WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?

Dedicated to all Ghosts

Shlok was a people person until he met with a heart-wrenching accident that ruined his entire life. Embarrassed by being going unnoticed by each and everyone, he met one day with Niharika, who regained consciousness after a month-long coma. Both of them were searching the ghost of their respective moms, and the pairing of the duo finally faced the unreal truth he wasn’t ready to accept.

It was around 20 minutes to 7 pm. For the last two hours, I was waiting in front of Nehru Garden, a famous garden near my school where couples used to hang around in the evening, for my mom to come and pick me for the home. The sun was disappearing from the sky and the moon started taking its position. The number of vehicles on the road was almost doubled in the last few couple of minutes, the horns and the headlights of which were becoming unbearable for me. Almost a hundred people and twenty dogs have moved across the main gate of the garden on either side by that time.

Roaming around on a lane on the outskirts of the garden, I bought an ice-cream and started licking it, keeping the other hand beneath it to avoid any of its melting pieces from dropping down to the ground.

“Who are you waiting for Shlok?” A well-known voice echoed into my ears.

“Oh, Sagar, don’t you see that I am licking this ice-cream, wanna try?”

“Oh common, I can very well see that, but you are not here to lick that fucking ice-cream. Are you?” He yelled.

 “I am just waiting for my mom.”

“This late?”

“Actually, she got stuck in some work, as usual; tell me about yourself, what are you doing here?” I replied in a similar tone, finishing my ice cream.

“Well, I am on my way home, you know, I need to change the bus from here.”

“Oh, yeah, I know, but where are you coming from?”

“Actually, I was with Arihant, Vaishali, Nilesh, Rajat, Shradha, Kirti and Vijay. We were planning a big night out to celebrate our results. I even rang you three-four times, but you didn’t pick up. What’s wrong with you, Shlok?” He asked, this time in a low pitched voice.

“Nothing. We need to find some common ground to celebrate next time. What’s the point of celebrating right now when I couldn’t make it an A1 grade? All I achieved is a fucking D1, you know, I shall not be allotted the science stream this time, I can’t even fulfil my mom’s dream of making me a doctor, so what the fuck do I celebrate?” I almost yelled at him.

“Calm down dear. We too were wondering over what might have happened to you, how the topper of last year could land like this? Throughout the year I have noticed, you hardly paid any attention in the class, your attendance was also falling short, I even inquired you several times about what was going wrong with you, but you never uttered a single word. You were a people person, but now your behaviour has turned upside down, from a pleasant one to an aggressive one. Frankly speaking, many times I was afraid of asking you anything. Now, will you please let me know anything?” He asked showing a lot of concern to me.

“Well, actually my father is no more...”

“Oh, sorry, how could have I known if you did not tell any of us? When did it happen? How did it happen?” he screamed in between before I could complete my sentence.

“It’s not like that Sagar, let me complete my sentence first, I was telling you that my father is no more living with us.” I completed my statement.

“Oh my, that’s even fine than what I was thinking earlier.” He said with great relief. “Will you please elaborate what happened exactly?”

“Well, nothing was fine between my mom and dad for a long time. But it actually took a grotesque turn last year only when she came to know about his extramarital affair. My mom immediately filed a divorce. Throughout the year I went on roaming to the lawyer and the court accompanying her.” I summarized to him about my situation.

“That’s really sad. How’s your mom doing now? Is she alright?” He showed his sympathy.

“Not exactly, I mean, she works till late hours, she rarely enjoys going out or watching television or hanging out with her colleagues. She is taking a lot of anti-depressant medicines. To add further to her sorrows was the sudden demise of Mrs Verma, a school friend and colleague of hers, around two months ago. That’s why she is late today also.”

“Oh, that’s terrible. Okay, I am leaving now, my bus has come. I will call you after having dinner. Bye. Take care. And do pick up my call.” He waved his hand after climbing the rear gate of the low floor bus that was halted just now.

“Bye-bye.” I too waved my hand towards him; by that time, his bus had already accelerated enough. I bet he would hardly have gotten a seat as that was the time for most of the people returning to their homes.

