A Ghost's Unfulfilled Wish -25

Chapter 25

Narayan who was going through John's magazine froze at the page in which there was Roslyn's photo Narayan started panting heavily... Words barely came out of his lips... "ghost... she... she is the ghost" he screamed and flung the magazine away... “What are you saying? Where is the ghost?” questioned John... "The girl in that picture,” said Narayan... “What is it with that girl?” asked John... “Oh, John she is the ghost”...

When John realised Narayan is talking about Roslyn he got wild but controlling his anger he said: “no way that's Roslyn.. how can she be the ghost?”... “John.. I am sure, I saw her in the video” replied Narayan. “But Roslyn is alive,” said John, “I bet you John.. she cannot be alive” argued Narayan... “Did you meet her anytime in recent days?” Questioned Narayan. “Yes, I did see her in Manali..but she went missing before I had a chance to talk to her,” said John... “I think even you have seen the ghost, how can she go missing? I'm sure she is the ghost” said Narayan. “No no she cannot be, my friend Charles too has seen her in Manali”... Narayan said, “I don't know but I remember very well that she is the ghost I saw in the video”.

John had no patience he immediately dialed Charles and said “I don’t care how busy you are.. I want you and Sandeep to come to the cafe near my office in the next 15 minutes”. “But John it's Monday morning, I am a little busy at work” replied Charles... “I do not want to hear anything,” said John and disconnected the call... Without saying a word John walked out, he went into the cafe, as John was waiting there for his friends, his mind was occupied with so many thoughts and questions exactly after 30 minutes, John received call from Sandeep, when John answered the call Sandeep said "dude we are right in front of your office, can you come down?" John replied "I'm waiting for you guys at the cafe" and hung up.

Sandeep and Charles walked into the cafe, John who was lost in his thoughts didn't even notice them, Charles kept calling John by his name but he did not respond so he shook John till he came back to his senses... The minute John saw them he asked “Sandeep… did..did we not see Roslyn in Manali?” Both Charles and Sandeep looked at each other and asked, “what is this John!! Its Monday morning!!! We thought this was some emergency.. but you asked us to come all the way here to ask about Roslyn!! Didn’t we already have a chat about this??”. John said “yes it is an emergency…you know that fool is saying the ghost that’s behind me is Roslyn, how can that be Roslyn when she is alive”... “What? Who said that?” asked Sandeep.

“My… my boss..I told him she can’t be the ghost cause she is alive, but he is not accepting it, Now tell me Charles did you not see her in Manali? With her husband?. Charles spoke nothing, looking at Sandeep he asked: “did we not see her when we went on trekking?” Sandeep said “John, to be frank when you said you saw Roslyn, I saw a girl quite far away from us.. walking…she looked little similar to Roslyn, I wasn't 100% sure if it was Roslyn”... “OH GOD!! Charles tell me... Did you not see Roslyn?” In a low voice, Charles said: “no John I did not”... “What??” Yelled John... Sandeep said, “sorry John even before you told him about Roslyn I told him about her and asked him to lie to you that he saw her so that you forget her”...

Without warning, John slapped Sandeep and screamed at the top of his lungs “are you both playing with my emotions?” Charles was in shock, Sandeep looked around, people in the cafe were looking them, he was embarrassed but being a good friend of John he came sat beside John and said “I am sorry dude, you were too much into Roslyn's thoughts I wanted you to forget her and be happy and that is why I asked Charles to lie”... Tears welled up in John's eyes, “that means Roslyn is not alive”... “Who said she is not alive,” asked Charles... “My manager, he once told me he saw the ghost in the video and today when he was looking through our college magazine, he saw Roslyn's photo and said that she is the ghost, so is my Roslyn dead?”

He banged his fist on the table and cried “why do I still have to live in this world?!!”... Charles said, “John calm down, look where we are”... John said “I felt that ghost was someone very close to my heart, see that is why I didn't even tie that thread in my hand, but how can it be Roslyn? Why did she leave me?” Sandeep said “John please stop crying, come with me”, he took him out and said, “look let's not come to a conclusion so soon, I promise you I will find out about Roslyn and then we can talk about it”... “Yes John, Roslyn must be fine, do not break down,” said Charles... John wiped his tears and looking at Sandeep he said: “I am sorry dude...” Sandeep said, “that's ok John..who can understand you better than me?, forget everything and get back to work, I will meet you in the evening”... Sandeep and Charles left and John came back to his workplace.

As John walked in, Narayan came to him and took him into the conference room... “Did you, did you talk to your friends? What did they say?” Narayan asked... John said, “They lied to me that they saw Roslyn in Manali”... “Did I not tell you, John, she is the ghost, but why is she behind you? What is it between you and her” asked Narayan... "She... she was... words were caught in is throat, John ran to the washroom, he cried his heart out, it was close to 15 minutes Narayan knocked the washroom door...

John came out with swollen eyes, “I am sorry John” said Narayan and John hugged him, Narayan made John sit in the conference room and gave him water, he said “you are very disturbed. Go home let's talk tomorrow”... John said, “no I can't go home now”... Narayan said, “ok just stay here I will be back in a minute”... Narayan informed his team that he is going on a meeting with John so as not to disturb them and came back to the conference room... “Come on John let's go out” he took his car and decided to take John on a long drive... “Whatever it may be John, get rid of this ghost... It's definitely gonna trouble you in one or the other way” said Narayan... John said, “no Narayan I can't think about all that now, I am unable to digest the fact that the ghost is my Roslyn”... “Who is this Roslyn??” asked Narayan.

Flashback

Roslyn… a slight smile occupied John's lips, “Roslyn was the girl of my dreams... The John whom you are seeing is not what I was, I was a totally different person during my college days... 

“My college days were the best in my life, I had a group of friends with whom I use to enjoy my days I was very jovial, very playful, always surrounded by girls, I use to get proposals starting from seniors to juniors but I was not impressed by anyone until I met Roslyn who was my college junior”.