shred of warmth by covering each other on that ice slab when Nakshatra’s bladder revolted again. So much was the pressure that he ran straight to the toilet, foregoing repeated instructions to cuff them. It had not slipped off his mind but what could the battered bodies do in a couple of minutes.

As he returned from this exceptionally long bathroom break, he kicked the cell door which refused to budge. Surprised, he kicked again and almost at the same moment, found the reason for the door’s stubborn behaviour. A handcuff was tied to a rod in the door and to another in the door frame, holding the door in its place. He cursed himself for having left the cuff-key inside the cell. His angry eyes blazed fire, searching for the couple in the cell and the expression changed to pure astonishment as soon as he spotted them.

Crouched in the corner farthest from the cell, the couple was hugging and kissing each other silently. Oh no, it wasn’t hugging and kissing. The couple was biting each other’s neck off and digging nails in to the other to check their screams. As he frantically tried to undo the cuff with a pin, he could see blood dripping from both necks. He finally took out his service revolver and in the third attempt, shot the door open. As he ran towards the strange creatures, they desperately took one last bite and collapsed on the floor. When Nakshatra separated them, all that was left was two lifeless bodies with large, gaping holes in their necks from where blood spluttered out. He then spotted tears on those calm faces.

Disclaimer: Only the names are inspired, not the characters.