I had barely turned after his leaving, and heard a crashing sound of the collision of two vehicles all of a sudden. Without wasting a single moment, I immediately rushed in the direction of the commotion. A large crowd had already gathered at the site of the accident. I was pushing myself through the crowd making a way to reach closer to the vehicles with a trembling heart, absent mind, goosebumps, sweating all around, and bad thoughts floating in my mind. I was praying to God that this should not be my mother. Before I could reach the crash site, someone pulled me forcefully by keeping hands on my shoulder.

“What happened Shlok? Where are you going? Let’s go home.” This was my mom; she entered there right now only.

“Thank God, do you even have an idea how long I have waited for you? And how much was I concerned about you after watching this heart-wrenching scene? What took you so long in coming today?” I asked her with slight anger and anguish.

“I really got stuck in some kind of office work, as there will be an inspection tomorrow. A team from the central ministry is coming. We came to know today only; so everyone was doing some extra effort for giving the final touch for tomorrow’s occasion.” She explained while getting inside the car.

“Mom, do ghosts really exists?” I asked, fastening my seat-belt. My unexpected question made her pause a little from igniting the car.

“I don’t think so, my son. But, why did you ask such a silly question all of a sudden?” She said starting the car.

“Well, then why everybody is saying that the death of Mrs Verma is unnatural. It was not an accident, and she was actually murdered by the ghost of her daughter?”

“I really don’t know from where you heard this stupid rumour. I don’t think it’s your right age to pay attention to such gossips. It would have been much better if you had focused on your syllabus, at least you could have easily scored an A1 in your examination like always, instead of merely getting a passing D1 grade. Don’t you have any idea how important it was to pass with first division in the tenth standard? Now being just passed, you will not be able to get science stream; and without that how will you become a doctor?” The car was accelerated enough to reach fifth gear until she completed her sentence.

“Oh mom, come on, if I did not score an A1 grade, is it completely my fault? How can you blame me for that? Are you and dad not equally responsible for it? I could not concentrate on my studies throughout the year because of the drama created by both of you at home.” I shouted, getting frustrated by being asked the same thing again and again.

“How could you blame me for not getting an A1? Is this the thing being taught to you at the school? How can you hold someone else responsible for your failure?”

“Oh, come on, mom. The first thing I want to make clear is that I have not failed at all! I have cleared the exam, despite such annoying circumstances, only I could not get an A1 grade as per your expectations. And second thing is that you are not someone else, you are my mom, you are my family, it’s all because of you and dad’s divorce issue that I could not study well this year. If you were so much worried about my studies, why did not you wait for a year? Why were you dying to give him divorce this year only?”

“How can you even think that? Was I supposed to live with him even after knowing that he is not only having an extramarital affair but is also the father of an illegitimate child? I could not wait another minute, and you are telling me to have waited for an entire year? Isn’t it embarrassing for you to know that you even have a sister of yours from another mom?”

“I do agree, but his affair was not a day or a month old; he was in that relationship for more than four years; so why were you in a rush? And the most embarrassing point of the entire story is that you couldn’t even smell something fishy?”

“Because I was being bounced between you, your dad, my job, and the fucking home; I was hardly even getting time for myself, then how could have I smelt what was happening in the outskirts?”

“Oh, but mom, four years is a pretty long period. Forget about full movie, how did not you even see the trailer?”

“Listen, it’s not like that I was completely unaware of the exploits of your father. Many a time I heard such kind of rumours, but I never succeeded in finding a single piece of evidence. So I started thinking that those all were rumours spreading around until recently when I found your little young sister getting admitted to hospital again and again because she was suffering from blood cancer. So the financial condition of your dad kept on declining day by day. And finally one day he went to the bank, broke all the fixed deposits which were meant for your higher studies and even emptied the locker without bringing anything to my notice. If you were me, what would you have done? Would you have kept yourself mum and accepted those two naive members as a part of your family or would you have shouted loudly and filed for the divorce as I did?”

“Oh mom, well, you were definitely in a difficult situation then, but you know it very well that it’s because of our year-long roaming to the court and the lawyer that I could not concentrate on my studies and the result is now with me. Now if I am not going to get science stream, is it completely my fault mom?”

“Mommmm…” I shouted as loud as I could, but before she could apply the brakes, the car already got crashed with a truck crossing the road from the wrong side. I could not remember what exactly happened after that until the day I woke up from the bed and found someone removing my oxygen mask, Ryles tube, and catheter.

