Strangers

Naresh was returning home from office. It was late.

"There won't be much traffic. If I hit the gas a little hard on that long stretch of road, I can reach home in 30", he thought.

As soon as he entered that long stretch he hit the pedal hard. The car was going at around 120. The road was almost deserted. It was easier to maintain the speed for him. 5 minutes into that long stretch he saw a person standing on the side of the road at a distance. As he got closer he noticed that it was a woman. He let the gas off a little. The car slowed down to 80.

"A woman stranded on this road at this time of the night? Should I ask her if she needs a drop? What if I scare her away or she raises an alarm?", Naresh's mind kept popping these questions as he drove past her.

"What the hell..", he thought and hit the brakes. The car came to a screeching halt. He reversed the car towards her and lowered the windows.

"Need some help? A drop may be?", he asked her.

She looked hesitatingly at him and her watch and then said, "If it isn't any trouble for you."

"Don't worry about that. C'mon, hop in", Naresh said.

She got into the car and Naresh started driving.

She looked gorgeous. Naresh felt lucky.

"So where should I drop you?", Naresh asked and gave her a gentle smile.

"Just a little further on this road. I will let you know when we reach there", she said.

"Okay", Naresh replied.

They both sat silently. Naresh kept looking at her now and then. She looked nervous. And once when Naresh was looking at her she turned towards him. Their eyes met. They exchanged an awkward smile. And Naresh continued driving.

"Hold on", she said.

Naresh slowed down and brought the car to a halt on the side of the road.

"Is this where you need to get off?", Naresh asked, looking rather disappointed.

"Yes. Thank you very much", she said and turned towards the door.

Naresh was searching for words in his head and then said, "Oh yes! I'm Naresh by the way", and extended his hand.

"Nisha", she said and shook his hand.

"You know Nisha, you shouldn't trust people you just met so easily. Didn't your parents warn you about getting into car with strangers?", he said, smiled slyly and locked the door.

"Well, didn't your parents warn you about picking up strangers from the road?", she said and pulled a pistol out of her clutch and put a bullet through his head.