Gradually the sounds died down. Silence returned to C-47. The guards, mongrels and lanes of Def Col returned to their customary afternoon stupor. At around 3 p.m., exactly three hours after Mrs Bindra’s return, Chottu knocked on my door. He seemed calm and distant. We didn’t greet each other. He brushed past me and gathered the knife and the rods. We didn’t exchange many words. He asked me to take care of myself and I asked him to do the same.

I went out on my cramped balcony. Sadiq was standing a little distance from the house, under a neem tree. I saw Chottu step out of the front gate. There wasn’t a soul in sight. Even the ironing lady had closed shop, it being time for her siesta. A cuckoo sang doggedly and insistently. A parrot shrieked somewhere.

Chottu signalled to Sadiq. He threw away the bidi he was smoking and began walking towards C-47. I heard them shuffle in quietly. Silence followed. After a minute or two I heard Mrs Bindra’s raised voice. She sounded more angry than scared, but then again, I could have been imagining things. Her voice vanished as abruptly as it had started up. The sound of loud hammering followed: the sound of Chottu and Sadiq forcing a lock open.

I stepped back into my room and bolted the door from the inside. Arpita was sitting on my bed, painting her toenails. I had a knife in my hand. I shut my eyes for what seemed like a very long time but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. I missed her terribly. I desperately wanted to hold her and press my nose into her breasts. I wanted to fall at her feet and suck her freshly polished toes.

I stand by the window overlooking the school playground. It is empty at this hour. Babblers hop about on the ground. They look as busy as ants, pecking at random, immersed in their ceaseless chatter.

After about twenty minutes I catch a glimpse of Chottu and Sadiq walking down the part of the road that curves around the edge of the playground. They are on foot and carrying one bag each. They could be going shopping, getting madam’s mixie fixed. Within seconds they have turned the corner and are out of my field of vision.

I know I am never going to see them again. They are going to start anew. I wish I could do the same. Murder has liberated them but trapped me in this horrible prison. They have a plan; I don’t.