Long and short fictions

Ghost Stories- Round 7, Prompt 10 April 2017

Ghost Stories- Round 7, Prompt 10 April 2017

Enigma


I was dead since two months. This old banyan became my haunt ever since. Two elderly souls were my companion ghosts.

Thanks to them, I had learnt how to be an effective ghost. They said that I could hear and see people but they couldn't. That‘s strange. It would be tough to adjust to these oddities of ghostly life. I started practising the craft of appearing in any form and disappearing when I wish to.


I was quite a discontented human being. I wasn’t ready for my sudden demise in a road accident. The desire to have a sweetheart of my own remained unfulfilled. Well, that’s the quirkiness of life I guess. However, I don’t think there is anything wrong in going after the things I was so very passionate about even now.


I watch people relaxing under the banyan’s shade and discussing their personal matters. I hear their stories and feel happy or sad according to their drift. From what I gathered, very few people are happy in this world and those are the ones that do not attach themselves to money. Sadly, many human beings are money- minded, hence unhappy.


Today seems different. The inn opposite to our tree is agog with activity. A big marriage party has just arrived. Several bullock carts decorated with flowers stopped by the inn’s door and people, both young and old poured out of them. It looks like the bride is being escorted to her husband’s home town after the wedding that just took place in her home town. En route they stopped for a short break, obviously.


I got a glimpse of the bride. She is so beautiful! She looks exactly like the girl of my dreams. She has almond-shaped eyes that have the color of rain-washed skies. Oh, no, I am falling in love with her. The flash of smile on her tender lips has a magical effect on me. I begin to feel desperate. She appears to be my dream girl, the love of my soul.


“You can’t do that Karan. Remember, she is a human being and you are a spirit. It is impossible,” said my companion spirit. Both he and his wife have been watching my moves and efforts to get closer to the human bride. I ignored their words. How can such warnings affect a love-lorn soul?


I saw the groom still dressed in wedding clothes. I saw the way he looked at her. There is hardly any emotion in his eyes. Doesn’t he long for a glimpse, a touch or a whisper from his wife? He looked so heartless at that moment.


“Have a quick wash and we will be on our way. That will save money on a night’s stay,” he said, in a grumbling tone addressing no one in particular. What kind of husband is he who doesn’t even address his new wife by her name? What’s the human world coming to be? A haven for hardened men?


“Rani! The rest rooms are on the other side. Come on, let’s go,” said a girl to the bride. Evidently, she is a friend from bride’s native place.

Rani? What a lovely name, a fitting one for the one who looked like a queen! I felt thrilled. I said it aloud into the open air.

“Rani!”

The bride turned around as though she heard it.

“Anu, have you just called me?” asked Rani, a bit puzzled.

“Why would I call you, when we are close together?” Anu rationalized. Rani looked confused.


After a couple of hours the group resumed their journey. I tagged along. Several relatives waited for them at the groom’s home in the village. There’s a celebratory lunch and I saw people enjoying the song and dance arranged in honor of the newlyweds. All the time Rani looked absentminded. Not a word passed between her and her husband, Madan.


After the nightfall, when the house fell silent, the newlyweds went to their bridal chamber. I saw Madan sitting on the bed and doing his accounts and hasn’t raised his head even after Rani entered the room. When he looked up she is standing at the same spot.


“Oh, Rani, come and rest. You must be tired as I am,” said, he said. I felt aghast at his damp reaction to his beautiful bride in the solitude of their first night.


She walked up and sat on the cot. He went back to his ledger. What a heartless brute! Is there a stone in place of his heart?


She slipped into an exhausted slumber too tired to wait up for him.


Dawn tiptoed in. I saw Madan leaving in the faint glow.


An hour later, I heard Rani talking to Anu in the garden.


“He got an urgent call from his town office. Some business deal I guess. He was not sure as to when he would return,” turning to walk back to the house with a wooden expression on her lovely face.


I saw my chance to seize.


At night fall, I took on her husband’s form and walked in as though I just returned from somewhere. It was dinner time.


Rani was nonplussed at her husband’s unexpected arrival.


She said with surprised eyes, “You already finished your business deal?”


Flashing a triumphant smile at her I said, “Luckily, yes. Is dinner ready yet?”


Her sweet smile blew my resistance. I wanted to take her lovely face into my hands and kiss her.


“You can have it as soon as you freshen up,” she said, turning away. Her long dark tresses swaying on her shapely back blew my breath away.


When I entered the dining room a little later, Rani served my lunch.


“What about you, love?”


“I will eat later.”


I pulled her on to my lap saying,


“I can’t eat alone.”


She blushed with her eyes downcast. I lifted her pretty face that looked delicate as a pink rose with a finger under her soft chin. She looked up and I saw deep love in her eyes. My heart overflowed with joy.


“Ok, let me get a plate,” she tried to move.


I stopped her saying, “No, you needn’t. We can have from mine.”


I noticed her disbelief. She must be wondering at the dramatic change in her husband’s usual unfeeling demeanor.


After dinner, we went out into the small garden. The weather cooled. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves on the tall, willowy gooseberry tree. The moon emerged in full glory and the world was drenched in waves of silver light. There was romance in the air and we were ripe for it.


After sometime we went in. She was right behind me. I turned and took her into my arms. As she homed in, I asked on a quiet note,

“Do you love me?”


“Yes, with all my heart, and you?” her question was a whisper on her trembling lips.


I hugged her gently, afraid of hurting her with my passion, my limitless love.


As we lay, with her head resting on my chest, she said, “Lord, you are my life, my soul and everything beyond.”


I closed her lips with my own and remained there tasting unexpected sweetness.


Will she bring me back to life to realize and enjoy life with her?



Time stood still as we spent beautiful days and passionate nights wandering in the vistas of love.



A few days later, I was by the river’s bank gazing at the watery translucence with a glint of sunshine on its surface. The river flowed on quietly, irrespective of the changing phases of animate and inanimate nature.


I was jolted out of the reverie by a quiet question coming on air waves,



“What now, Karan? How’re you going to face the big trouble brewing on the horizon?” There’s a hint of laughter in his faint voice.


What now, indeed.



Ghost though I am, I have been bewildered by the harsh and hard hitting realities.


To whom should I turn? To God? Where is He? I haven’t had a glimpse of Him ever since I breathed last.
Is He there at all? Or is it just the voice from inside, telling me what to do and what not to? Am I being piloted by Him? Is He the captain of my soul?



I am percent sure of one thing. Rani is the sole point of my soul. If I cannot live with her, I will drift away like a directionless breeze never knowing peace and rest.



I spotted Madan coming from afar. He moved fast as though there’s a new spring to his feet. Now is the moment. If I miss it now I will be a restless soul forever.



I concentrated on my one and only wish, flew to him as he walked towards me and went through into him like I am crossing a wall. Instead of emerging from the other side, I stayed put in him. He shuddered and shook his body as if getting rid of an unseen insect. Now I feel the solidity of my body unlike my previous form.



Here I am still thinking like me though housed in Madan’s body. I am going to meet Rani, having been resurrected by the sheer force of our love. A cloud of happiness surrounded me as started walking homeward.


I heard faint clapping and a gossamer movement and the airborne words, from my elderly friends, “well done my boy!”


Word Count:1566