I sat on the bed watching throughout, to find myself in a hospital, most probably in an ICU. ‘Where am I?’ ‘Why am I here?’ ‘What happened to me?’ My mind had a stick of countless questions. I started trying to remember the last incident. All I could recollect was…a fucking truck crossing from the wrong side, badly hitting our car turning it around, causing my head to collide with the roof followed by the windshield leading to bleeding from my head. I was shouting for help, losing my consciousness, like my mother. Mother. Where is she? Where is my mom? I left the ICU and started searching for her.

“Excuse me; do you know where my mom is?” I kept on asking every medical and paramedical staff being encountered on my way to various wards, but no one answered me. I searched more than half of the hospital when I saw some staff people taking away a dead body on a stretcher, one hand of which was hanging down. That hand was looking familiar. It was having a ring, like the one I use to wear in my finger, it was one of the two sister-rings my mom gifted me on my fifteenth birthday. I could not stop my tears flowing down. I lost consciousness for the second time. This time, I found myself at home on regaining consciousness.

Chapter 1: The Ghost Saga

It was around 15 minutes to 0 am. I have passed more than 45 minutes sitting over the bench below the famous ancient giant banyan tree, supposed to be more than one thousand years old (rather young), waiting for some ghost to come and meet me. A rumour was there. On a new moon night, you may be lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a conversation with a ghost under this ancient giant banyan tree, somewhere between 0 to 2 am, depending on how busy the ghost is. I was having a couple of questions jumbling in my mind regarding the death of my mother, so basically I was wondering if I could meet her ghost. The environment was quiet enough to hear one’s own respiration, getting interrupted in between sometimes by the barking sound of dogs and cats. The entire road was lying empty; I was the only specimen from the species of Homo sapiens there.

I was feeling somewhat sleepy. I was carrying a bottle and a bag with me, so I started sprinkling some water from the bottle again and again over my face and eyes to remain awakened. The battery of my phone had drained quite fast in the last couple of minutes, with less than 5% remaining; maybe because I was listening to music. I removed earphones from my ears and started wandering over the road by turning my head 360 degrees around. Apart from the noise made by exfoliated leaves chasing over the ground, I started hearing the noise of someone’s footsteps. Yeah, it was the noise made by someone’s footsteps for sure. This voice, along with the cold blowing air, caused goosebumps. My heart started fluttering. Adding to this was the absence of the moon from the sky. My adrenal started releasing more of adrenaline and norepinephrine hormones.

After turning my neck by almost around 90 degrees towards left, I found someone’s hand leaning upon my right shoulder, hopping me up from the bench with a screaming voice full of fear.

“Who are you?” I barely whispered.

“N..n..no one...” The other person replied in a similar fearful voice.

“No one? But you are someone for sure?” I asked politely this time to the girl of almost my age standing in front of me. “Are you a ghost by any chance?”

“Do I look like a ghost to you?” she asked, puzzled by my question.

“Oh, so you are not a ghost, you are another Homo sapien here,” I said with grief.

“What about you? Frankly speaking, you do look like a ghost.” Her answer irritated me.

“How could that be possible? Do I have horns on my head?”

“Just like that.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Oh, I was just kidding. You must be practising yoga for long, that’s why you are able to stretch your body like that,” her reply made me start thinking over what she said.

“Stretch like what?” I asked.

“Nothing, well, myself Niharika.” She brought her right hand forward with a glow in her eyes for shaking it with me.

“I am Shlok,” I introduced myself holding back her right hand with my right hand and looking into her eyes. I found that the moon which was missing earlier in the sky had landed over the earth in front of me right now. “So, what are you doing over here right now?”

“Oh, actually this is not for the first time that I am roaming out of my house in the midnight like this, I am doing this for the last three months, after the death of my mother, so that I could see her ghost and talk to her; but frankly speaking, for the first time I have found someone over here. In fact, you seem to be a newcomer here; so it should be me who has to ask that question.”

