The Girl & The Ghost || Arshi FF

Chapter 10 - Ties

The next two days Payal was by Khushi's side the entire time. She would cook Khushi's meals, help her out of the bed and in the evenings, take her for walks. Arnav noticed that Payal's fear of him was gone. She was comfortable in the house, walking around doing chores. It was like her aversion of this flat never happened.

He was glad that she had gotten over her fear. At least Khushi had a human friend helping her out.

He did want to sit by Khushi's side and talk to her. However due to Payal's continuous presence for the past couple of days, he could only get by a few lines: "How are you now?" or "Are you doing fine?" or "Do you need anything?" She would reply a "yes" or "no" before Payal barged in the room.

He had tried to leave the house again but the invisible barrier was back in place, solid as before. The act that night had taken a toll on his energy and he didn't feel strong enough to break the barrier again. He would try, some other day, once he felt replenished enough.

The sky outside was getting darker, he observed. From the balcony he could see the distant figures of Payal and Khushi, sitting on a park bench, animatedly discussing something. He wished he could get some alone time with her.

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"Is something the matter?" Payal asked.

They had been sitting in the park for a couple of hours now. Khushi was twirling a broken piece of stem in her fingers. She hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Arnav about that night - more importantly how he could come out of the house in which he had been trapped for so long. So many things, like her being able to hear him, talk to him, had been pestering her mind since that night. Surprisingly she always used to brush the issue away before, because it was supernatural, not something she or he was well versed in. But ever since the night of the Shyam incident, it was tugging her mind, restlessly.

"Khushi," Payal's voice drove her out of her thoughts, "Is everything fine?"

"Mmhmm," Khushi nodded, "It's just a work thing." She lied, "It's about this new book we are publishing. Something has been bugging me about it."

"What?" Payal did seem interested.

Khushi had been itching to talk to someone so much. She seized the opportunity, "The novel is about a girl and a," she wanted to say 'ghost' but feared that Payal could figure it out so she changed some details, "a young girl and a fairy."

"Well," Khushi pursed her lips, thinking about what she would modify so as not to make Payal suspicious. Arranging her thoughts, she continued, "So this girl moves in a castle with her father and siblings and there is a fairy trapped in the castle - cursed by a witch. The fairy can't leave and no one can hear or see her."

Khushi spoke for the next few minutes, telling her and Arnav's story, altering a few details here and there. "I don't seem to understand why can no one else hear the fairy save for the girl and how was the fairy able to leave the castle the day the girl's life was in danger?"

"How does the author conclude?" Payal asked.

"Ermm..." Khushi fumbled, "He leaves it as an open ending... like the reader can make their own interpretation."

"Oh. Okay," Payal furrowed her eyebrows and spoke after a few moments. "Well, my take on it would be the fairy has tethered herself to the girl."

Khushi gave her a confused look.

"See," Payal explained, "the first time the girl thinks she heard the fairy was when the fairy was apologizing to her for breaking her late mother's pearl necklace?"