Another very short extract from my unpublished novel-The Little Victims.

Neha raised her arms in a luxurious stretch. Phew! She had a good sleep, a good dreamless sleep, her joints cracked with the leisurely twist of her body. Ah. There was indeed an ineffable joy in waking up to a new day, to a Sunday, no class, no college. A new day was a new beginning full of hope, joy and promise.

She turned around to her left, stretched out her hand for Sumer, and as her hand touched nothing but the empty bed-sheet, she opened her eyes slowly and started coming back to the living world. Sumer was not around to herald this new day? Where was he? The bed-room light was on. She looked at the bedside clock, it 6. this was the time she would invariable get out of bed leaving Sumer to sleep out his dreams and snores for another hour, she got up, rubbing sleep from her eyes and walked bare for toward the dining space. There was no one then but the entire house was flooded in light. The lights were on in the toilet, kitchen and study. What was Sumer up to? She suddenly remembered Sumer telling her at 3 O’clock, that he was sweating, and that she was practically jotting down some new story idea in the study, or may be completing the essay on lizards, what a topic to write an essay on? She thought. But what we be doing in three places at the same time? The toilet door was ajar? Had he merely paid a nocturnal visit to it? She entered the study stealthily, hoping to catch him red-handed in the act of polishing off the unfinished cake in the fridge. But no! He wasn’t there! But the traces of his being there – were! The study looked earth, quake ravaged, the writing table was in a mess, the waste-paper bin was upside down, many of the books were lying on the floor, so, Sumer had got one of his brainwaves, after all. She flicked the pages of the essay, a few more sentences had been added, he had been here, but where is he now? Yes, the kitchen, that’s it, with the agility of a cat, she rushed toward the kitchen but not before she had restored some order in the study.