“Oh, well, I live in the B block. I am also here for the same reason. My mom expired in an accident about a month ago. Let me brief you. About a month ago, I was travelling back to my home along with my mom when our car met an accident with a truck. When I regained my consciousness, I found myself in the ICU with someone removing a number of tubes from my body. Without wasting a moment, I started running away from there only to found the corpse of my mom being taken away by the paramedical personnel in the corridor of the hospital. Since then, I see her every day as if she is still with me all the time. I find her along with me everywhere- in the bedroom, kitchen, drawing room, and even in the washroom. When outside, the situation is almost the same. But the strange thing is that whenever I try to talk to her, she never replies to me as if I do not exist at all, this is ridiculous. Why is it so? Is it because I am suffering from some kind of hallucinations or what I am actually seeing is her ghost?” I briefed her. “When I was a child, my mother used to tell me a story about this place, she used to say that a couple committed suicide here some thirty-three years ago, give or take a few; since then their ghosts started living here only; not to harm anyone, but to help the people like us, who are in the search of the ghosts of their loved ones. Embarrassing, but true. Now I am in a great dilemma. Please help me out.”

“Well, all I know about ghosts is that they are visible to you only if you are in a trouble and they want to warn you, otherwise although they are always roaming around with us, we are not able to see them. Sometimes they are visible to a person, who has seen death very closely, without any reason. Maybe the second option suits you more, since both you and your mother had seen death so closely and unfortunately she did not survive, she is visible to you without any reason and since there is no reason, she does not communicate with you. It’s only her presence that is being felt by you everywhere all the time. Has any other strange thing happened to you apart from this during this period? Feel free to share with me.”

“Yes, both at home and school, some bizarre things have happened to me that I am difficult to elaborate.”

“Then how am I going to help you? You have to trust me and share the things with me in detail”

“Ok, ask me what do you want to know?”

“Well, you said that she shows up to you everywhere but doesn’t talk to you?”

“Yeah...”

“But does she notice you or stare at you?”

“She doesn’t.”

“And do you think she does so purposely??”

“Well, I am not sure.”

“What about the others?”

“The situation is more or less the same. The day I was involved in the accident was also the day of announcement of my result of the tenth class. I failed, technically. When I went to school after the accident, I was in the same class as before. I was among the three students who failed in the tenth class. But they were not my friends. All of my friends got promoted to the next class. And since I was a failed student for the new batch, no one used to talk to me. I used to sit alone on the last bench. This was usual, as no one wants to be with a failure. But the unusual was getting ignored by my friends who were with me for the last ten years. I could never think that after getting failed in the tenth class, my friends will feel ashamed of being with me. None of them came even once in my class in spite of knowing that I have started attending the school. No one was there to counsel me. No one was there to teach me. No one was there to support me. You know, how does it like to be with your juniors for the next three years of schooling? I don’t even like to go to school now, but I have to fulfil the dream of my mother of becoming an engineer. I want to change the school, that’s why I am trying to communicate with my mother. I miss her a lot. I feel all alone these days.” Tears started rolling out of my eyes all of a sudden.

“Don’t worry, you are not alone. You have me now as your new friend. You can share with me whatever you want to. I promise I shall never leave you alone in a tough situation like this. And I shall try my best to find out what exactly is going on. Be patient.”

“Thanks. Your coming is a great relief to me. At least, I have found someone who has uttered a word with me since I regained consciousness. Where do you live by the way?”

“I don’t live nearby. I live in the city. But you will find me here often, as one of my relative lives nearby. So, whenever I get late in the night, like today, I use to stay at his home only.”

“That’s fine. I think it’s too late now. We should head to our respective homes.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Putting his bag on the back, Shlok told Niharika- “Don’t know whether the story of meeting a ghost beneath this ancient giant banyan tree is true or not, but I am really thankful for that rumour as I have finally found someone to talk with.”

“Same here.” She replied.

Chapter 2: The Sweet Home

The doorbell ringing.

“Where were you in this late in the night?” Her uncle asked opening the gate.

“As usual,” said Niharika entering inside the room, closing the doors.

“Any success?”

“Half.”

“Half? What does that mean?”

“Well, I could not meet the ghost of my mother, but met with a bizarre boy who lives nearby.”

“Bizarre boy?”

“Forget it. You will never understand”

“As you wish my child, but do you still believe in that rumour? I mean, for the last three months, you have been there almost every other night without any success.”

“Mom used to say that it’s ok to fail after trying, but should never fail to try.”

“You miss her a lot.”

“Too much...”

“Anyways, I have prepared your favourite dish, don’t you dare to sleep empty stomach like the last time, else you may die starving and meet your mom’s ghost here only.”

“I shan’t.”

