Freinds Forever

Yash Narayan was in a pensive mood. He was pacing back and forth on the concrete floor of his jail cell. His voice was shaky. “You shouldn’t be here any longer, Vijay. You got to go…gotta leave.”

“Not now…not till I’m ready,…not till we are finished.”

“We are finished.”

“Incorrect. We will be finished when I wish so, not until then.”

“But….”

“Cut that. Shut your trap.”

“Shhh…easy, someone will hear you.”

“Like I care..”

“Vijay…”

“I bet you have told them all bout me. I am so sure you put the killing all on me.”

“No, I didn’t. I would never do that.”

“You are a damn liar.”

“Really. No. I didn’t say a word. I…”

“I should have never trusted you. I should have known.”

“Please, Vijay..”

“Please, Vijay..” Vijay mimicked. “You are a coward. A Loser. Yash is a loser, Yash is a loser.”

Yash buried his head in his arms, pressed his ears with his hands, but Vijay’s words kept hammering him. “Loser, Loser, Loser.”

“Stop that, Please.”

“You couldn’t hold on and shut your trap. So you went and hid behind the Police’s shade. You sissy, momma’s boy.”

“You…you didn’t have to kill her.”

“You heard her. She thought you were crazy, a freak.”

"She didn't. She only said she thought I should see a doctor...wanted me to get help."

"Help? You fool. She wanted to have you locked away in an asylum. That's what she wanted."

"No! That's not true ."

"It is. She wanted you locked up forever. Like an animal in a cage."

"There had to be some other way, Vijay. There had to be."

"You weakling. I should have done you right after the old bag. Before you could start blabbering my name about."

"I haven't. I won't." "That's right. You won't. Not anymore."

"What do you mean? What are you doing? What––" Yash let out a strangled scream, then Vijay had him by the throat.

* * *

Inspector Rathore tore his glance away from the twisted figure on the cell's floor, and ran a hand through his graying hair. "D’Souza and I heard the commotion, but by the time we got in here...."

"It's not your fault, Inspector," Dr. Pandey said. "No one could have seen this coming."

Rathore scowled and shook his head. "We had Yash dead to rights as his mother's killer. Scratch marks on his face, his skin under her nails. Yet, he kept insisting somebody named Vijay had done it. We checked around town, but, of course, no one ever heard of the guy."

Inspector D’Souza stuck his head in from the front room. "Inspector, Fernandez from the Gazette is here. And Anuj from the radio station. What do I tell them?"

"Give each of them a cup of coffee. I'll be right out." Rathore swung back on the doctor. "So Doc, what do we tell them? Murder or suicide?"

Dr. Pandey stared down once more at the bizarre scene, at Yash's lifeless form on the jail cell floor, at the man's hands fastened on his own neck in a death grip. "I guess murder––by his own hands."