5.

Chapter 5 of 'So Far, So Close'.

I opened the door and walked in. Adi followed me in. Apparently, no one apart from me could see him, or hear him, or feel his presence. Not Kyra, not Hemant Kaka, not Mum �" no one else. He could kick a guy in the butt and the guy wouldn’t know. He explained me that in one simple sentence. “They can’t see me, you know?” he had said. And then I had looked up at him, already too panicked and shocked. “I’m dead, okay?” And I was too stunned to say anything. So we just walked.  

Died a diseased boy, came back with superpowers. 

But that’s the way spirits worked, I guess. And it made sense now, what he had written in the letter about him not wanting people to assume that I was crazy. He had come back only for those he wanted to come back for. None of the ‘Oh you’re alive again, now I can get to know you better and spend more time with you, I was incredibly guilty the first time you left’ bullshit. He had come back for me.

“Been a while since I’ve been here.” He said, coming in. 

It was incredibly weird for me. I didn’t know what to say, so I kept shut and just smiled at him. Three things were going on in my brain: (1) That all this wasn’t really happening and I was imagining it all, and I needed professional help; (2) That someone was playing a huge prank on me in ways I didn’t understand; and (3) If all this was real: what would he eat, where would he sleep, and bathe, and if he had enough clothes, and would it be okay if he stayed with me-but hey, no one could see him and sure, he was a guy, but not like I slept naked or anything and I had a settee in my room placed below the windows and he could easily sleep there, because it was big enough, and if dead people needed shampoo, how I’d sneak in food for him and if he needed food at all, if he had another place to go live in, or if he wasn’t staying at all, if he was just going away after doing the soufflé. 

Kyra was leaning against the counter, frowning at her phone. She looked up at me and said, “Candy Crush is such a b***h sometimes.”

I laughed. “Well she’s the same idiot,” Aditya said behind me, and I laughed harder. I don’t know if it was the whole shock thing or that I felt nervous or something, but everything was making me laugh for some reason.

“Since when did you start laughing at my jokes?” she said. 

“Since Aditya Avasthi started making them better.” Adi mumbled, and I laughed again.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” Kyra asked and I just nodded, holding my tummy. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” I said, “Let’s just… make the stupid soufflé.”

“It isn’t stupid.” Adi said.

“The not-so-stupid soufflé.” I said.

“You’re kind of scaring me right now.” Kyra said. I kept silent. “Whoever that b*****d was, writing those letters, I hope he rots in hell.”

“Hey, I’m already dead, roaming the Earth and stuff.” He said, “And you wrote the letters.” He said, looking at Kyra and making a face.

I looked back at him questioningly. “I’ll explain later.” he said. 

“Hey, do you have the recipe?” Kyra said.

“I have it memorised.” Adi said, to me.

“I have it memorised.” I said. 

***

And so we made the soufflé. Adi kept telling me what to do, while he told me how to do the part which involved putting in and taking out stuff from the oven and the cream (Kyra thought I actually knew how to do it), she did the mixing. It worked pretty well. I tried my best to keep my mouth shut, and it worked pretty well.

“To Adi, the dead guy.” Kyra said, digging in her soufflé.

“To Adi, the dead dumbass.” I said.

Adi sighed. “To me.”

***

Kyra left not very long after we were done with the soufflé. Mum loved it too, and we even gave Hemant Kaka a piece. 

“She’ll be cooking for her kids ten years from now,” he had said, laughing. He knew of course. He had four daughters. All of them were married. All of them had kids. Aditya had doubled over in laughter. 

The driver soon came to get Kyra. “We won’t ever bring this up again, Neevy.” I had nodded, not really sure what to say, with an Aditya that only I could see and feel right behind her. He was shaking his head, smiling at an overly emotional Kyra as she departed. And after we said our goodbyes, Adi waved to her. I looked at the rear-view mirror. I couldn’t see anyone in it. 

***

I sat down on the bed, and he sat down on the settee, looking outside, the light of the setting sun illuminating his eyes in a way that made him look serene, like the purest, most beautiful thing in the world. There seemed to be a tinge of gold in his perfectly messed up hair, and the light softened the colour of his skin. He looked like a ray of the sun, fleeting with time, as if he was just going to go away any moment, like he was too beautiful to stay. It was a shame that no one else could see him at that moment. But it also felt so special, that he had chosen me and only me to behold him in the way that he was. I felt like I meant something to him. I’d always known that, of course, but never before had I felt it, in a way people feel things like ecstasy and immense grief. 

“Will you stop looking out of the window like you’re in a goddamn movie?” I said, breaking the silence. “It’s weird enough that you’re here, and not to forget that no one else can see you.” 

“Yeah, well. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you beforehand.” He smiled.

“I really don’t know what to say.” I said truthfully.

“Yeah. You must have,” he said, gesturing confusion with his hands, “questions.”

“Yeah, like what is it with you and the soufflé?”

He stopped to look at me dead in the eye for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

“I don’t know, it was the last dessert I learned before, well, this,” he said, raising his arms explanatorily. “No other things you’d like to ask?”

“Oh yeah, a few. Like what the hell are you doing here and why is it that it’s just me who can see you and why did you say that Kyra wrote the letters and what the hell are you doing here, and-GOD ARE YOU EVEN REAL?”

“Of course I’m real, don’t be ridiculous.” He shook his head. “This is going to sound all crappy, but I’m here because of a wish.” 

“A wish?” I asked, my eyes unintentionally widening. He just nodded.

I tried to think of something that seemed reasonable, but agreed with the crappiness of the crap at the same time, but all I could say was, “God, that is crappy.”

He laughed. “Dying wish, maybe that’s why it makes a difference.”

“Oh, that explains it.” 

It felt so unreal. But then it was supposed to be unreal. The larger portion of my brain was so sure that this was a vivid dream that I was going to wake up from any moment, a dream that would burn with the slightest touch of the first sunray of the new dawn. But I wasn’t waking up any time soon and that was for sure. But I didn’t want it to be a dream. I wanted it to be reality, here and now and hard and true. I knew that that was nothing more than a likeable scenario, but I wanted it to be a likeable reality. I wanted heaven to be earth, in that one moment. I selfishly wanted him there, alive, at least for me, if not for anyone else.

“You need to tell me, Adi,” I said, walking over to him, seating myself on the settee, gazing at his sun-kissed face, which felt so real and so reachable, unlike what anyone other than me would have told me, “Are you really here?” The last few words came out in a hushed whisper. I was beginning to feel drowsy and light-headed, for some reason.

He smiled, like he was some kind of saint, like those ridiculously beautiful eyes of his had the wisdom of the ages, “It’s me. I’m here.”

And then I drowned into a comfortingly lazy dark haze. 

 

Reviews

[Shantanu Ashima Gaur]

A very awesome book with a very good plot....but you've got to maintain the adrenaline till the end and give it a very very good end. Cause stories like this sometimes tend to have a FLAT FLOW in the middle which isnt interesting. So keep that in mind and all the best!!

[Aehr]

Thanks for the advice. Going to keep that in mind. X