*****

While in the bed, she was thinking again and again about Shlok. How to help him? What is the clue in his story? If he sees his mom every time, everywhere; then why was he sitting beneath the banyan tree? With her being with him all the time, why couldn’t he try to communicate with her at his home? What’s the truth behind his sitting under the banyan tree at insane hours? She slept with a lot of such questions jumbling in her mind so that she could find the answers with her subconscious mind.

The next day, she could barely enjoy her routine work. She was desperate to find what exactly was going on with Shlok. Instead of searching her own mother, she was now keener to search Shlok’s mother. And here began the journey of the duo to find where the ghost is?

“From where should I begin?” she asked herself. “It would be much better to visualize the things and find a clue on my own,” she thought. “Shlok must have gone to the school right now.” Without wasting a second, she moved towards his home.

She rang the doorbell, twice. There wasn’t any reply. She leaned a little forward to knock on the door, only to find that the door was already opened. “Hello, is anyone inside?” she asked politely while slowly opening the door and entering inside the house. She sneezed. “Poor boy! What’s the condition of his house, as if nobody has dusted it for months. How does he live here in an asthmatic environment? I pity him.” She started roaming inside the house. A well-constructed house, full of eye-catching interiors, but lacking housekeeping.

“This must be his bedroom,” she stood still in front of a room having a big portrait of Shlok. “Great smile!”

Suddenly she heard the rumbling sound of doors opening.

“Hello! Is someone there?” she asked, only to get no reply. Her heart started trembling. “Who could it be? Her mom’s ghost? Oh my gosh! How to deal with it? I need to keep a cool head” her mind got flooded with such endless questions. She turned around to find some way to escape, but alas! Before she could find a mean of escaping, someone found her. Yes. She became breathless for that moment. She could clearly see the contour of an old lady. “She must be Shlok’s mother's ghost. Now what?” She could barely speak. The lady was coming closer to her. With each step of that lady coming towards her, her heartbeat increased twice.

“H…i…. I am a friend of Shlok.” She said trying to start a conversation with her.

“Friend of Shlok?”

“Oh my God! Her ghost talked to me right now. How is that possible?”

“Actually, we met yesterday only. So, you must have not seen me earlier. By the way, you are his mother, right?”

“I am no doubt his mother, but it seems that you have come from the other world, given the fact that you met him yesterday only.”

“What? The other world? What are you talking about? I mean, it’s you who belong to the other world now.”

“Both things have the same meaning.”

She must be a ghost, given the fact that she is seeing me from the other world, the world of the living, Niharika thought.

“He was turning 16 this year. I was working hard to make a living. I always tried my level best to fulfil his needs, be it his favourite food, clothes, electronic gadgets, you name it. But, I was so unfortunate. Why did he do this to me?”

“I can understand,” actually I couldn’t. I wasn’t sure how to console a ghost. It was unreal that I was talking with a ghost.

“How is he doing there? He could barely wash his undergarments. He didn’t know cooking. He must be in great trouble. There won’t be anyone to console him.”

Niharika was wondering why the ghost of this old lady was bothering too much about Shlok? Though, she tried her level best to console her. “From now on, you need not worry about him. I shall try my best in taking care of him.”

“You must. Don’t dare to cheat on him; I shall be keeping a watch on you.”

Her warning frightened Niharika. “She must have turned into a witch, and now onwards is going to keep an eye on me. Oh my God!” She left that place before her ghost could impersonate her.  

Chapter 3: School Days

That was enough excitement for that day. The next day, she planned to visit his school. She took the bus early in the morning to reach there. She signed the visitor’s register at the main gate and entered inside. By the time she reached, the assembly was adjourned. It didn’t take much time for her in finding the tenth class, in which Shlok was studying right now. When she reached in front of the class, the teacher had already started the lesson. So she stood outside the class to listen to what was happening inside.

“Good morning students.” the teacher greeted the students.

“Good morning teacher.”

“Sit down. Today we are going to learn something about the nervous system. The human brain, which weighs less than 1.5 kg, contains 9 billion neurons, give or take a few million, compactly arranged in about 2000cm³ of volume. Now you can imagine how much would be the storage capacity of the human brain. If used fully, it may even surpass supercomputers, but there comes the limitation by its fatigability.” Watching the entire class yawning, the teacher changed the topic “Well, the vacations are not over yet. I hope that you guys are not in a mood today to study, right?”

“Yes, mam,” the class responded.

