The Ice Factory

By Shamim Merchant

“Humesh, who calls a girlfriend to his friend’s ice factory for a romantic date?” Jeevika commented and burst into laughter; her voice resonating across the empty walls, as Humesh stood motionless in front of her. Unaware of his sinister mood, she went close to him, wrapped her arms around his waist and looked into his eyes lovingly, “As soon as you messaged, my previous anger melted away like fragile ice. I’m sure you’ve called me for some good news.”

Humesh and Jeevika had been dating for two years and now Jeevika was forcing him to tie the knot with her. Obviously, she was being pressured from home. In their time together, what Jeevika failed to understand was that Humesh was a playboy and had no intentions of marrying her. To reach the pinnacle of success, he was willing to run through fire and ice, and Jeevika was a huge obstacle between him and his dreams. Humesh’s modus operandi was to lure Jeevika into this clandestine meeting with the fake promise of a lucrative relationship in future.

Currently, standing in the ice factory, Humesh disentangled himself from Jeevika’s hold, stepped back and stuffed his hands in his pocket. His expressions remained emotionless, making Jeevika anxious. “Humesh?”

In the very next second, he quickly strangled her neck with the earphone wire and clutched a death grip on it, until after a frantic fruitless struggle, Jeevika thudded to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Wiping the sweat off his face, Humesh kicked her deceased body, crouched next to her and patted her cheeks. “Sorry darling, but you were becoming a pain in the neck.”

Picking up Jeevika, he went and dumped her in the largest cold storage of the ice factory. This place was especially chosen for reasons more than one: it was close for the weekend, he didn't have to take Jeevika's corpse anywhere and most importantly; he could freeze her body in an attempt to disguise the time of death. He would incinerate her after a few days, now it was best that he absconded before falling prey to any eye-witnesses.

His wallet carrying all his Id proofs had fallen out in the wrestle of killing Jeevika. However by the time he realized this, God had played a trick upon him. Without any forecast, the city was flooded in the most dangerous thunderstorm of the year, compelling the municipality to cut down electricity in the entire region. Besides the week-long downpour and power failure, another aspect gave Humesh cold feet; news of a 23 year old girl missing had become the talk of the town. Not wanting to get apprehended for his diabolical crime, Humesh packed a bag and hit the road.

Nobody knew why, but out of the blue the ice factory was shut down overnight. Fifteen days later when all was calm, a man was passing by that unit. The offensive stink coming from inside, sent a chill down his spine as he scrunched his nose and puked on the asphalt pavement nearby. Feeling utterly horrified, quivering like a leaf, the man fished out his mobile phone and dialed 100!!

By Shamim Merchant