After a quiet night where Suresh got little to no sleep, he woke up around dawn to the sound of his mother ringing the bell and praying in the house's puja room. He had bad nightmare last night, and found that he had sweat on his brow, his chest rising and falling with heavy pants.
He couldn't remember much of his dream, but he remembered feeling afraid and hearing the horn of a car, a piercing scream and the sound of shattering glass.
After getting out of bed and washing his face, went downstairs to see that she had already started breakfast, and since she usually made bigger breakfasts on weekends. That morning it was a full feast of crispy, round thosai, fluffy idli and thick, yellow sambar.
"Good morning, chellam." Suresh's mum cheerfully greeted. "You're up early."
She was wearing a plain white blouse and a colourful batik sarong she usually donned as nightwear. A vermillion pottu was on her brow and a shawl still wrapped over her head, indicating she was praying and offering jasmines and hibiscuses from the garden to the altar to like every other morning.
"Yeah." Suresh's replied rather distractedly while looking around for Jacob. He couldn't see him and momentarily wondered if it was all a dream.
His father was seated on the couch, in a singlet and checkered sarong and reading the newspaper an inch away from his face since he probably left his spectacles on the bedside table again.
"Morning, darling." His father greeted, without looking up from the paper. "You forgot to switch off the TV last night. Why were you watching TV so late, huh? That's not good."
"Sorry, Appa." Suresh said as he sat down.
"Aiyo don't scold him lah, sayang! He's been studying so much lately, you know him." His mum added. She laid down a few bowls of chutney on the table along with a pot of spiced brewed coffee. "Ni sapdiya?"
Suresh nodded and took a few idlis, and then jolted when he noticed Jacob seated next to him, a rather annoying smirk on his face again.
"Ena chi, chellam? What happened?"
"Nothing, Amma." Suresh responded trying not to sound suspicious.
Suresh's mum looked at him for a few seconds before sitting down across from him. "Your Appa and I want to talk to you about something." She said rather seriously. "It's about Jacob."
Both Jacob and Suresh looked at each other and then back at them. His eyes widened in disbelief. Could they see him?
"How are you dealing with his loss, darling?" Suresh's mother asked.
"Losing a friend can be very difficult." His father added looking just as worried as his mother. He took his walking cane and walked over to the dining table with the limp he's had since before Suresh was born.
Suresh let out a sigh of relief, realising they were asking about Jacob's death and not the ghost seated next to him. He wasn't sure even if they'd ever believe him if he'd told them he was being haunted by Jacob's spirit. No matter how superstitious Suresh's mother was, even she would think he'd gone mental.
"I'm alright." He told both of them in the same solemn manner they asked him. "Really, I am. And for the record he was most definitely not my friend."
"But he's all you ever talked about." His mother chimed in, to which Jacob started laughing hysterically and Suresh angrily tried to kick his feet before realising he was intangible. His cheeks felt rather hot. He only ever ranted about stupid Jacob Lam because he was always getting beaten by him in everything.
YOU ARE READING
The Boy and the Ghost
ParanormalSuresh Rajendran was sure that his one goal in life was to finally beat Jacob Lam at something, but a turn of events and a disregard of his mother's superstitions teaches him about love, loss and himself.