“Well, then let me ask how did you guys enjoy your holidays? Let me ask one by one, You, Nilesh.”

“Me, well, I went to Andaman and Nicobar Islands with my family.”

“That’s great; you must have done underwater activities there? What about you Sumer?”

“Mam, I went to Darjeeling and Gangtok with my friends.”

“That’s really cool; you must have done tracking there? And you, Neha?”

“I was enjoying the marriage of my cousin sister at Mumbai.”

“Wow, wish we were there too with you to dance and eat. Anyway, now let us know what you were doing all these days, Shlok?”

As soon as the teacher completed her sentence, the whole class turned heads behind. Shlok, who was sitting in the last row, got puzzled for a moment. He was waiting for such moments for a long time so that he could share his feelings with the other guys. But unfortunately, the bell rang, commencing the period.

“Ok guys, we shall continue in the next class,” the teacher left the classroom.

“Wait, wait, don’t make a hurry. Listen to me guys.” Shlok, who could barely stand to answer, had to sit back again. “What the fuck! Why didn’t my timing match? Was it necessary for the bell to ring right now only? I could have been heard by the whole class today, but alas! I missed a golden opportunity. What bad luck!”

Niharika, who was standing outside the class, could barely stop her tears from falling down her eyes.

*****

It was lunchtime. Shlok was sitting over his bench; all alone, as usual. As if he wasn’t feeling hungry, or he didn’t want to eat something. It seemed that nobody was sensing his presence there. He was nodding his head, making scratches on the table with his nails. Niharika was watching him, but he was unaware of her presence. She felt sad after watching him sitting like that. She started looking for his older classmates, to have a word of mouth with them.

“Excuse me!” she asked a young dashing boy passing by.

“Yes please.”

“Where is the eleventh science class?” She asked him.

“Upstairs, by the way, who are you looking for? I can help you out since I study in that class only,” the young dashing boy showed his concerns towards her.

“Thanks, man! That would be a great relief to me.” Niharika started moving along with him. “Actually, I was here to look after for Shlok.”

That boy stopped walking, “Did you just say Shlok?”

“Yes, Shlok.”

“Who failed in tenth class this year?”

“Yeah, but please don’t mind his failure.”

“Oh yeah, he actually was a very nice guy. He wasn’t that much open to me as with some of the other fellows of my class. Keep on following me, I shall introduce you to them,” he continued walking with her until they reached the place where the other fellows from his class were having their lunch. While following him, Niharika got a little bit confused after hearing from that boy. “What did he mean by saying Shlok was a nice guy? He still is a very good guy.”

“Hey, where were you? We were waiting for you for a quite long period of time.” One of the friends asked that boy, “By the way, who is she?” the other girl asked pointing out towards Niharika.”

“Sorry to have kept all of you waiting. She is….” He turned towards Niharika, as they haven’t exchanged their names yet.

“Myself Niharika,” she replied.

“(She is) Niharika,” that boy continued, “And she is a friend of Shlok, looking for Shlok here,” He said.

“Shlok.”

“And she is here today looking after him only,” he said, looking towards his fellows and Niharika. Niharika nodded her head supporting him.

“We miss him a lot.”

“How do you know him?”

“He never mentioned you, and none of us has seen you before, right?”

All of them started staring at Niharika, which made her feel embarrassed.

“Well, I have been his friend recently only,” Niharika explained.

“What do you mean by recently?”

“Tell us, how do you know him?”

“Are you his ex?”

“Shut up! Shlok wasn’t like that?”

“How do you know? Was he a homo and interested in you?”

“Oh, come on! She must be of the same age as ours.”

“So what?”

“She might be his relative.”

Niharika started having a headache.

“Why don’t you join us? Have some lunch.”

“Thanks, but I have already had my lunch in the morning.”

“She had her lunch in the morning, not breakfast, interesting.”

“What interesting? I smell something fishy.”

“Me too.”

“None of us has seen her before, and she has been Shlok’s friend only recently. Is she from the other world?”

“Oh my gosh!”

“You created goosebumps for me.”

“What the fuck?”

“Shut up!”

“Do you believe in such gossips, I don’t?”

Niharika felt dizziness. “What the hell is going on? Previously, the ghost of Shlok’s mother asked me whether I am from the other world. And now his friends are asking me the same thing. Everyone is making me confused. Who am I actually? Are all these ghosts? Or am I a ghost?”

