"You have diabetes; you shouldn't eat sweets," Madhu said as she licked the old woman's strawberry-flavored round lollipop.

The music from the vinyl record player filled the entire room. Madhu digged the old music and tapped her hands on the table.

The old woman didn't answer anything. She was dead with her head laid down on the table; her tea had spilled over the table and mixed with the blood from the bullet hole on her forehead. She was not Lekha, but Madhu didn't care. She got hold of the neatly folded newspaper on the other end of the table. She was pleasantly surprised to see that she was in the headlines. Of course, the paper didn't have her photo or her name on it; they were still trying to figure out what catchy name to give to a spree killer like her.

The only good thing about this reality is that I might eventually have my own TV show or documentary.

The news was a warning message to all old women, asking them to be more careful as there was a spree killer who was explicitly aiming for old women living alone. The paper knew her modus operandi, a single gunshot to the victim's forehead. She got bored of the reading and dropped the paper wide open on the table, slowly soaking in the tea and the blood. She had one last look at the white hair that danced due to the wind as if it had its own life.

"My life was ruined by a woman just like you. Old, gray, living alone, and helpless."

Seeing this woman wouldn't reply, Madhu walked out of the house and continued along the empty alley as the old song slowly faded. After she left the alley and continued on the sidewalk, something hit her back and startled her. She turned around, instinctively reaching into her coat pocket, where she had placed her gun.

It was a tennis ball, a small yellow fur ball. She looked ahead to see Suraj holding a cricket bat. He shouted, "Mom, play with me. I am bored."

Suraj was her ten-year-old boy and the most beloved person in her life. He was a sweet and kind mama's boy who always listened to her. He was thin and fair-skinned. His soft hair gently cascaded down his face, covering his forehead; his big, innocent eyes had the same excitement in them whenever she used to play with him. His nose and lips were the replica of her husband's. He wore a white round collared t-shirt with some cartoon characters on it and brown denim shorts.

It had been a week, and her hallucinations had been getting more frequent. She knew that her son was calling out to her. He was not part of this world. When the hallucinations had started, every time she would hear him or see him, she would rush to him with tears bursting out, but every time, she realized that it was just her hallucination. This time, she controlled her urge to run toward him and turned back to get on her way. Only her hallucination hadn't ended; everyone on the street looked like Suraj, and they all turned to her at once and pleaded, "Mommy, I am lonely. Please play with me."

It took all her strength to run away from that place.

***

She reached the apartment complex where she had lived since graduating. It was a hot afternoon, and her face was covered with sweat after she had run for a while. That day, she had worn a long dark coat and checked its inner pocket to ensure the gun was still in place. To match the coat, she had also worn dark leggings. As she entered the courtyard, she stroked her disheveled hair a few times to make it look tidy.

The apartment was shaped like a flower, with each block resembling a petal. The circular courtyard acted as the center of that flower. The courtyard had a garden with a fountain at the center. Near the perimeter of the courtyard, there was a small dairy shop, and Madhu walked toward that. Madhu had moved into this apartment because many old women lived there, and she had befriended most of them.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

It always helps to know your prey.

Madhu planned to move out soon so she could start killing the old women one by one. It would be very suspicious if she did that while living there.

The courtyard was filled with a flurry of sounds: leaves rustling in the wind, the constant rhythmic sound of the fountain water, and the music of the diary shop. As she approached the store, the song became more apparent, and she saw three old women sitting on two of the benches laid out for the customers and sipping cold almond milk.

She recognized them; there was Munratnamma, whose back was facing Madhu. She was close to seventy years old and was a wealthy woman living alone in the apartment after her husband died and her son moved abroad. Madhu called her Ratna aunty before her and a fat bitch behind her back. Munratnamma wore a cotton brown saree with flowers embroidered over it; her white hair was woven into a single thick braid and extended to her hips.

The other woman whose back was facing her was Rudramma. Rudramma was a contrast to Munratnamma when it came to hair. She only had a few hair strands left on her head; it made her look too old, but she was a year younger than Munratnamma. Rudramma lived with her family and loved to talk about how cute her grandchildren were and how disgusting her daughter-in-law was. Madhu knew that killing Rudramma would be challenging, with her family always around her. Rudramma was still wearing her nightwear, which was her all-day wear.

