Dream - Part 5

 

The True Ghost Appeared

Death did not give her peace.

There was no light.
No tunnel.
No divine music welcoming her.

There was only longing.

Ananya’s soul wandered exactly the way she had once joked it would. Restless. Curious. Unfinished.

She searched for him.

And she found him.

Morning sunlight slipped through the curtains of his living room. Arjun sat comfortably on the sofa, reading the newspaper, a cup of coffee balanced in his hand. Calm. Ordinary. Alive.

She stood before him.

For a moment, she felt excitement.

“Oh ho… look at you,” she grinned. “Officer sir with coffee. Wait, I’ll bang your head and say — ‘Hey you! Remember me? I told you not to underestimate this bhooth. I will not leave you free. I will cling on you. I am back! How are you da?’”

She raised her hand to hit him playfully.

Before she could, footsteps echoed from the kitchen.

His wife entered the hall.

Graceful. Beautiful. Calm. The kind of beauty that doesn’t try hard.

Ananya froze.

Jealousy — sharp and ugly — rose inside her. She watched the woman closely. Every movement. The way she adjusted her saree. The way she placed breakfast on the table. The softness in her voice when she called his name.

None of them could see her.

She stood between them like invisible smoke.

Arjun finished his breakfast, picked up his bag, turned toward his wife, kissed her gently on the forehead and said, “Bye.”

That small gesture pierced Ananya more than the accident ever had.

“Damn,” she muttered. “So this is your life now.”

Her jealousy burned.

“Fine,” she whispered. “Let’s see how your officer life is.”

She followed him to his office.

Being an officer, he had his own cabin. He sat inside, adjusting files, settling into routine. Calm. Focused.

She appeared in front of him.

This time — he saw her.

His hand froze mid-air.

The pen dropped.

His face drained of color.

“Hey… you are alive?”

His voice trembled.

“I heard you were dead. Was that also one more playful act of yours? Why do you do such drama? I felt sad… you know? I thought you died.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“Is it? Really?”

“Yes,” he said quickly. “At that time, yes. Now no. Because you will never come out of this playful nonsense.”

Before she could reply, his colleague entered the cabin.

“Good morning!”

Arjun forced a smile. “Morning.”

He felt uneasy. Ananya was standing right there — near his table — looking at him with that same old love in her eyes.

His colleague did not react.
Did not look at her.
Did not even sense her presence.

Arjun’s discomfort deepened.

They spoke casually about work, as if nothing was strange. But his eyes kept flickering toward her.

He pressed the bell.

“One coffee and two teas,” he ordered.

His friend frowned. “Three? Anyone coming?”

Arjun hesitated. Why is he asking? Does he see her?

“We will have… then I’ll tell,” he said vaguely.

The peon entered with a tray.

One tea for his friend.
One coffee for Arjun.

He held the third cup in his hand. “Sir… for whom?”

Arjun slowly pointed toward the empty chair next to his friend.

“For her.”

Ananya smiled.

The peon looked confused. “Sir?”

“Keep it there.”

The peon hesitated, then placed the cup on the empty chair’s side table — his face showing visible shock.

Even his friend looked uneasy now.

“Are you okay?” the friend asked cautiously.

“Yes,” Arjun replied quickly.

After finishing his tea, the friend left the cabin, still glancing back strangely.

Silence filled the room.

Ananya looked at him — the same softness, the same incomplete love.

“Drink,” he said nervously. “Before it becomes cold.”

She smiled faintly. “I can’t.”

“Why? Another playful act? You stopped drinking tea now?”

“No,” she whispered. “I stopped almost everything… except you.”

His brows tightened.

She stepped closer.

“I no longer exist in this world. I am a pure soul now.”

“Stop this stupid nonsense,” he snapped. “I am not getting into your drama again.”

She sighed.

“Oho… bro. Believe me. I don’t exist. Only you can see me as of now.”

He swallowed.

“If you want,” she continued calmly, “call your peon again. Ask him to clean the chair where I am sitting.”

A wave of fear passed through his body.

Slowly — very slowly — he pressed the bell again.

The peon entered.

“Sir?”

“Clean that chair,” Arjun said, pointing.

The peon looked at the chair.

“Sir… it is already clean.”

Ananya did not move.

She kept looking at him.

And for the first time since she met him,

Arjun was not laughing.

He was scared.