The Jerry Incident
“Hey!”
As Sara picked up her ringing phone, Jerry’s dusky voice hit her ears. After a hard day’s work, it felt like a warm blanket on a cold winter night.
“Hey, you! How was your day?”
“Same old, same old…. well, with one exception.”
“Oh! Tell me!” Sara took the receiver off the cordless set and ambled to the window. This was her favourite place. She had spent countless hours looking at the Kolkata skyline and talking to Jerry. It has been 7 years since she moved to Kolkata. A lot has happened since then. There was a time when she would be afraid to even step out of her house but here she is now. A new city, new hopes and dreams. Kolkata had embraced her kindly and she had metamorphosed into this sensuous and capable young lady. She turned her head and some of her torso to look at the mirror on the wall and tucked her mildly curly hair behind her ears with her free hand. Today was a good hair day. Her co-worker had complimented her on how well her hair looked today. She had blushed.
“Hello?? You there?”
Jerry’s slightly annoyed, slightly concerned voice brought her back to reality. She had a habit of suddenly losing herself to her lightning-fast train of thoughts. She grinned sheepishly.
“Yes, yes! I’m here. I’m all ears…tell me, you were saying?”
She heard Jerry sigh on the other end and felt a tiny bit guilty but she discarded the feeling as soon as it had started and focused her attention solely on Jerry’s voice.
“I got a raise today.”
There was pride in his voice and a hint of relief.
“Amazing Jerry! I knew it! I prayed for you; you know?”
“Yeah!”
“So, are we celebrating tonight?”
Sara could imagine Jerry smirking.
“Oh yes, we are. Why don’t you come over to my place? I just finished work and I will reach in about 30 mins. We can plan something.”
“Sure thing. See you then.”
“See you”
It was almost half-past eight when Sara reached Jerry’s place — a small quiet place in Bow Barracks. Sara never liked this place. She found it horrid and damp. If it was up to her, she would have whisked Jerry out to someplace else. As she climbed up the stairs to an old and shabby red building with exposed bricks and minor broken glasses, the stairs creaked under her weight. Sara decided to give Jerry an ultimatum. He earned well enough to afford a place anywhere in Kolkata, but he still chose to live like a pauper here. He just couldn’t let go of this place — a lot of memories, he says.
Jerry wasn’t home yet. Sara decided to let herself in and wait. He should be home soon. She took out an old key from her handbag and opened the door. She was greeted with pitch-black darkness. Sighing, she closed the door, and her practised fingers found the light switch on the wall. She flicked all the switches and the small apartment lit up instantly. So many memories…
The creaking of stairs announced Jerry’s arrival and as he burst the door open, Jerry’s face was a sight to behold. Sara gave a mini scream as soon as her eyes lay on him. Jerry just stood there, panting, supporting his average-build body by the door frame. His shirt was soaked in sweat and his face had lost all its colour. Sara was quick to recover as she jumped up from the chair and rushed to the door and promptly hugged Jerry and let her bosom be the comfort for his tired head.
“Shhhhhh….shhh…shhh. It’s going to be alright! You are safe now,” she whispered in her ear.
After a couple of minutes, Jerry’s breathing turned normal and he hugged her back. Jerry felt safe in the arms of his woman. Slowly Sara led Jerry to his bed and made him sit down. Jerry automatically fell back and laid down, staring at the ceiling. A moment later he felt something cold touch his arm and found Sara standing beside him with a glass of water. He tried sitting up and felt a sting of sharp pain in his chest and he winced. Clutching his chest, he got up and drank the whole glass of water in one go. The pain disappeared as suddenly as it had come and left Jerry in a confused state. He jabbed himself with a finger all over his chest to figure out what was going on.
“Should we visit Dr Chatterjee?” Sara was looking at her quizzically.
“And what good will that do? I am sure this is just gas. I had too much telebhaja with the guys anyway,” Jerry responded. He was grinning now with a sheepish look on his face.
“You! Mr Jerry Martin, you are incorrigible!”
“Oh! Come on now! Let it go. Let’s celebrate.”
Sara gave up and smiled. “You will have to make it up for scaring me and not taking care of yourself!”