The third woman was sitting on the bench across the table and facing the other two women and Madhu was the new apartment resident. Her name was Malathi; she was barely sixty years old, and her hair still had many black strands left. She wore her round reading glasses with a golden rim and chain attached. She sat cross-legged and wore a posh light blue saree with some shining stuff. Madhu hated this woman; she was too arrogant and was not easily swayed by her fake acts like the other old women. Madhu didn't know much about Malathi's family, but she had decided no matter what, Malathi would be the first person to be killed in this apartment complex.

Malathi fake-smiled as she saw Madhu approach them and said, "Hi Madhu, come and join us!"

Madhu hated that smile; something was unsettling about it. Malathi still looked young and only had a few wrinkles. She was fair and had a tapered jawline. Her smile somehow reminded Madhu of the first time she had met Lekha. Madhu smiled back and sat next to Malathi, facing the other two. Munratnamma had a round and chubby face and a pleasant smile. Rudramma was very thin and looked almost malnourished.

Munratnamma said, "We were talking about the serial killer who is killing old women."

"I see. Did the police find anything about her?" asked Madhu.

"Not yet, but there are many rumors about the killer. The rumors are getting more and more unbelievable every day," replied Malathi, her smile continuing to unsettle Madhu.

Ratnamma said, "I heard a story which I think might be true. My son's teammate from the office told him this. You see, apparently, this killer was once a daughter-in-law. Unable to bear the troubles her mother-in-law gave her for not giving enough dowry, she committed suicide. After her death, she haunted her mother-in-law and killed her, but her anger didn't subside after that; she was craving for more revenge, so now she kills any old woman who resembles her mother-in-law."

The story amused Madhu, but she acted like she was invested in it, "So this killer is a ghost?"

"Yes, that's why I am worried. My daughter-in-law doesn't like me, and I am worried she might complain about me to this killer ghost. My daughter wants me dead so she will not say anything good about me."

Munratnamma interjected, "Don't worry, Rudramma, that won't happen; what I heard from my sister is different. You see, this killer is an immortal witch. Since old age, she has been traveling around the world, casting her evil spells in different parts of the world. Men have tried several times to catch her and failed. The one time they succeeded, they burned her, but she wouldn't burn; they hanged her, but her neck wouldn't snap; they tried to decapitate her, but to no avail; they threw her down a cliff, but she wouldn't break. Finally, unable to think of anything else, they reached out to some wise old women to help them get rid of her. The wise old women suggested something which the men believed would work. They tied the witch to a large rock and threw her off into the bottom of the ocean, and there she remained for thousands of years. She has returned from those depths to take her revenge against all old women as they were responsible for her being imprisoned all this time."

Madhu was surprised by the creativity in these rumors. Malathi disagreed with the other two women and began to tell the rumor she had heard, but Madhu's attention had been drawn to something else. The whole area became silent, and the three women turned still. Only the sound of a ball bouncing on the tiled courtyard could be heard. Madhu turned to see that the ball was slowly bouncing towards her. A young boy stood at the apartment's entrance with a bat in his hand. The boy shouted so his voice would reach her, "Mommy, play with me!" The boy kept repeating these words as the ball crept close to her. Each time the boy repeated those words, his voice kept getting more and more distorted until Madhu couldn't make out what was being said.

Madhu had turned still, she wanted to stand up and run away but something had fixed her to the place, her hands moved on their own and got hold of the ball as it reached her.

"So what have you heard?" asked Malathi, who jerked off Madhu from her hallucination. Madhu turned to the woman, and her face was beaded with sweat; for a minute, she couldn't understand them. The courtyard noise was back, the water flowing in the fountain, the plants swaying in the wind, and the radio music from the diary shop had all restarted.

Madhu looked at the woman, who seemed confused by her reaction, and asked, "What have I heard?"

"Yeah, about the serial killer."

Madhu calmed herself down.

It's just a hallucination.

"I heard a rumor that she is a time traveler."