Chapter 4: I.C.U.

“I am not from the other world, I belong to this world only, and I am not a ghost,” she shouted.

“Doctor, doctor, come here soon,” Niharika’s father ran out of the ICU shouting loudly.

“What happened?” doctor and nurses asked, rushing towards the ICU.

“A miracle! A miracle! Niharika has regained consciousness,” her father briefed them.

“That’s strange! After lying in a coma for around three months, she finally gained consciousness. All of your blessings have come true,” a nurse said to her father.

“Niharika, are you listening to me?” the doctor asked examining her.

“Shlok, Shlok” Niharika was whispering.

“Shlok? Who is he?" the doctor asked her father.

“I don’t know. I have never heard that name before.”

“Fine. Though she has started responding, she will still take some time in recovering completely. We will take the utmost care of her.”

“Thanks, doctor.”

*****

The doctor instructed the nurse about the revised medications and left the ICU. The nurse changed the IV line, catheter, and feeding tube; and started IV fluids along with injections as instructed by the doctor. After she left, her father sat alongside Niharika, holding her hand in his hands.

“Niharika, are you hearing me?”

Niharika tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t.

“Thank God! Do you know, how tensed was I? You were lying in a deep sleep for the last three months. How did you do that to me? What was my fault? I have always taken care of you far more than a son. This isn’t fair. Niharika, are you hearing?”

She tried to nod her head, but couldn’t.

“You can’t even imagine with what suffering I have spent this time.”

“Father.”

“Tell my child, what is it?”

“Shlok.”

“Shlok? Who is he?”

“Yes, Shlok.” Niharika was trying to say something, in fact, everything, about Shlok, but was not able to do so clearly. Her father was able to recollect his memory. “Who is this Shlok now? Let her recover completely, then only I would be able to know about him”

*****

Niharika got improved quite well in two-three days. She started taking food orally, and doing her day-to-day activities on her own.

“Good morning my child.”

“Morning papa.”

“Doctor was saying that you are doing quite well. They are going to discharge you by the end of next week.”

“Next week? Why so long? I am alright now. Request them to discharge me today only. I want to go home. I am missing my home badly.”

“Well, since you were here in the hospital for three months lying unconsciously, you are unaware of the fact that I have sold our home.”

“What? How could you?”

“Child, I had to pay for the hospital expenses. Moreover, after losing your mom in that incident that day, I wasn’t willing to go there anymore. With you lying here all the time, that home was reminding me of your mom constantly, I made this ICU my home.”

“Oh, father,” Niharika started crying, hugging him.

“Keep calm, my child. Everything would be fine. We would temporarily shift to your uncles’ house, situated in the B block…”

“B block?”

“Yes, B block in Malviya Nagar.”

Niharika started having a headache again.

“What happened, my child? Are you alright?”

“No, I am not, I mean, maybe, I am alright. Actually, I don’t know.”

“Take some rest, my child, you seem to be exhausted.”

“I have already taken rest so long, now there isn’t any time for taking rest. I have to find out Shlok as soon as possible”

“Shlok! Shlok! Who the hell is he? You have been talking about him only since you have gained consciousness. I have never heard his name from your mouth before.”

“How could you? I have met him last month only.”

“Last month? But you were in a coma for the last three months. Then how did you meet him?”

“In my dreams.”

“I do not understand a single thing. Whatever you are saying is going above my head.”

“Even I haven’t understood it completely, then how I am supposed to elaborate on the things to you? Well, I have to search for him before it’s too late.”

Chapter 5: The Conclusion

It was around the same time as before, when they met for the first time, not physically, but mentally. The same place, the ancient banyan tree. Shlok, being keen to know various facts, had already been there for an hour ago, as usual. The exfoliated leaves were chasing over the ground. The barking sounds of dogs. The sound of ones’ own respiration. Nobody knew how long the wait was for him. Amidst his thinking, Niharika entered the scene.

“Hi, Shlok.”

“Excuse me, how are you?”

“Niharika.”

“Do I know you?”

“I do.”

“Have we met earlier?”

“In my dream.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not a long ago I met you here only in my dreams. You were waiting to meet the ghost of your mother, and I came out of the blue.”

“Do I look like a fool? I am not a child who is going to believe in your fairy-tale, I have turned 16 this year.”

