Just Ghosting Around...

Facing the Living

One night in this phase of avoidance, I became aware of something. Nitya hadn't returned.

I looked at the wall clock. It was almost midnight.

Hours passed and I remained standing in front of the door that didn't open. Dawn departed and Evening arrived, my stillness gave way to restlessness.

Concern ruled my consciousness. But in the physical sense, nothing had happened. She didn't come back from her office.

It was finally the next morning that the lock rattled and I jumped from my perch. Shd's returned.

But one look at her face and I knew something wasn't right. It wasn't the bandage, nor the hand of her friend supporting her inside.

No, it was in the simplest way her eyes drifted around the spot I was standing. She was alive. She couldn't see me, or she'd have freaked out, but there was awareness in her posture, the way she turned away from me almost at once.

"You call me whenever you need something, okay?" Abhi said loudly and she nodded to him, her eyes fixed on his lips, absent mindedly mimicking his words.

She'd gone deaf. The realization hits me with a sense of unfathomable loss for her.

He left and the quiet drowned the air with heaviness.

"You know I'm aware of your presence?" She asked, her eyes finding the spot I'd been hitting my knuckles against. A stupid habit.

I remained silent. She might have been aware of me, every living person was to a certain extent aware of the dead spirits around them, but my own guilt refused to let me make my presence known.

"I hated silence." She continues, as if I hadn't kept quiet. "Hated the fact that it's often used as a warning. Hated that it was nothing but still signified the most inevitable thing in life- death. Hated that every night my father was angry, his hits were prefixed by it."

My eyes fell to the scar on her face. I wasn't surprised. The apparent lack of remorse had made me aware of the bitterness in her heart. I had no right to pry, though.

"Can you hear me?" I asked, surprising myself. But I consoled myself with the fact that she couldn't.

But it shattered as a gasp fell from her lips.

"How?" Shock must have been clear in my voice because a smile graced her lips.

"Aren't ghosts supposed to be the know it all's?" She asked. "Anyways, I was in an accident. Hurt my head and lost my hearing. Seems like there's some science around ghosts too."

"I still don't understand." I say but left the topic. Maybe later, I'd have tried thinking about it.

"What's your name?" She asked me.

"I don't remember."

"Oh, well, never mind. Make a new one for yourself." She shrugged.

I kept shut.

"Okay, I'll call you KC" She said. "My favorite power Ranger was Casey Rhodes and hence the inspiration."

And thus started our friendship.

It was peculiar, even more so than Nitya's sense of humor.

We talked about everything. Or at least she did. I had secrets, at least two of them.

One was that I had a hand in her parent's demise and other that heartless or not, I was falling for her.

A ghost falling for living, what a joke. A cruel one at that.

But it didn't matter in our relationship.

She'd became a friend to me when all I had was this existence that affected no one.One night in this phase of avoidance, I became aware of something. Nitya hadn't returned.

I looked at the wall clock. It was almost midnight.

Hours passed and I remained standing in front of the door that didn't open. Dawn departed and Evening arrived, my stillness gave way to restlessness.

Concern ruled my consciousness. But in the physical sense, nothing had happened. She didn't come back from her office.

It was finally the next morning that the lock rattled and I jumped from my perch. Shd's returned.

But one look at her face and I knew something wasn't right. It wasn't the bandage, nor the hand of her friend supporting her inside.

No, it was in the simplest way her eyes drifted around the spot I was standing. She was alive. She couldn't see me, or she'd have freaked out, but there was awareness in her posture, the way she turned away from me almost at once.

"You call me whenever you need something, okay?" Abhi said loudly and she nodded to him, her eyes fixed on his lips, absent mindedly mimicking his words.

She'd gone deaf. The realization hits me with a sense of unfathomable loss for her.

He left and the quiet drowned the air with heaviness.

"You know I'm aware of your presence?" She asked, her eyes finding the spot I'd been hitting my knuckles against. A stupid habit.

I remained silent. She might have been aware of me, every living person was to a certain extent aware of the dead spirits around them, but my own guilt refused to let me make my presence known.

"I hated silence." She continues, as if I hadn't kept quiet. "Hated the fact that it's often used as a warning. Hated that it was nothing but still signified the most inevitable thing in life- death. Hated that every night my father was angry, his hits were prefixed by it."

My eyes fell to the scar on her face. I wasn't surprised. The apparent lack of remorse had made me aware of the bitterness in her heart. I had no right to pry, though.

"Can you hear me?" I asked, surprising myself. But I consoled myself with the fact that she couldn't.

But it shattered as a gasp fell from her lips.

"How?" Shock must have been clear in my voice because a smile graced her lips.

"Aren't ghosts supposed to be the know it all's?" She asked. "Anyways, I was in an accident. Hurt my head and lost my hearing. Seems like there's some science around ghosts too."

"I still don't understand." I say but left the topic. Maybe later, I'd have tried thinking about it.

"What's your name?" She asked me.

"I don't remember."

"Oh, well, never mind. Make a new one for yourself." She shrugged.

I kept shut.

"Okay, I'll call you KC" She said. "My favorite power Ranger was Casey Rhodes and hence the inspiration."

And thus started our friendship.

It was peculiar, even more so than Nitya's sense of humor.

We talked about everything. Or at least she did. I had secrets, at least two of them.

One was that I had a hand in her parent's demise and other that heartless or not, I was falling for her.

A ghost falling for living, what a joke. A cruel one at that.

But it didn't matter in our relationship.

She'd became a friend to me when all I had was this existence that affected no one.