The Unfinished Embrace

Ayesha sat near her balcony gazing at the dimly lit road. Her deep round eyes had turned red and shallow. It has been a week since she lost the guardian angel of her life, her Granny. Ayesha loved her Granny more than anyone else in the world. ”It was too soon” she mumbled. She gently rubbed the faint white line that ran through her wrist. A line left behind when jewelry or a thread is taken off after a long duration of wearing. Ayesha had taken off the sacred thread meant to ward off evil forces. That thread also signified the blessings of Ayesha’s Ganpati Bappa. She was a believer more than a follower. But she was angry with God for taking her angel away from her. She was angry she couldn't see her for the last time and embrace her for the last time. She couldn't study and didn't have a single friend in college she could share her pain with. But Ayesha was a fighter. “You know you have to be strong when you have no other choice” she thought.

Ayesha lived as a paying guest in a huge bungalow in Pune. A 300 sq feet room with a bath attached was maybe a bit too big for an 18 year old Engineering student.  But Ayesha was very different from a regular girl. She was fiercely independent and intellectual. She couldn't bear the idea of sharing a room with a “bimbo”, a term she used for all her college friends. She had issues getting along with people in general so Hostel was not an option for her. Getting a mini apartment to herself where she could cook, read, study and enjoy a cup of coffee all alone was a dream come true for her. But something was different about that particular evening. It was quieter than usual. It was breezier than ever. That was one evening when Ayesha felt lonely. “Maybe it’s because of what I am going through” she thought.

The room was dimly lit. Ayesha had the usual disappointing dinner from a local tiffin service and sat on her bed with her laptop. The room had minimal furniture. A wardrobe, a computer table, a single bed, 2 chairs and one table with a hot plate and essential vessels. These few things meant the world to Ayesha because she didn't have to share them with anyone. Ayesha got up from her bed and opened her wardrobe to take out her moisturizer. It was the chilly month of December and she wanted to apply it before bedtime. She kept back the bottle of moisturizer at the far end of the wardrobe rack to make sure it doesn't fall off the edge. Ayesha securely locked the wardrobe and checked the latch of the main door. She then switched on the night lamp which imparted a dim glow to the entire room. Ayesha checked her phone, it was way past midnight. “I must sleep now, early morning practicals tomorrow.” She said to herself. Her bed was at one end of the room close to the balcony so she wouldn't feel closeted. She took her blanket and faced the wall, her back facing the rest of the room. She was a light sleeper which made it a usual thing for her to be awake even with her eyes closed.

There was a gentle screeching sound made by the latch of the main door. Ayesha swiftly opened her eyes but she lay still. She was not sure if she actually heard something or it was a state of lucid dreaming. Her breathing had increased rapidly but she made sure not to make a peep. She heard a loud noise of a heavy object falling near her wardrobe. She froze. She just couldn’t turn her back towards the room and see what was going on. She just didn't have the courage to get up and switch on the light. Her bones felt like jelly. She couldn't muster up enough courage to even scream. She could sense a thick cloud of silence engulfing the room. She felt someone’s presence in that silence. The presence kept moving closer to her. She still hadn't turned her back towards the room. She didn't want to see whatever she was feeling. She wanted to scream real bad by then but she had lost her voice to fear. Her eyes were wide open when she felt someone sit by her side. She felt a very strong presence of someone sitting and adding a good amount of weight to the small bed of hers. That moment she realized she is going to die and her mind just stopped working. A few seconds passed by when Ayesha was completely sure it was not an illusion since the weight on her bed and that silent cloud of presence was still there. It seemed very real to her until she felt a hand graze her forearm placed on her hip in a firm yet gentlest way possible. Now the moment seemed morbidly real to her. She gathered all the courage left in her and squealed “Noooo”. And, everything stood still. In the next moment, the presence was gone. The hand grazing her forearm was gone. The weight on her bed was gone. The thick cloud of silence was gone. The room went back to a being a dimly lit breezy space.

Ayesha somehow managed to bring herself to get up and switch on the lights. She first looked at the latch which was exactly the way she had left before going to bed. She then looked at her wardrobe which lay slightly open with the weight of the moisturizer bottle tumbling down. “How can the bottle fall from so far? I had kept it at the end of the rack” She thought. She sat her bed and looked at the side where she felt the weight. Ayesha was a brave girl; she did not create a scene or call up her family living in Mumbai. She went into a state of taciturnity. A tear trickled down Ayesha’s cheek. This was the first time she had experienced paranormia. Everything had gone back to being normal. It felt like the silence after a storm. She thought if it was an evil entity, how it could simply leave the moment she said no. “I was really scared. It could have harmed me. But it didn't. The touch felt very real and yet gentle. Could it be my.....” She thought. “There is no I will ever know if my angel visited me one last time...It will always remain an unfinished embrace.....” She thought.