Journey To Koregaon

She got onto the bus, with her raincoat dripping wet. Her round brown face had turned red because of the exertion she had faced in order to catch the bus along with her luggage. She was late, and her naturally dark-colored lips showed no expression, while her small dark eyes displayed absolute annoyance. She desperately searched for the seat number printed on the right upper corner of the yellow ticket, which she held in her left hand, as her right hand was busy holding her favorite black side bag with her name stitched on it by her mother, "Seher." She was happy to find that her seat was a window seat, but her happiness soon turned to disappointment as she saw someone else sitting there. She crosschecked the number on the ticket and then on the seat handle. The disappointment turned into anger.

"Sorry, but I think this seat is allotted to me, and with due respect, I would like you to leave my seat and go back to your own seat. Thank you!"

"It seems like the bad weather affected your mood, madam. I am really sorry for the inconvenience," the man replied with a warm smile and moved to the seat beside the one Seher was allotted. She placed her luggage in the upper shelf and took off her drenched raincoat, hanging it on a hook in the back. Now she sat in her seat and made herself comfortable. She felt better now.

"So, where are you headed to?" asked the guy seated next to Seher.

"Koregaon," she replied. She noticed that he was a handsome man, probably in his late twenties.

"So, your family is there?" he asked.

"No, it's just an assignment. You know how it is; they give you jobs, and you do the assignments."

"Yeah."

"So, you are also headed for some work and stuff?"

"I am going to meet a friend of mine."

"Cool!"

Seher started taking out her iPod. "Would you like to listen to a story? This story is famous among the locals," he said.

"I think I wouldn't mind a short story," she replied with a glint of excitement in her eyes. The man began his story.

"So, there was this guy named Rony. He was traveling by bus. He sat on the same seat you are seated on. That day, the weather was also quite similar—very stormy, heavy rains and sounds of thunderstorms filled the atmosphere. He was going to meet somebody close to him. He was going there for the very first time. Rony had promised his close friend to meet him on his 26th birthday. But that person didn't know that Rony was coming. Well, Rony wanted to give him a surprise. Rony only knew that he had to get down at a bus stop that came before the Koregaon stop. But before Rony could reach there, the bus met with an accident. Before he could be taken to the hospital, he died."

"Okay, now that's tragic!" she said with a blank expression.

"But why is it so famous among the locals? Buses do meet with accidents, and people die. There is nothing new or amazing about it," she said.

"Now, here comes the twist in the story," he said with a sly smile. "People say that because of his unfulfilled promise, his spirit travels in any of the buses that use the route to the stop where he wanted to go, hoping to find the person he made the promise to."

"Well, that's quite a privilege for a ghost. You don't have to pay for the ticket yet travel on any of the coolest buses you like," she giggled.

"People say that he takes a ticket and travels like any normal person would do,"

 he smiled.

"Haha, another one of those wild local tales. Come on, don't tell me you believed this absurd story when you were told," she remarked.

"Well, I don't bother much with what people say. It may be true or it may be false. How would that affect me?" he smiled.

The bus came to a halt. "Seems like I reached my destination. It was nice talking to you!" he said, getting up from his seat and retrieving his luggage from the upper shelf.

"Can we meet sometime again if it's possible?" she asked.

"People come and go, but a promise remains, and when they don't get fulfilled, there is something left behind that really pains!" he said with a gentle smile.

"You are kind of poetic," the girl smiled.

The man got off the bus, and the bus driver started the engine. "Sorry, but I forgot to ask your name. Mine is Seher, and yours?" the girl shouted from the window.

The man shouted back from the stop, "Mine is Rony. Have a good day, Seher!"

The girl smiled back and waved goodbye. Then suddenly, the smile on her face changed to confusion and slowly turned into panic. She got up from her seat and hurried to the conductor, asking, "What is the next stop after the one we just left?"

The conductor replied, "The next stop is Koregaon."

She returned to her seat, all confused, with Rony's words ringing in her head, "People come and go, but a promise remains, and when they don't get fulfilled, there is something left behind that really pains." She looked out of the window and kept thinking, "Was Rony real? Or his story? Or was he a local guy making a fool out of me?"