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The other husband

World 1 source 1 country 🔦 Under-reported 11m ago

It was the most horrible dream I have ever had. I woke up from it profusely sweating, my heart pounding against my chest like a wild bird trying to break out of a trap. An old-fashioned zero-watt bulb was casting an eerie red glow over the otherwise tastefully decorated room.

“I am at my in-laws’ house,” I recalled. Every picture from that dream was still fresh. Lost in a dark wilderness, I am trying to find my way.

I suddenly hear a growling sound and, at a distance, discern an unknown creature ferociously tearing apart its prey. As I come on the scene, the creature leaps into the darkness. In the light of my torch, I see the corpse of a young man—his elegant face intact, but his limbs half mutilated.

Horrified, I shine my torch into the darkness in search of the predator. The beam of my torch carves a garish hole in the dark and suddenly I catch a ghastly figure. It is a woman standing just a few yards away from the corpse, staring back at me—her eyes reflecting the beam of light like a cat's.

Her face, nightgown and hands are covered in blood, but I cannot mistake her. Sitting up in bed, I reached for my bottle of water. I could still hear the ferocious growl, still see the mutilated body, still feel the suffocating darkness pressing against my skin.

For several minutes I remained motionless, listening to the slow ticking of a wall clock somewhere outside the room. The silence seemed unnatural, as though the entire house had stopped breathing. Maria was in a deep sleep on the gigantic bed that had probably been part of the dowry from her first marriage.

Summary from source
Read the full story at the source Express Tribune (Karachi, Pakistan) · PK
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