“Yes, yes. I will. Now tell me, do you want to go out somewhere and enjoy ourselves?”
Sara had a mischievous look on her face. “Na..aaan…. I want to stay just here.” She put one finger on Jerry’s forehead and gently pushed him down on the bed. She kicked open her shoes and climbed on top of him.
“So this is what you had in mind,” Jerry said grabbing Sara by her hips. Suddenly he extended his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Sara could only let out a tiny gasp while Jerry rolled her over, getting on top of her. He looked at the view between his legs. It was nothing short of a miracle that Sara too had fallen for Jerry. She looked stunning. Her hair was scattered around the pillow in a welcome mess and her long eyelashes were beckoning Jerry with unparalleled ferocity. Her eyes were closed but her slightly parted red lips gleamed in the semi-darkness of the tiny apartment. Her hands were lightly curled into small fists and Jerry got a hold of those half-open fingers and filled the spaces between them.
Suddenly Jerry felt a sharp pain in his chest. The strange thing about it was that it disappeared as soon as it started. It felt as if someone had stabbed him with a needle and quickly pulled it away. Jerry decided to ignore it and focus on Sara. Still having possession of her fingers, he held them tightly and slowly extended her arms above her while carefully lowering himself on her lips. Sara felt the warm and moist breath of Jerry on her face and she extended her lips forward, giving Jerry access. As Jerry held her lips in his, gently and playfully at first and quite hungrily a few moments later, he felt his brain disintegrating in pleasure. His throbbing manhood urged him to take Sara without a moment’s delay but he had been with Sara for a long time to know when to shift gears.
Jerry, like an expert slowly worked his way towards Sara’s neck and ears. He knew they were her weak spot. A little effort on these would make Sara like putty in his hands. He moved his lips towards Sara’s left ear and whispered suddenly, “Nobody can ever replace you!” He felt Sara shiver a little and he dove in and gave her ear a small lick before sinking his teeth on her neck as if marking his territory. Sara’s lips expelled a moan which was too well-known for Jerry.
As he slowly worked his way down Sara, Jerry suddenly became aware of a dull pain in his chest which was now working its way down to his stomach. Nothing alarming, but very distracting. Jerry tried to ignore it and shifted his focus with some effort on removing Sara’s dress without killing the mood. Before he could get very far, the throbbing pain, which was just a distraction a moment before, increased in intensity and Jerry felt as if someone had kicked his stomach from inside. Jerry, in a moment of panic, stumbled and fell back with a thud on the floor and stayed there, curled up in a ball, clutching his stomach and letting out a terrifying groan.
It took Sara a few seconds to realize what had happened. She sat up, alarmed.
“Jerry!” She exclaimed. “Are you alright?” She could see Jerry on the floor.
Without waiting for his reply she slid off the bed and held him in her arms. She was horrified to look at the terror on Jerry’s face. The face was cherry red and the eyes seemed to bulge out to the extent of popping out of the socket. The dimness of the apartment seemed to add to the effect.
She almost fainted when she looked at his stomach. It was as if something was trapped inside, pushing against his skin. Suddenly Sara became aware of a screeching sound apart from Jerry’s painful screams. Sara didn’t have to second guess where this was coming from.
She recoiled in horror and a chill ran down her spine as Jerry’s body started to twist into an arch with his stomach extending outwards. As she just kept on looking, suddenly there was a tear in his stomach. A small tear, but big enough for Sara to make out a sinister-looking eye inside the gap. She let out a scream as she stumbled onto her feet. Her scream seemed to agitate the beholder of the eye and it let out a blood-curling screech and shook more violently. A pungent smell of rotten eggs and old unwashed clothes spread throughout the apartment. It hit Sara with such unexpectedness that it took every inch of self-control to not give in and vomit.
Something in her brain told Sara to get as far away as possible from this. Gagging and clutching her mouth she ran towards the door. As she started working on the latch, Jerry’s screams and the screech of the creature mixed as one. With cold trembling fingers, she could finally undo the latch and swung the door open. The last thing she saw as she tightly shut the door behind her was Jerry’s terrified face, twisted in horror and pain and the gleaming body of a creature just beginning to emerge from his stomach.