“Not believing in fairy tales, but believing in ghosts doesn’t make any difference. See, if I haven’t met you earlier, how could have I found you right now?”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Not only this, but I also know that you failed in class tenth this year. And I also know some of your best friends.”

“That’s not a big deal. You must be following me purposely.”

“Oh come on! I know that you want to communicate with your mother, but what you don’t know is that she also wants the same.”

“How come?”

“I have even met her in my dreams.”

“Bullshit!”

“Believe me or not, but I have something very very important to tell you.”

“Shoot.”

“But you need to be prepared not only to listen but also to accept that.”

“Just go ahead.”

“I really don’t know how to tell this; actually the point is that….”

“Please, I have been waiting for long to know about what has been going on. So if you really have something to share, please don’t make me wait any longer.”

“You are dead,” she said in a breath.

“I am what?” Shlok asked as if he had heard something unbelievable.

“I knew you would lend in shock after hearing this, but yes, this is the truth, the only truth.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Shlok, be calm. It’s you who are dead, not your mom. She is still alive.”

“How could that be possible? I had seen her corpse being taken away by the medical staff the day I regained consciousness.”

“You sure? Remember exactly, what did you see that day? Since you were dead, they removed all the tubes from your body. It was your soul that started roaming in the hospital. And then you saw your own corpse being taken away by the medical personnel. The ring you saw in the finger was yours only, as your mother had stopped wearing such ornaments after her divorce. Since you couldn’t see her there, you followed her in your home. There you tried to communicate with her, but never succeeded as she was still alive, but you were not.”

Her story confused Shlok. He started having a severe headache. “Even if I believe in your bullshit, how will you describe my presence in the school?”

“Really? Were you there? Was anyone talking to you there? Same was the reason why your friends were not communicating with you since you did not exist to them. No one ever sensed your presence. You think you were in the school wearing a uniform like the other students, but you were not. You are a soul and souls don’t wear anything.”

“I remember that day the teacher took my name. Without seeing me, how was that possible?”

“Remember exactly what you saw? After you left the school, another boy named Shlok got admitted in that class, and that day he was sitting in the last row, next to the place you were standing. Mam was pointing out him, and since he was new in the class, everyone turned back to hear him.”

“Ok, leave every other person behind. You are communicating to me right now, not even in my dreams. How are you going to explain this? How did you see me?”

“I am the one who has seen death very closely. When we meet an accident, I was in a coma for around a month, give or take a few days. That was the period when my soul was wandering between the two worlds. It was the same time I met you and your mom in the subconscious state of my mind. Initially, I was confused about what was going on, but now I have come to know that what I can actually see and talk with are nothing but the dead people, the ghosts. And you are the first ghost I have met physically since that incident.”

“For God sake, tell me this is not true.”

“I wish I could. But please accept my sincerest apologies. This is your fate; you have to accept it sooner or later so that you can rest in peace.”

“How am I going to accept this? Why did it happen to me? I wanted to be an engineer to fulfil the dreams of my mother, now what? How destiny could be so cruel to me?”

“Keep calm.”

Chapter 6: The Fate

Sometimes it’s not important that you have achieved something outstanding, like some ancient kings who ruled over entire world but after taking lives of millions of innocent people; rather, what makes sense is the fact that you participated in the event, like some players who take part in Olympics but could not win a medal. So, never underestimate yourself by a single failure in your life, instead, keep on trying until the victory kisses your feet. Shlok remembered his mom used to say this. But now what? He could not become an engineer; he could not fulfil the dreams of his mother; in fact, he is no longer alive.

There wasn’t an option for him rather than to accept the truth. The sooner he accepts it, the sooner he would be able to rest in peace. Moreover, this is the only way left behind to console his mother. She has been a living dead for the last three months. He was very much thankful to Niharika, without whom he could never have solved out his mystery.

“I really don’t know how to show my gratitude to you? Wish I could have met her while I was alive.”

“Things usually don’t go around as we hypothesize. My meeting with you will always remain unforgettable. You really were a very brave and innocent guy. Now the time has come up for you to go to the eternal world. They (angels) have been waiting for you. I wish you a very happy journey ahead.”

“When I will reach there (heaven), I will ask God to spend much more time with you in my next life.”

“Of course, my pleasure.”

And soon after bidding the farewell goodbye to her, he became a shining star in the sky, only to reincarnate again.