The Lost Reflection ✓

Testing the Time Travel Theory

Drishti gasped. She tried not to freak out in front of the princess. She took deep breaths as the princess walked over to her bed and sat down at one edge, far away from Drishti. "You have a lovely room." Princess Saraswathi said. It took Drishti five whole minutes to realise she should respond. Just to be polite, at least.

"Um... thank you?" Drishti muttered, struggling to get her voice out. The princess nodded and looked longingly at the mirror. She then turned back to Drishti and said, "We have things to discuss, Drishti." "How do you know my name?" she asked, surprised. The princess smirked. "We ghosts have our ways." she said. "Ghost?"

"Yes. I'm dead. Did your friend not tell you that?"

"What friend?"

"Aranya."

"No, she didn't. I guess I should have assumed you were... dead."

"Well, that's alright. But that's not important now."

"You... said you wanted to discuss something?"

The feeling in her voice changed. Now it was grave. "Yes, I have a job for you to do. And you won't like it. But I'm afraid I give you no choice." 

This startled Drishti. What could (the ghost of) princess Saraswathi want her to do? She had read enough books to say that when a ghost asks you to do something for it, it usually wasn't good news. The princess twisted the golden flower shaped ring on her left index finger and waited. Drishti realized she was waiting for a reply. "Um... what do you want me to do?" "I want you to bring me my hand mirror. My last wish was to be buried with my crown and my hand mirror. I have the crown but..."

"Why do you need it, though?"

"You see, there are rules even after you're dead. I was murdered unjustly, so I cannot leave to heaven without fulfilling my last wish. That's the rule."

"You were... murdered?"

She sighed and said, "Yes, unfortunately. But-"

"By whom?" Drishti interrupted.

"If you want the answer to that, you will have to listen to my story. Do you want to do that?"

Strangely enough, Drishti did. So, after she nodded in response, the princess told her tale. "I was born in the year 1900, to king Rajavardhan and queen Lakshmi, in the city of Kandapura. It was a small but developed city. We had roads and drainage systems and all the other things any other developed city had. I was raised in the palace along with my twin sister, Padmavathi. We were the best of friends. We did everything together. We had the same clothes, same interests and were always together. I loved my sister more than anyone. I thought she did too... until he came."

Her eyes sparked with rage. She clenched her hands into fists and drew a shaky breath. "Who?" Drishti asked. Curiosity had its way of getting to her every time. "That wretched boy..." she started but stopped for a second. She blinked a few times and continued. "One day, when Padmavathi was in the garden, picking flowers to make into a bouquet for our mother on her birthday when a boy wandered into the garden.

"His name was Arif. I had heard about him from my friends. Let's just say he wasn't the best of guys. The day he wandered into the garden, he had a girlfriend and a fiancée."

"So, he was one of those guys."

"Yes. He flirted with my sister, who didn't know him, and she fell in love with him. When I tried to tell her about him, she saw me as the enemy and stopped talking to me. After a week of her ignoring me and meeting him secretly, I lost it. Not knowing what to do, I went to our parents. When I told them about what was happening, they silently banished him from our city. When Padmavathi found out..."

"She blamed you for it... and killed you." Drishti said.

Princess Saraswathi sighed. "All I wanted to do was help her. But that's alright. All I need to do is get my mirror. Then I'll be happily on my way to heaven." "How do I get it?" Drishti asked. As much as she was freaked out by all the recent events, she wanted to help the princess. And she could never pass up on an opportunity for adventure. The princess's eyes sparkled. "Well, you have to go back in time." she said, getting up from the bed.

Before Drishti could react, the princess walked up to her wardrobe and threw it open. "Hmm..." she said as she examined all of Drishti's clothes. Drishti threw away the rug and stood behind the princess, who was now rummaging through a pile of Drishti's fancy chudidars. "Um... what are you looking for?" she asked. The princess pulled out a golden chudidar with tiny mirrors and glittery prints of peacock feathers. Thank goodness, Drishti thought, the only light is coming from outside through the window. Or the chudidar would have blinded us all.

"Do you own nothing simpler?" she asked, staring at it. "It's in the drawer." Drishti replied. The princess nodded and quickly folded the golden chudidar and placed it delicately on top of her fancy-chudidar pile. She closed the doors of the wardrobe and pulled open the drawer attached to the bottom of the wardrobe. As she scanned her simpler chudidars, Drishti couldn't help but notice how beautiful the princess was.

The moonlight shone in through the window, illuminating only one side of her face. Even though her skin was pale white- like that of a vampire- it was smooth and sported a few moles here and there. Some things about you never change, Drishti thought smiling to herself. And as her smile disappeared, she thought, even if you are dead. "Ah! Finally!" the princess exclaimed, pulling Drishti out of her thoughts.

She was holding up a light blue chudidar with a golden-lined round neck. It was plain and simple with no other designs on it. "Simple yet stunning, right? It will blend you into the crowd in Kandapura perfectly." the princess said. She handed the dress to Drishti. She turned away from her and said, "Get dressed, you have to leave right away."

"Right now?" Drishti asked in surprise.

"Yes. I've been waiting for more than a hundred years. I have no patience left."

Drishti sighed and quickly put on the dress, realising it would do no good to argue. "I'm done." she said, to which the princess turned around and smiled in response. "Perfect. You look wonderful. Now-"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why did you wait for so long? And why are you sending me specifically?"

"Well, I tried with people before you. But most of them started shouting and screaming. I couldn't risk letting too many people know about my existence, so I had to give a gap of a few years between my tries. On why I'm sending you in particular, no reason, except that your window was open. I don't do the passing-through-walls thing even though I can. I feel it's disrespectful to others."

Drishti's head shot towards the window through which moonlight was filling the room. It was flung open. Right before she went to bed, her mother had told her to close the window. But Drishti had said she would feel hot at night and had left it open. Her mother had then said that it wasn't good to leave the window open at night, that it could be dangerous. She was pretty sure her mother hadn't been talking about how ghosts with tasks could come through it.

"So, as I was saying." the princess said to Drishti, who was baffled. "Now, I need you to hold my hands and close your eyes." She held out her hands to Drishti. "But you still need to answer my questions!" Drishti protested. "I'm sure you'll figure things out." she replied. Before Drishti could protest some more, the princess grabbed her hands. Seconds later, Drishti felt a tingling sensation on her palms and a bright light shone in front of her, which caused her to force her eyes close. Just as soon as it appeared, the tingling sensation and light disappeared.

When she opened her eyes, what she saw was unbelievable.